We're moving on to Week 15 and our theme is "Stuff We Love!" Our featured poem is from third grade and is written by Constance Levy. Here is an excerpt from her clever poem.
Lucky Penny
by Constance Levy
Any penny
I spy on the ground
beckons me
like the wink
of an eye.
...
When it whispers to me:
“I’m your good luck ticket;
quick, pick me up!”
then UP I pick it!
[You'll find the whole poem in The Poetry Friday Anthology on p. 161.]
Take 5 Activities
1. What is the perfect prop for this poem? A penny, of course. Put a penny on the floor, read the poem aloud, and pick the penny up when you reach the final line.
2. Read the poem aloud again and invite students to BE the penny, speaking the lines attributed to the penny: “I’m your good luck ticket: / quick, pick me up!” while you read the rest of the poem.
3. For discussion: What is your favorite lucky token or item?
4. Poets give their poems shape in many ways. Talk with students about each stanza (including the one-line stanza at the end) and what it adds to the poem. Consider the poet’s use of rhyme (eye/by; ticket/ pick it) and dialogue, too.
5. Pair this with another poem by Constance Levy, “Bird Alert: Storm Warning!” (4th Grade, Week 8), or poems from Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions by Janet Wong.
Don't forget to check out the rest of the Poetry Friday postings at Read, Write, Howl hosted by one of our PFA poets, Robyn Hood Black.
And there are just a few days left to enter our drawing for a free poetry e-book. See the details below.
I love the gleeful "UP I pick it!" and what great ideas for using it in class.
ReplyDeleteThis poem really spoke to me because I remember, when I was about 8-12 years old, searching the couch cushions, jacket pockets in the closet, coin return slots in Xerox machines at the supermarket and pay phones on the street--looking for coins. And the street, too, of course: once I found a whole dollar!
ReplyDeleteMarjorie said it perfectly--that sense of glee is so fun!
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