August

INTRODUCTION
Display a light bulb, telephone, phonograph record, scotch tape and other items invented by 19th or early 20th century inventors. Talk about the items with children and ask them to imagine what life was like before these items were part of everyday life. August is National Inventors’ Month honoring the people who have changed our lives so much.

POEM

American Wizard
By Lawrence Schimel

A shout
rang out
in Menlo Park
one New Year's Eve

as people
stepped down
from the train
into dark

and he pulled
the switch--

a flood of light
lit up the night!

What marvelous lamps
without gas
or flame!

The people cheered
Thomas Edison's name
and his marvel
that turned dusk
into
day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hopkins, Lee Bennett, Ed. 1999. LIVES: POEMS ABOUT FAMOUS AMERICANS. Illustrated by Leslie Staub. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 006027767X

EXTENSION
Pass out interesting pieces of hardware – switches, knobs, gears, springs, clamps, etc. Ask children what kind of invention would they make using the piece they have. What would such an invention do or be called? Look for more inventor poems in Eureka! by Joyce Sidman, Millbrook Press, 2002.

Photo courtesy of http://images.google.com/.

The Guinness Book of World Records

INTRODUCTION
People will do some strange things to get into The Guinness Book of World Records. One man came up with an interesting idea; he decided to be the kissing champion of the world. On August 19, 1985, Alfred A. E. Wolfram kissed 10,504 people in eight hours at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Have a variety of record books available for the participants to use.


POEM

The Most Kisses
By J. Patrick Lewis

Wolfram, Alfred,
super-duper
pucker-upper
quicker smacker
lipper-wiper
merry-maker
kisser-swapper
record breaker.
Wolfram, Alfred
couldn’t kiss
just one Min-
nesota miss
went and kissed
10,000 more. (Somebody was keeping score.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lewis, J. Patrick, and Keith Graves. 2008. THE WORLD’S GREATEST POEMS: THE TALKINGEST BIRD, THE TALLEST ROLLER COASTER, AND 23 ORTHER ‘EST’S.. San Francisco, Calif: Chronicle Children's.

EXTENSION
Have everyone daydream a few events in which they might set world records. Then ask everyone to try to describe either one of those events or one from the record books in a poem.

Photo courtesy of http://images.search.yahoo.com/.

August 16: National Tell A Joke Day

INTRODUCTION
Holding a real or imaginary microphone, stand in front of the room and announce, “It’s comedy time.” Tell three or four jokes to the class. Ask the class to rate the poems on a scale of five with one being a groaner and five as hilarious. Then read this poem that critiques a joke:


POEM

The Joke
By Anonymous

The joke you just told isn’t funny one bit.
It’s pointless and dull, wholly lacking in
…….wit.
It’s so old and stale, it beginning to
…….smell!
Besides it’s the one I was going to tell.


BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prelutsky, Jack. 1983. THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN. Illustrated by Arnold Lobel. NY: Random House. ISBN 0394850106.

EXTENSION
Have an assortment of joke books and books of humorous poems. Announce that the class will be compiling its own joke book. Students will be encouraged to look through the books. They may copy favorite poems or jokes from the books if they include bibliographic information. They may also write jokes or funny poems they hear from friends or ones they invent. When the book is complete, have a comedy hour in class; everyone gets to perform their favorite joke.

Photo courtesy of http://images.search.yahoo.com/.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki Memorial Observances, August 6th and 9th

INTRODUCTION

Display photos of the Japanese cities before the tragedy. Then show a photo of an atomic explosion mushroom cloud and photos of the cities afterward.

POEM

No More Hiroshimas (excerpt)
By James Kirkup

In the dying afternoon, I wander dying round the Park of Peace.
It is right, this squat, dead place, with its left-over air
Of an abandoned International Trade and Tourist Fair.
The stunted trees are wrapped in straw against the cold.
The gardeners are old, old women in blue bloomers, white aprons,
Survivors weeding the dead brown lawns around the Children’s
Monument.

A hideous pile, the Atomic Bomb Explosion Centre, freezing cold,
‘Includes the Peace Tower, a museum containing
Atomic-melted slates and bricks, photos showing
What the Atomic Desert looked like, and other
Relics of the catastrophe.’

The other relics:
The ones that made me weep;
The bits of burnt clothing,
The stopped watches, the torn shirts.
The twisted buttons,
The stained and tattered vests and drawers,
The ripped kimonos and charred boots,
The white blouse polka-dotted with atomic rain, indelible,
The cotton summer pants the blasted boys crawled home in, to bleed
And slowly die.

Remember only these.
They are the memorials we need.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Harrison, Michael and Christopher Stuart-Clark, Eds. 1999. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

EXTENSION

Tell the children of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who lived in Hiroshima and was only 2 years old when the bomb was dropped. When she developed leukemia, “the atom bomb disease” at age 11, she folded origami paper cranes during her hospital stay, spurred on by an old Japanese saying that whoever folded 1,000 cranes would receive a wish. Sadako died at age 12. A statue of her holding a golden crane stands in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Pass out instructions (found in the back of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. 1977. New York: Putnam’s Sons) and have the children fold a paper crane in remembrance of Sadako and all of the children who died from the effects of the atomic bomb. Have them join people all over Japan in celebrating August 6 as Peace Day.

Photo courtesy of http://images.search.yahoo.com.

National Day of the Cowboy

INTRODUCTION
July 25, 2009 marks the fifth annual National Day of the Cowboy. The National Day of the Cowboy organization devised this day to remind Americans of our cowboy heritage and how cowboys contributed to America’s western history and culture.

POEM

Hats off to the Cowboy
By Red Steagall

The city folks think that it’s over.
The cowboy has outlived his time–
An old worn-out relic, a thing of the past,
But the truth is, he’s still in his prime.

The cowboy’s the image of freedom,
The hard-ridin’ boss of the range.
His trade is a fair one, he fights for what’s right,
And his ethics aren’t subject to change.

He still tips his hats to the ladies,
Let’s you water first at the pond.
He believes a day’s pay is worth a day’s work,
And his handshake and words are his bond.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Janeczko, Paul B. 1997. HOME ON THE RANGE: COWBOY POEMS. Illustrated by Bernie Fuchs. NY: Dial Books. ISBN: 0803719116.

EXTENSION
Have fun celebrating the cowboy heritage by creating personally designed bandanas created by cutting used, clean bed sheets that are cut into triangles and providing Crayola color markers. Invite the children to share what they think about cowboys and what their life is like, and invite them share it in poem from.

Photo courtesy of http://images.search.yahoo.com/.

Poet Arnold Adoff's Birthday

INTRODUCTION
Children’s poet and NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children honoree Arnold Adoff’s birthday is July 16. Bring a collection of Adoff’s poetry books and your list of favorite poems to share along with the following poem. Read this outdoors at the start of a water fun day. Have a hose or a water gun nearby to use after reading the poem.

POEM

There is A Wading Pool in Our Park
By Arnold Adoff

There is a wading pool in our park,
a swimming pool for the bigger kids,
and a bathtub full of cool water
later on when…I get back home

But right now the hydrant
is open and this stream
of water gu.sh.es out in an arc
of
ice
wet
fun
so cold we shiver in the steaming
……………………………..summer
…………………………………..sun.

There are rainbows
though the highest
splashes of water,
through the highest
reaches of water,
through the highest
curves….of…..spray.

Cold wet colors this hot day.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adoff, Arnold. 1995. STREET MUSIC: CITY POEMS. Illustrated by Karen Barbour. NY: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN: 0060215224.

EXTENSION
When you have moved the books to safety, spray the children with water so that they can see the arc of water and the colors the sunshine makes as it goes through the water, and primarily, so they can have fun.

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/.

Dog Days of Summer

INTRODUCTION
Today marks the beginning of the hottest 40 days of the year in the northern hemisphere. The phrase, dog days of summer, comes from Ancient Egypt where this period was named after the dog star, Sirius. This star is the brightest in the night sky. Back then, it rose and set at the same time as the sun during this period. That is how the Egyptians knew they were entering the heat of the “Dog Days.”

POEM

DOG DAY
By Douglas Florian

It’s hot and it’s hazy.
My body feels lazy.
My clothing is clinging.
No songbird is singing.
The temperature’s torrid.
My temperament’s horrid.
Has anyone thrown
This dog day a bone?

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Florian, Douglas. 2002. SUMMERSAULTS: POEMS AND PAINTINGS. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0060292679

EXTENSION
The dog star is not always in alignment with the sun at this time of year. Tonight, remember to check the sky for the dog star as the sun sets. Meanwhile, let’s make some poetry fans for cooling off. Make simple accordion-fold fans, and have the children write a “list poem” by listing words associated with heat and summer on each of the folds. Also, if it is a hot day and circumstances allow: have a run through a sprinkler or swim in a pool.

Photo courtesy of http://images.search.yahoo.com/.