Juneteenth

INTRODUCTION
This nationally celebrated holiday marks the freeing of slaves, and was first observed in Galveston, Texas in 1865. Though African slaves were freed after the civil war, they faced more than a century of hardship and oppression. This began to shift during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, and continues to improve today as the United States boasts its first African American president. Before and since Juneteenth, many African Americans have enjoyed a variety of accomplishments and significantly contributed to this society. Juneteenth emphasizes education and achievement.

POEM

FREDERICK DOUGLASS
By Robert Hayden

When it is finally ours, this freedom, this liberty,
this beautiful
and terrible thing, needful to man as air,
usable as the earth; when it belongs at last to our
children,
when it is truly instinct, brainmatter, diastole, systole,
reflex action; when it is finally won; when it is more
than the gaudy mumbo jumbo of politicians:
this man, this Douglass, this former slave, this Negro
beaten to his knees, exiled, visioning a world
where none is lonely, none hunted, alien,
this man, superb in love and logic, this man
shall be remembered – oh, not with statues’ rhetoric,
not with legends and poems and wreaths of bronze alone,
but with the lives grown out of his life, the lives
fleshing his dream of the needful beautiful thing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adoff, Arnold, Ed. 1997. I AM THE DARKER BROTHER: AN ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN POEMS BY AFRICAN AMERICANS. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0689808690

EXTENSION
As the poem states, Frederick Douglass was a former slave, and a leader in the abolitionist movement to end slavery in the United States. He was a published author and known as a brilliant speaker. Douglass even served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War (Thomas). This poem about Frederick Douglass captures the essence of what Juneteenth celebrates – education, achievement, reflection, rejoicing, self-assessment and improvement within the African American community. What do you think? Can you think of anyone else with these qualities?

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Blues Festivals

INTRODUCTION
During the summer, Blues Festivals are held all over the country. The Blues is a type of music that combines African and European musical forms. The songs are usually about feeling sad or lowdown. Often, there is a call and response in blues music. We experience this in poetry too. Here is a poem that shows what I mean:

POEM

UNTITLED
By Walter Dean Myers

Blues, blues, blues,
blues, what you mean to me?
Blues, blues, blues,
blues, what you mean to me?
Are you my pain and misery,
or my sweet, sweet company?

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Myers, Walter Dean. 2003. BLUES JOURNEY. New York: Holiday House. ISBN 0823416135

EXTENSION
Dim the lights and play some blues music by someone such as W.C. Handy (considered the father of blues music) or any other blues musician of your choice. Encourage the children to discuss how it makes them feel. Is it possible to feel happy while listening to the blues?

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

Hot Air Balloons

INTRODUCTION
June 5th marks the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight in the year 1783 in France. (Show a picture of an old-fashioned hot air balloon.) Can you imagine what it must have been like to soar that high above the ground or see a hot air balloon for the first time? Remember, that in 1783 there were no airplanes or helicopters – not even cars!

POEM

Balloon
By Sylvia Cassedy

Here, way up here,
in this box sort of thing,
slung in a tangle
of crisscrossed strings,
I dangle,
I hang.

Just over my head,
like a bubble of talk
in a joke-book cartoon,
is a giant balloon.

A moon
is embroidered in red
on its skin.
A hawk-nosed moon
whose single horn
meets, greets
a thorn-sharp chin.

Stars are there, too,
cross-stitched in blue,
and a sun:
a high-noon sun
with gold-spun cheek
and squint-eyed grin.

moon, sun,
a streak of stars:
they are a message I send,
my bubble of talk,
to you,
to my friend far below,
as I go to the end of the sky.

And soon, clung
to a balloon of your own,
you reply:
“mountain, field, sea,”
you say, in a bubble of talk to me.
“ocean, road, stone.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cassedy, Sylvia. 1993. Zoomrimes: poems about things that go. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060226331

EXTENSION
Show the children several examples of concrete poems. Then present a large outline of a hot air balloon. Ask what words children would add to the picture to turn it into a concrete poem. Give each child a stack of small Post-it notes. Have them write words describing either a part of the balloon or a motion of the balloon or a feeling they might experience in the balloon and put their papers on the picture.

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

Bobbi Katz's Birthday

INTRODUCTION
Show Bobbi Katz’s website to the students: http://www.bobbikatz.com/. Explain that they will be celebrating her birthday, spring, and warm weather (since it is the month of May). Quote the saying, “April showers bring May flowers.” Have the students stand up and run in place for a short time, maybe thirty seconds or a minute if students are older (use a timer) before reading the poem. See if they can make the connection between running and the poem.

POEM

SPRING IS
By Bobbi Katz

Spring is when
the morning sputters like
bacon
and
your
sneakers
run
down
the
stairs
so fast you can hardly keep up with them,
and
spring is when
your scrambled eggs
jump
off
the
plate
and turn into a million daffodils
trembling in the sunshine.

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

EXTENSION
Take the children outside and hold races. If possible treat the children to cupcakes to celebrate Katz’s birthday.

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

Oregon Trail

INTRODUCTION
On May 22, 1843, a massive wagon set off from Independence, Missouri heading for Oregon. There were about 1,000 settlers and 1,000 heads of cattle in the train--following the Oregon Trail that opened up the West.

POEM

WESTERN WAGONS
By Stephen Vincent and Rosemary Carr Benet

They went with axe and rifle, when the trail was still to blaze,
They went with wife and children, in the prairie-schooner days,
With banjo and with frying pay——Susanna, don’t you cry!
For I’m off to California to get rich out there or die!

We’ve broken land and cleared it, but we’re tired of where we are,
They say that wild Nebraska is a better place by far.
There’s gold in far Wyoming, there’s black earth in Ioway,
So pack up the kids and blankets, for we’re moving out today!

The cowards never started and the weak died on the road,
And all across the continent the endless campfires glowed.
We’d taken land and settled——but a traveler passed by——
And we’re going West tomorrow——Lordy, never ask us why!

We’re going West tomorrow, where the promises can’t fail,
O’er the hills in legions, boys, and crowd the dusty trail!
We shall starve and freeze and suffer. We shall die, and tame the lands.
But we’re going West tomorrow, with our fortune in our hands.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brenner, Barbara, ed. 2000. VOICES: POETRY AND ART FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society. ISBN 0792270711

EXTENSION
Have a large box decorated to look like an old trunk. Have students decide what they would pack to travel on the Oregon Trail. Let everyone draw one or two items to put in the trunk. Make sure they bring food staples and items that will help them find more food and get settled.

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

Mother's Day

INTRODUCTION
Put on a Superman cape, and ask children to guess what that has to do with Mother's Day. Talk about the special things the grownups who raise them do for the children.

POEM

MOTHER LOVE
By Nikki Grimes

Mom says
She remembers
The night
I came running
Into her room
In bare feet
Wearing faded
Superman pajamas
Tears chasing
Each other
Down my cheeks
Because I’d had
A scary dream
About drowning.
She remembers
How I dove under
The quilt & curled
into the curve
Of her back
Where I slept
Like a baby
& how I
tickled her awake
The next day
& sprayed her
With laughter.
I don’t understand
How she could cram
So many details
Into this memory
When all I know
Is that one night
I cried & she
Was there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki. 2000. HOPSCOTCH LOVE: A FAMILY OF TREASURY LOVE POEM. Illustrated by Melody Benson Rosales. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books. ISBN 0688156673

EXTENSION
Find out how mothers are celebrated in other countries. Make a chart showing which nations have a way to honor mothers and which do not. Let students describe any unusual honor they discover.

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

Cinco De Mayo

INTRODUCTION
Cinco de Mayo is not an American holiday, but it is celebrated all over the United States. On May 5th, 1862, the Mexican soldiers defeated the Mexican traitors and the French army. This day demonstrates the Mexicans courage and strength. Cinco de Mayo is a day to celebrate the Mexican’s unity and patriotism with food, music, and Mexican culture.

Invite the children to stand and clap as you read the poem.

POEM

It’s Cinco de Mayo!
(in a Mexican Hat Dance Style)
by Jenny Whitehead

A long, long time ago (CLAP! CLAP!)
A town in Mexico (CLAP! CLAP!)
Fought hard for liberty (CLAP! CLAP!)
Then Mexico was free! (CLAP! CLAP!)

Sooo, girls, put on dresses with ruffles on ruffles,
And, boys, show your Mexican roots with your boots,
Throw down your sombreros, and pound with your feet
To the fast mariachi band beat.

Castillos light the night (CLAP! CLAP!)
Tortillas taste just right (CLAP! CLAP!)
Hooray for Fifth of May (CLAP! CLAP!)

Fiesta fun all day!

OLÉ!

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Whitehead, Jenny. 2007. HOLIDAY STEW. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 00805077154

EXTENSION
Have balloons, cut up newspaper and bowls of flour and water handy. Divide into small groups and have each group start to make a piñata.
If there is not time for a pinata, let the children make paper flowers to decorate for Cinco de Mayo.

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