Poetry; Connections – Spring Poems by John Foster & ee cummings

We are ‘making connections’ again –

this time, between poems.

Poems about Spring.

The Three Musketeers!
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Tony Hammond via Compfight

It’s Spring by John Foster

 

It’s spring

And the garden is changing its clothes,

Putting away

Its dark winter suits,

Its dull scarves

And drab brown overcoats.

 

Now, it wraps itself in green shoots,

Slips on blouses

Sleeved with pink and white blossom,

Pulls on skirts of daffodil and primrose,

Snowdrops socks and purple crocus shoes,

Then dances in the sunlight.


Ladybugs Marcy Leigh via Compfight

In Just-                     by ee cummings

 

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it’s

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far and wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it’s

spring

and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles

far

and

wee

Poetry; Connections – Spring Poems by John Foster & ee cummings

We are ‘making connections’ again –

this time, between poems.

Poems about Spring.

The Three Musketeers!
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Tony Hammond via Compfight

It’s Spring by John Foster

 

It’s spring

And the garden is changing its clothes,

Putting away

Its dark winter suits,

Its dull scarves

And drab brown overcoats.

 

Now, it wraps itself in green shoots,

Slips on blouses

Sleeved with pink and white blossom,

Pulls on skirts of daffodil and primrose,

Snowdrops socks and purple crocus shoes,

Then dances in the sunlight.


"Friars Park, Shoeburyness, Essex, England UK February 2014"Creative Commons License hawkflight1066 via Compfight

In Just-                     by ee cummings

 

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it’s

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far and wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it’s

spring

and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles

far

and

wee

For Parents: Some Online Games that Teach Comprehension Strategies for 1st/2nd Class approximately

In our school there is a Whole School Approach to

learning comprehension using the strategies from

Martin Gleeson’s ‘Building Bridges of Understanding’. 

The following is adapted  for our school

from resources for ‘First Steps’ from the PPDS website.

E =  We Expose , T= We Teach, M = We Maintain.

 
    J.I.   S.I.  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
 Think Aloud  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Prediction  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Visualisation  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Making  Connections  E  T  M  M  M  M  M  M M
 Questioning    E  T   M  M  M  M M M
 Monitoring  Comprehension:  Clarifying                E  T  M  M  M M M
 Monitoring  Comprehension:  Declunking        E T  M  M M M
 Determining  Importance          E  T  M   M
 Inference          E  T  M  M
 Synthesis              E  T
 Application of  Strategies  E  E  E T  E  T  M  M  M  M

 

The following games will give you an idea

of what many of these strategies involve 

and will give your child a little practice.

 

Though some of these strategies are not

taught formally until the middle and senior

classes, it is good to give your child practice.

 

You might like to concentrate on

one or two strategies a week

from the list of those being covered

in First and Second Class

and gradually build up your child’s skills.

 

1. Prediction: 

Prediction game from Phil Tulga.com

 

2. Visualisation: 

Visualizing activity from Blue Ribbon Readers

 

3. Making Connections: 

Making Connections from Blue Ribbon Games

 

4. Questioning: 

The Questioning Cube from Blue Ribbon Games

 

5. Monitoring Comprehension by clarifying and ‘declunking’

(‘Declunking’ is the process of breaking up a word into syllables

in order to pronounce it correctly and understand its meaning.)

The Fridge Game from Blue Ribbon Readers requires students

to identify confusing words (by monitoring)

and replace them with words

that make sense of the sentence (clarifying)

 

6. Determining Importance:  

Blue Ribbon Readers – The Hamburger Game

 

7. Inferring: 

Inferring using riddles from Phil Tulga.com

and The Detective Game from Blue Ribbon Readers

 

8. Synthesis is a complex process

and is taught in Senior Classes

but here is a simple game that

introduces it from Blue Ribbon Readers

 

You can read more about comprehension strategies here.

Comprehension: Visualization + Making Connections – Summer Poems: ‘Summer Morning’ by Rachel Field + ‘Sunflakes’ by Frank Asch

Summer Morning

by Rachel Field

I saw dawn creep across the sky,

And all the gulls go flying by.

wham:a different corner
Photo Credit: Lali Masriera via Compfight

I saw the sea put on its dress

Of blue midsummer loveliness,

The forest floor
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Justin Kern via Compfight

And heard the trees begin to stir

Green arms of pine and juniper.

I heard the wind call out and say:

‘Get up, my dear, it is today!’

 

Starburst and Beach Grass On Turquoise free creative commons
Photo Credit: D. Sharon Pruitt via Compfight

Sunflakes

by Frank Asch

If sunlight fell like snowflakes,
gleaming yellow and so bright,
we could build a sunman,
we could have a sunball fight,
we could watch the sunflakes
drifting in the sky.
We could go sleighing
in the middle of July
The Bamboo Forest and some great Twitter Lists to follow
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Trey Ratcliff via Compfight
through sundrifts and sunbanks,
we could ride a sunmobile,
and we could touch sunflakes—
I wonder how they’d feel.

Comprehension: ‘Making Connections’: Summer Poems by Wes Magee & ee cummings

 

horizon
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Lino Gambella via Compfight

What is the Sun? by Wes Magee

 

the Sun is an orange dinghy

sailing across a calm sea

it is a gold coin

dropped down a drain in Heaven

the Sun is a yellow beach ball

kicked high into the summer sky

it is a red thumb-print

on a sheet of pale blue paper

the Sun is a milk bottle’s gold top

floating in a puddle

 

I Got The Star  (IMG_6851)
Photo Credit: Schristia via Compfight

 

maggy and milly and molly and may

 

maggy and milly and molly and may

 

went down to the beach(to play one day)

 

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

 

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,

 

and milly befriended a stranded star

 

whose rays five languid fingers were;

 

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

 

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:

 

and may came home with a smooth round stone

 

as small as a world and as large as alone.

 

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)

 

its always ourselves we find in the sea

 

ee cumming

 

Jenny Nimmo’s ‘The Dog Star’ – A Big Hit with 2nd Class Room 6

From ‘The Daily Reader’ newspaper:

“It was confirmed today that of all the Jenny Nimmo books that 2nd Class Room 6 have read that ‘The Dog Star’ is their very favourite. A poll was held in class and these were the results. ‘The Owl Tree’ and ‘Tom and the Pterosaur’ both got one vote each. ‘The Stone Mouse’ received six. But ‘The Dog Star’ was the runaway success with twenty two votes.

Some people felt that perhaps the last book read by the class is always going to do best because it is more recent and clearer in their minds, but supporters of ‘The Dog Star’ said, that though they enjoyed all the Jenny Nimmo books we have read so far, ‘The Dog Star’ was simply the best.

Later in the year, 2nd Class Room 6 are going to read ‘The Snow Spider’ by Jenny Nimmo. This is a challenging read and it will be interesting to see, if ‘The Dog Star’ will be knocked off top position”.

 

So why was ‘The Dog Star’ so popular?

 

We agreed that it was about something

a lot of children dream about:

a dog of their own.

 

But the story is not that straight forward.

There are a lot of difficulties

in the story for Marty

who is the main character.

 

Her older sister Clare puts her in a very difficult

situation and she doesn’t know whether to

make her sister happy by being mean to

Miss Theresa Tree or make her Dad happy

by being friendly to her.

 

We found the story

serious,

mysterious

and magical.

We prefer serious books.

For example we preferred the serious

‘Owl Tree’ by Jenny Nimmo

to the ‘Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark’

by Jill Tomlinson, even though it made us laugh.

 

We ‘made the connection’ between the eight and a half years,

that it takes the light from the Dog Star to reach earth,

and the fact that Marty is eight and a half years old

and that Marty’s Mum went home to God

eight and a half years ago.

 

Having already read ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark’

we knew about Orion and his belt,

and what the Dog Star was, didn’t need to be explained to us.

 

Even at the end of the book,

we were left wondering about

‘The Dog Star’.

 

What was it really?

Where did it come from?

 

We would give this book ten out of ten

and would recommend it to children

between the ages seven and nine.

 

If you would like to comment, 

please double click the title at the top of a post

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and a comment box will appear.

We would LOVE to hear from you.

 

 

Making Connections: Jill Tomlinson’s ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid of The Dark’ and ‘The Aardvark Who Wasn’t Sure’.

We read ‘The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark’

and ‘The Aardvark Who Wasn’t Sure’.

Both of these books are written by

the great children’s author

Jill Tomlinson.

 

We talked about how these stories,

making connections

between the two stories.

We asked ourselves:

How are these books the same

and how they are different?

 

Julia is going to begin

by introducing both books

and talking about

how they are the same.

This is how the stories are the same:

The main characters

are both young animals

that live with their parent(s).

 

The Owl lives with his Mum and Dad

and the Aardvark lives with his Mum.

They are loved and well minded

by the grown ups in their lives.

 

They are both nocturnal.

They both have to look out for ‘danger’.

They are both very inquisitive

especially about food.

 

Both stories follow a pattern.

The same kind of thing happens

in every chapter

over…

and over again.

 

They meet another character

and talk to them,

asking them questions

and finding things out.

 

But this is not tedious

because each of these 

characters are different

and interesting.

 

Also there are differences

in the pattern each time.

Different things get said.

Funny things get said.

Avatar Kila will tell you a little about

how the stories are different

The stories are different because

one story is about an aardvark

and the other is an owl.

 

The owl is a carnivore and the

aardvark is an insectivore.

The aardvark and his Mum

are nomads. The owl family

stay put.

 

Plop the Owl wants to be a day bird.

As the title of the book says,

he is afraid of the dark

and doesn’t want to go hunting

with his Mum or Dad.

This is the problem

that has to be solved

in his story

 

Pim the Aardvark is different

He is looking forward

to going hunting at night

with his Mum.

 

His ‘problem’ is that he is

a brand new, baby aardvark

and he doesn’t know anything.

He isn’t sure at all about

the life of an aardvark

or the world around him.

 

Luckily both stories are the same

in that they both have happy ending.

 

To finish:

In the chapter called ‘The Rotten Digger’

in the ‘The Aardvark Who Wasn’t Sure’,

Pim tries his hands

(or should that be his claws) at digging.

Here is a video of an aardvark digging 

from Arkive.org, a website of animal videos.

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