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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Halloween

INTRODUCTION
If you were building a haunted house, what would you put in the house to scare everyone? Suppose you did not know what to expect, and you went into a house like the one we planned, what words would describe your feelings?


POEM

That Old Haunted House

by Judith Viorst

That old haunted house was so creepy, so crawly,
so ghastly, so ghostly, so gruesome, so skully-and-bony.
That old haunted house gave me nightmares and daymares
and shudders and shivers and quiver and quavers and quakes.
That old haunted house made my hair stand on end and my
heart pound-pound-pound and the blood in my veins ice-
cold freezing.
That old haunted house gave me goose bumps and throat lumps
and ch-ch-ch-chattering teeth and the sh-sh-sh-shakes.
That old haunted house made me shriek, made me eeek, made
me faint, made me scared-to-death scared, made me all-over
Sweat.
Would I ever go back to that old haunted house?
You bet.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stockland, Patricia M. 2004. COBWEBS, CHATTER, AND CHILLS: A COLLECTION OF SCARY POEMS. Illustrated by Sara Rojo Perez. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books. ISBN 0-7565-0565-8

EXTENSION
Look at the words the class put on the list to describe feelings. Which of those words would sound more emphatic if you extended them like the words in the poem? Are there other words that come to mind to add to the list after hearing the poem?
Try to write a sentence poem using at least one of the extended words.

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Statue of Liberty dedicated in 1886

INTRODUCTION
On October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland was on an island in New York City’s Harbor ready to dedicate the Statue of Liberty. Now the Statue of Liberty is a treasured national monument, but it was not originally so popular. Conceived by sculptor, Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and financed by donations from the French people, Americans were supposed to build the pedestal to hold the statue. Fund-raising went slowly. Many of the wealthiest Americans thought a statue in honor of liberty would cause unrest among the working classes. Others were suspicious of the French people’s motives; why did they want to give such a huge gift? Finally, newspaper publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, started a grass-roots campaign to raise funds. As part of this campaign, Emma Lazarus was asked to right a poem that spoke about America’s place as a land of liberty for refugees from around the world. The Statue stands now as a symbol of our dedication to liberty.

POEM

The New Colossus

By Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A might woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Have a discussion on the political view of the poem. The Statue of Liberty was controversial back in 1886. Lazarus describes a vision of America as a place that welcomes all immigrants. Is her vision widely accepted or is it controversial? Why?
If you disagree with her vision, what does the Statue of Liberty symbolize to you?
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kennedy, Caroline, ed. 2003. A PATRIOT’S HANDBOOK: SONGS, POEMS, STORIES, AND SPEECHES CELEBRATING THE LAND WE LOVE. New York: Hyperion. ISBN 0-7868-6918-6


EXTENSION
Have a discussion on the political view of the poem. The Statue of Liberty was controversial back in 1886. Lazarus describes a vision of America as a place that welcomes all immigrants. Is her vision widely accepted or is it controversial? Why?
If you disagree with her vision, what does the Statue of Liberty symbolize to you?

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Nikki Grimes birthday, October 20

INTRODUCTION
Danitra Brown is a recurring character in Nikki Grimes’ poetry collections. When Danitra goes away for the summer, she and a friend exchange letters.

POEM

Dream Places

By Nikki Grimes

Dear Danitra,

Since you left,
I’ve put a map on my bedroom wall.
I stick gold stars on all the places
I’ll travel to someday:
Zaire, Hong Kong, Bombay.
I find each city in my geography book,
Look up the facts and figures,
And write them down in the diary
I keep beside my bed. I lay my head
Back on the pillow, close my eyes,
And see myself, a little older,
Walking down an African street,
Soaking in the heat of the sun.

EXTENSION
Everybody has dreams of taking a trip someplace extra-special. Tack a large world map to your class wall, and provide map pins for students to locate places they want to visit someday. Have students write poems about their dream places and display them with the world map.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Grimes, Nikki. 2002. DANITRA BROWN LEAVES TOWN. Illustrated by Floyd Cooper. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0688131557

Photo courtesy of http://www.nikkigrimes.com/gallery.html