"The Poem That Will Not End" by Joan Bransfield Graham illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker

THE BOOK:
Joan Bransfield Graham has created a gem of a book--a perfect book for ANY classroom! The main character, Ryan O'Brian, creates poetry everywhere he goes. He just can't stop; he writes a couplet with his french fries and scribbles a sonnet on the staircase. It seems he can't stop, until the climax when his teacher assigns him to write a poem about spring... Go figure, he draws a blank.

The book is a solid narrative with an added one of Ryan's poem scribbled across every page--it is set up similar to many science picture books where you can read the narrative or stop and read the additional facts.

Along with Kyrsten Brooker's fun illustration, this book can reach from Kindergarten all the way up to sixth grade (maybe even high school).  Well crafted, and oozing with potential to use in the classroom, this is a must-have for any teacher of poetry.

The Poem That Landed On Top of My Head

USE THE BOOK:
Like I said, this can be used with almost any age group. I think the interest level comes in around second to fourth grade, but older kids may get a few chuckles from it. Here are a few ideas to steal for your lessons...

1. Stop Freaking Out About Uniformity and Give the Kids Some Space to Be Creative:

This book has a good lesson for us teachers. Did you catch it? I love that the teacher's direction to write a poem on a particular topic stifles Ryan's creativity; it is true to life and hysterical. So rather than assigning a particular topic or style to a child, just spend time enjoying and exposing them to the different forms of poetry. Avoid what the great Billy Collins says happens to to poetry in schools:

Introduction to Poetry

BY BILLY COLLINS courtesy of The POETRY FOUNDATION

I ask them to take a poem   

and hold it up to the light   

like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem   

and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room   

and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski   

across the surface of a poem

waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do

is tie the poem to a chair with rope   

and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose   

to find out what it really means.

Let them see there are endless options, and then give them something to write on and with (French Fries work, but markers, pens, and pencils are slightly better). And then let them do it. Let them take moments to stop and write ideas during class. Sure, make it an assignment. But don't squish it into one day or week. Give them a month to start a poem. Some may take a year to get something they actually like, but give them time... And stop squelching their creativity with these uniform poems! (OK... in a week or two I will tell you to squelch their creativity with some ideas for poetry, but for now, let's all be free to be you and me.) Seriously, click that link.

2. Poetic Forms Detective Work:

This book contains a potpourri of poetic forms. I have it on my shelf to use this January when I teach my high schoolers about poetic forms. This would be a good one to use in centers or rotations, and it can be used with grades 3-12. (Yes, I do centers in high school... the students enjoy them and there is a ton of learning that can happen during this time.)

Make a copy of the last double-page spread AKA "Ryan O'Brian's Guide to Poetic Forms". Then, cut out each poetic form listed in "Ryan's" guide. (Some of you who reuse items year-after-year may want to post them on index cards to keep them sturdy.) On each form, cut out or white out the part that lists the example title and page number. Be sure to do this as it is the part that makes this more than just a numbers matching game!

Next, have the book, a piece of blank paper, and writing tool on a table with the cut up guide/index cards. Have the student(s) look through the book to find the poems that match the description from the guide. For instance, on the card it would read: "COUPLET: Two lines that usually rhyme." The students would then read through the book and discover on page 10, "Couplet for French Fries" is the match in the book. The student(s) would then write down the definition of couplet, then cite the example. You may want them to write the full couplet, or just cite the page number. (I prefer the full example--this way the paper becomes a superior study guide and reference sheet.)

The "Couplet for French Fries", clearly, would be one of the easier examples; however, the forms cinquain, triolet, limerick, and tanka have a little more detective work to do.

Ryan shows off by making a french fry couplet.

3. Creative Writing Brainstorming with Parts of Speech:

As I finished this book, I thought it would be cool to see a series of books like this on the different forms of writing. I suppose it would be a little boring reading "The Research Paper That Will Not End"... So then I realized, it would probably be best to do a sequel using parts of speech.

Have kids form groups based on the different parts of speech--I suggest you go with the four teams: Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs. Give them the narrative that Ryan O'Brian has a new dilemma, he can't stop noticing all of the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs around him. Because of this, Ryan goes around and observes, names, and writes out the different things he sees.

Have kids think about places they think Ryan might go--the bowling alley, to a best friend's house, the beach, Disneyland... you name it. Once the group picks a location, and every group should have a different place, give them the table below and ask them to write their location in the blank at the top.

Ryan goes to ________________________

Nouns	Verbs	Adverbs	Adjectives

Next, tell them TO ONLY FOCUS ON THEIR PART OF SPEECH and give them five minutes to come up with as many place-specific parts of speech as possible. For instance if they are in the Verb group and they select baseball it may read something like this:

Ryan goes to the Baseball Field

Nouns	Verbs	Adverbs	Adjectives
	Run Walk Hit Steal Slide

After five minutes, that team passes their paper to the left and the next team has to come up with words that fit their column on this NEW topic. For instance, if the Adverbs group is beside the Verbs group, the Adverbs take the baseball paper and for five minutes they add to the list until it looks like this:

Ryan goes to the Baseball Field

Nouns	Verbs	Adverbs	Adjectives
	Run Walk Hit Steal Slide	Quickly Loudly Boastfully Tensely Bravely

During this time the Verb group gets a new paper, say on the Barber Shop, and they work on theirs. This continues on until all groups have worked on all pages until every group has worked on place-specific parts of speech for all four tables.

The baseball paper might look something like this:

Ryan goes to the Baseball Field

Nouns	Verbs	Adverbs	Adjectives
Baseball Bat Helmet Pitcher’s mound Umpire	Run Walk Hit Steal Slide	Quickly Loudly Boastfully Tensely Bravely	Fast Angry Funny Sluggish Amazing

NOTICE- THE WORDS DO NOT NEED TO MATCH EACH OTHER; the part of speech is hard enough for many kids. In the end, however, the kids will have had a chance to work on four location, focusing on their one part of speech. 

Your job during all of this is to supervise their word choices to ensure all parts of speech are properly placed, and push them to pick the very best terms. If they keep repeating terms, then they haven't done their job. 

I would then suggest you make copies of their pages, and then have kids write narratives with these word banks that have been created so they can figure out what Ryan O'Brian does next.

5. Discussions/Writing Prompts:

Use these prompts to talk about the book with your kids, or you can have them write their responses. Remember, picture books don't need to stop in second grade!

1. Why do you think Ryan was infected with poetry? (Or should I say "blessed" with poetry?)
2. Where was the best place Ryan put his poetry? Why?
3. Should poetry be written on walls and tabletops? Why or why not?
4. What do you think will happen if he gets the poetry bug again?
5. Have you even been consumed by something that you can't stop thinking, writing, or talking about it? What is it? Why do you like it so much?

I hope you enjoy this delightful book narrative with poems included "The Poem That Will Not End"... And I hope you and your classes dive into poetry this year!


Happy learning!

"The Napping House" by Audrey Wood illustrated by Don Wood

THE BOOK:
This is one of my favorite "throwback" books and is perfect for a rainy day. Audrey and Don Wood create a superb house where everyone and everything is napping. This book builds until all the residents are slumbering on the same bed, except for one tiny flea. In a similar style of "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", this book builds and builds and then unfolds to a wakeful moment.

The perfect rainy day book and me.

USE THE BOOK:

This book can reach young toddlers all the way up to second grade or third grade. (It is AR Level 3.0.) It is perfect for any setting--large or small groups or one-on-one. It is just that good. Here are some ideas for you to steal...

1. The Perfect Napping Conditions:
Most kids don't look forward to a nap--a few do, but most grumble and have the idea that all the fun stuff happens during nap time. So... As a thought to help assuage the nap time dilemmas in the world, one activity you can glean from this book is "The Perfect Nap".

Ask kids what they think would make the perfect conditions for napping. Should the room be warm and the bed be cold? Should they have just eaten a big meal, or just nibbled on dessert? Should they have lots of pillows to cuddle or should they just have a blanket? Should the room be silent or do you want the sound of a fan or music playing? Talk about these choices and make a word bank on the board with words like: pillow, blanket, quiet, and the like.

Soon you will discover the perfect napping place is quite different for each individual. For instance, my wife loves to nap in our master bed room with the fan going and an eye mask. I, however, prefer dozing off in front of old TV shows from 1989. To each his own... which is what makes this assignment fun.

After kids talk about it and you have created a word bank, give them a sentence frame to get them started on writing their ideas formally. Consider using:

If I could set up the perfect nap, I would ____________.

Have students use simple transition words like "First", "Next", and "Last" to address what the napping place needs. The writing will be unique to each child, and if a kid doesn't ever want to take a nap, allow her to write about how to avoid the perfect nap. I find going with the child's thinking is what matters most here!

2. Labeling Pictures:

This book, much like "Goodnight Moon", has a lot of opportunity for the old point and ask, "What is that?" I suggest extending that activity to serve literacy's sake. Print out small cards with words like "rug", "bed", "shoes", "jug", "mirror", and then have the children place the words on top of the item in the book. This reaches into the whole language world, and I like it. Placing the word on top of the picture helps the child make a connection with the word and the picture.

I took this at night because there were no naps by the preschool
patron of our house.

3. Watch the Window:

My favorite part of this book is the changing window next to the bed. I love how the rain creates a perfect napping environment, and when the flea gets down to business, the sun starts to break through.

One creative idea is to have a child take a photo of what is outside the classroom window every day for a month. For many of us there are trees with changing foliage or grasses with varying shades of green or brown (depending on your restrictions on watering, California). With digital photographer everywhere, this is a really fun project that, if printed, can make an AMAZING flip book.

For a shorter version of this, spend one day and take a photo every hour the child is up--use your iPhone's alarm clock to remind you to snap the shot. At the end of the day load the photos onto a screen big enough for all interested parties to see, and then discuss the changes in shadows, clouds, parked cars, and the like.

Older kids can write about it, and younger kids can draw a significant change. If there are no changes, that is noteworthy in itself! Strong observation, discussion, and analytical skills are huge factors in what separate great writers, scientists, and spouses from the dumpy ones. (Thankfully, my wife is the best at all three of those skills.)

4. Discussions/Writing Prompts:

Use these prompts to talk about the book with your kids, or you can have them write their responses. Remember, picture books don't need to stop in second grade!

1. What woke the flea? (This question is always a lot of fun to debate.)
2. Who is responsible to fix the bed? (Again, a fun debate with many possibly answers.)
3. What might happen after the last page of the book when everyone is outside?
4. Flip back through the book. What colors evoke the feeling of sleep? What colors evoke the feeling of being awake? Why do you think this is?
5.  How might this story change if the setting was different? In a zoo? In the forest? On a boat?




I hope you enjoy this personal favorite "The Napping House"... And I hope you and your kids are inspired to take a good nap today!


Happy learning!