Week 16

Are you ready for Week 16 in our school year of celebrating Poetry Fridays? Our theme this week is Holidays and we have a fun and playful poem for second grade written by George Ella Lyon. Here is just an excerpt.

Christmas Is
by George Ella Lyon

Mamaw, Papaw,
Aunt Pepperlou,

Cousin Susan
and Uncle Froggie, too

....


Best china
shining on the cloth

Dinner slower
than a three-toed sloth!


[You'll find the whole poem in The Poetry Friday Anthology on p. 122.]

Take 5 Activities

1. Add a bit of fun to sharing this poem with poetry props—bring a simple placemat (or table cloth), a few dishes, silverware, napkin and cup or glass and dramatize setting the table before you read this poem aloud. Afterward, talk about the family names in the poem and what a three-toed sloth might be.

2. Next, invite students to echo read the poem, repeating each line after you read each line aloud.

3. For discussion: What are some of your family’s favorite holiday traditions?

4. Help students find the (rhyming) pairs of words that sound alike (Pepperlou/too; street/meat; cloth/sloth). Display the poem, then read it aloud again and point to the rhyming word as students chime in to complete each rhyme.

5. Connect this poem with another about food, family, and neighbors, “Mrs. Betty” by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (Kindergarten, Week 14).


Join the whole Poetry Friday crew hosted by Jama at Jama's Alphabet soup.