It's Week 3 in our weekly sharing of poems on Poetry Friday. What's the topic? Fun and games! Every poem for every grade level focuses on play and recreation. Here's an excerpt from the poem entry for Second Grade. It's "The Winner" by Georgia Heard. The poem begins...
The Winner
by Georgia Heard
Evenings,
we play ball
next to the creek
in our neighbor’s field.
We run so fast
I
can’t
even
catch
my
breath.
...
(You'll have to get the book for the rest of the poem!)
Here are the Take 5 strategies that accompany this poem:
1. This is a poem that lends itself perfectly to full-body involvement while reading it aloud. Try doing some of the actions described in the poem (swinging a baseball bat, running, huffing and puffing, aching feet).
2. In sharing the poem aloud again, students can say the column of words (I / can’t / even / catch / my / breath) breathing deeply between each word to suggest breathless running while you read the rest of the poem aloud.
3. For discussion: What are some of your favorite things to do AFTER school?
4. Discuss with students how many poems rhyme, but not all. This poem is an example of free verse. It doesn’t rhyme, but guide students in seeing how the poet arranges the lines to highlight the column of single words right in the middle.
5. Follow up with an acrostic poem about playing baseball. Look for “Last Try” by Avis Harley (from 1st Grade, Week 31).
And if you haven't yet applied for a Poetry Friday Mini-Grant, please consider it. You'll find more information in the sidebar at the right.
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And don't forget to join the Poetry Friday gathering over at Random Noodling.
This is one of my favorite categories in the book because of the assortment of activities that we were able to include: silly hopping around like kangaroos (Allan Wolf, for Kindergartners), going to a rodeo (Kristy Dempsey, for 1st grade), playing ball (in Georgia's poem--and the key is playing until dark takes over, an experience that many kids have had), fishing (3rd grade), football (Jacqueline Jules, for 4th grade), and soccer (Jen Bryant, for 5th grade). I'm really proud, actually, of my fishing poem because I think we need more poems about activities like that, especially because (as in the poem) this is something that grandparents often do with kids.
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