Thanksgiving

INTRODUCTION
Thanksgiving is a day for being thankful and for feasting. It is also a day for fun. One thing people enjoy is watching or marching in parades. Show the children pictures of a Thanksgiving Day parade or even a video clip of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

POEM

Thanksgiving Parade

By Nancy White Carlstrom

Boom barroom
Pum Pum
Boom barroom
Tum tum

Beat the drum
Beat the drum
Make music in the Thanksgiving parade

Clickity click
Play the sticks
Ting-a-ling
Ping Ping
Tambourines shake
Shake shake shake
Make music in the Thanksgiving parade

Knock knock
The wooden blocks
Ring the bell
All is well

One two three four
March to the door
Make music in the Thanksgiving parade

Boom Knock
Ping shake
Make music in the Thanksgiving parade

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carlstrom, Nancy White. 1999. THANKSGIVING DAY AT OUR HOUSE. Illustrated by R. W. Alley. New York: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers. ISBN 0-689-80360-5

EXTENSION
Tell the children they will be a marching band in a small parade. Have blocks, bells, and shakers and other noise-makers available. Have the children each pick an instrument to carry. Lead them through the library or school making music for Thanksgiving.
Later on read “The Thanksgiving Day Parade” by Jack Prelutsky

From: Prelutsky, Jack. 2007. IT'S THANKSGIVING! Pictures by Marylin Hafner. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN978-0-06-053709-8

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Robert Lewis Stevenson's Birthday

INTRODUCTION
Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied first to be an engineer, and then to be a lawyer. But he did not like either profession; he wanted to read, write and travel. He wrote essays and books about his travels, but he is better known for his adventurous tales: TREASURE ISLAND, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and KIDNAPPED. He also wrote several books of poetry, but the one that is most remembered is the one he wrote for children, A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES.

POEM

My Shadow

By Robert Louis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there’s nothing of him at all.

He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepyhead,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1999. A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES. Illustrated by Tasha Tudor. New York: Simon And Schuster. ISBN 0-689823-82-7

EXTENSION
Take chalk outside to the playground. Have half the class trace the shadows of the other half. Wait a few hours and go back out. Have the other half trace shadows of the first half. Compare the sizes. Have the children make guesses about why some shadows are so much bigger than others. What do they think will happen after lunch?
If there is time repeat the experiment twice more in the afternoon.

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Veterans Day

INTRODUCTION
On November 11, 1918 at 11:00, Germany surrendered and World War I ended. Originally called Armistice Day, the end of the war was celebrated with a moment of silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In 1954 the name was changed to Veterans Day and it became a holiday in honor of all men and women who served this nation in combat. We honor them, because we know they face horrors and risk their lives.

POEM
Anthem for Doomed Youth

By Wilfred Owen

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them from prayers or bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs,--
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Harrison, Michael. 1999. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF POETRY FOR CHILDREN. By Michael Harrison and Christopher Stuart-Clark, eds. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 019-276190-0

EXTENSION
Ask the students to think about how they would like to be remembered when eventually they die. Challenge them to find a poem that they think describes their lives. Put the poems together in a book for the students to browse through.

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Aviation History Month

INTRODUCTION
Tell students that it is Aviation History Month. Show pictures of airplanes throughout history with dates written on them. Arrange in order to form a time line.

POEM

The Plane

By Charlotte Zolotow

High overhead
on a still fall night
flashing lights of a plane in flight
flying through the darkness
like a lighted torch
while we watch
from our porch

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Zolotow, Charlotte. 2002. SEASONS: A BOOK OF POEMS. Illustrated by Erik Blegvad. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060518545


EXTENSION

Allow students to make paper airplanes and let them have a contest to see whose plane can fly the farthest.

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