A child’s garden of verses is another favourite . i have an audio songs that goes with it . we love it .
AAMilne : Now we are six -when we were very young
Joyce Sidman : Butterfly eyes and other secrets of the meadow .
twinkle twinkle chocolate bar ; rhymes for the very young compiled by John foster
i have more just need ot find them on our shelves 
xxx
All by herself poems by Ann Whitford paul , very inspiring poems about 14 girls who made a difference ( tina loves it )
footprints on the roof ( poems about the earth )
found in a garage sale : Collins Treasury of poetry , lovely selection and illustrations , my kids are very visual , although they can enjoy a chapter book , but books with special illustrations are big hit with them .
Skylark , i was htinking maybe we can compile links of you tbe animated poems or books that can accompany our readings ??
xxx
viv
It turns out that the 2013 poetry challenge may be HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!
Okay Seastar, Skylark, and others who convinced me that setting a goal this year to include more poetry was a fantastic idea-I am SO blaming you guys for this :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
I kid you not, after reading our poem today…my daughter ATE A WORM :ohmy:
We read The Worm by Ralph Bergengren today because it went along with our project of redoing the worm farm/compost bin. Here it is:
The Worm
When the earth is turned in Spring
The worms are fat as anything.
The birds come flying all around
To eat the worms right off the ground.
They like worms as much as I
Like bread and milk and apple pie.
And once, when I was very young,
I put a worm right on my tongue.
I didn’t like the taste a bit,
And so I didn’t swallow it.
But oh, it makes my mother squirm
Because she thinks I ate that worm!
Yeah. You can imagine what happened…
I am quite sure she didn’t intend for it to happen lol
My cheeky little girl was trying to tease mommy and said, “Look, mommy, just like the…(insert visual of dangling a slippery baby worm over wide-open mouth, a slip, a surprised cough/gag!)”. Cue the horrified look of shock, crocodile tears, etc 
Yikes, Drama!
All is well and good, and soon she was excitedly explaining to daddy the graphic details of the ultimate fate of the worm as it makes its way through her digestive system…ewww! I totally vetoed her suggestion that we keep a magnifying glass in the bathroom lol lol
I guess I shall have to think these things through before selecting the poems…
lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol Bahahahahaha lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
lol
It might be a possibility she will remember the poem for life! Experimental learning :biggrin:
I have not said Saska about it as since she thinks Alex is her friend she would probably tried it too lol
Currently she carries a dead fish around (it jumped out of our fishtank) maybe I should find a poem related to fish :yes:
Thanks for posting the poem here!!
Yuck!! How funny, though! A neighbor once came to my home looking for his sister and I teased him and said we were eating fried worms for dinner. He went and picked up a worm from the sidewalk and ate it! I was disgusted.
You should read her the book How to Eat Friend Worms. I think that is what it is called. She will probably like it.
This is hilarious, at least to me.
Skylark I love your blog you have inspired me to join the poetry challenge so instead of once in awhile we will read poetry everyday.
We have enjoyed reading from The Elements in Poetry - poems about water, poems about earth and poems about air.
Keri, so-o funny!!
That reminds me our caterpillar episode. My kids love “Hermie: A Common Caterpillar” book, so… when caterpillars attacked our garden, not only I had no help in gathering them, my kids were actively saving all the "hermie"s :rolleyes:
Mela Bala, thank you! We’ve been traveling for a few days and did not update it. But… we are back.
Actually, I need some motivation to keep on doing it! It really helps me to put things together for review and future use with our new LO, but it is so easy to just not do it. So… if I know others reading it, it will help me to feel accountable lol lol
Keri - that is so funny!
We were having spaghetti for dinner this evening and Sophie spent much of the meal pretending she was eating worms. I read her the worm poem and she fell around the place laughing!
Thank you everyone for all the ideas and motivation. I really did not like poetry in school and I am determined not to pass that on to my kids
lol lol
Keri - that is so funny!
Beware the hazards of poetry!!
I am amazed how popular our poetry reading session has become already. I read a few poems at lunchtime and E is loving it! We have some little books called Read Me Poetry with a range of fun kids poems. I’ve also ordered Now We Are Six and can’t wait for that to arrive.
Ok I am in!
First I have to say Bahahaha Keri. Poor Alex.
For some reason I have not been a big fan of poetry. Which I guess is odd. I am a HUGE musical fan, and this is mostly because of the lyricists. I also have a lot of respect for songwriters and when I hear a song with amazing lyrics the first thing I do is find out who wrote them.
However, when I was little I used to love reading this book that belonged to my mum as a child. There is one poem that stands out from that book to this day. I always thought it was about a boy growing up. Several years ago I read that it was about a child’s death.
Anyways, anyone else want to share a favourite poem that touched them?
Little Boy Blue
By Eugene Fields
The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.
“Now, don’t you go till I come,” he said,
“And don’t you make any noise!”
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue—
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true!
Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place—
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
The smile of a little face;
And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there.
The more I think about it, I don’t not like poetry. I just like certain types.
I was in verse speaking in primary school. To this day I can still recite the rhymes that we performed for eisteddfod.
I absolutely love Edward Lear, sans the limericks. I used to read his book of nonsense verse when Nursing James when he was tiny. I had completely forgotten about that and it was only a few years ago.
I also really love ballads like The Man From Snow River or A Sunburnt Country.
Roald Dahl’s revolting rhymes were good when I was a kid also. Funny stuff.
Got to share with everyone our latest find!
I actually was looking for it for a while, and two weeks ago I literally stumbled on this book, and we love it!
It Can Be Done by St. Clair Adams and Joseph Morris From publishers: “This is a volume of inspirational poems. Its purpose is to bring men courage and resolution, to cheer them, to fire them with new confidence when they grow dispirited, to strengthen their faith that THINGS CAN BE DONE. It is better for this purpose than the entire works of any one poet, for it takes the cream of many and has greater diversity than any one writer can show.†I highly recommend it. To name just a few of our favorite poems from here: Be the Best of Whatever You Are by Douglas Malloch, The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss, If by Rudyard Kipling, It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar A. Guest, Duty by Ralph Waldo Emerson, A Good Name by William Shakespeare,… I’ve got to stop before I list all of them!
And the best of all - you can get it for free ( it is public domain) – http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10763
I finally put together the list of poetry books we use, that you can download for free :yes: I know I promised to share it a few weeks ago, but the kids were having colds and I was a bit out of the loop
Hopefully it helps those, who can not get ahold of many english poetry books. In all honesty, you can meet our poetry challenge just reading from these books!
Here is the link to my list: http://earlyeducationessentials.com/free-poetry-books-for-children/
Let me know what you think.
I will try to also list the books we read, that we have at home.
thank you very much for the list Skylark and the It can be done link . my daughter loves those kind of books . our favourite for a while was : All by herself , about girls who made a difference in he world .
i wonder if anybody on this forum is using :Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization .
by Andrew Pudewa
I read about it years ago when i had only isa and we were on the Institutes intensive program , Doman encouraged lots of audio listening to poetry , and this teaching tool according to their site includes a book with over 75 complete poems, plus speech and soliloquy recommendations, as well as all the poems read on CD for ease of memorization. Instructions, memory charts, certificates, and poet biographies are included.
I listened to a sample on their site and it is actually pleasant to hear . I was wondering if anybody here is using it and can give a review .
xxx
viv
Bella you really should right down all those little things you remember about you time at the institute and write up a post on it all for us. I have never heard Doman mention reciting poetry, not once ever! You must have dozens of those gems!
True, I have never heard about Doman endorsing poetry much, so interesting to know. I believe poetry is highly beneficial. I’ve jotted some reasons on the benefits of poetry for young children (http://earlyeducationessentials.com/seven-reason-to-read-poems-with-children-and-our-new-year-poetry-challenge/). There is order in poetry, that I think activates and stimulates the brain, similarly to classical music…
Bella, so glad your daughter liked it. We love it too here :yes:
That program looks very interesting, not in our budget at the moment, but I am curious to hear if anyone used it and your opinion about it
Oh manda , listening to poetry on audio tapes was part of their listening auditory program . They even sold in their book store : THE GENTLE REVOLUTION AUDIO SERIES : poetry classics , the 19th century poets , 18th century poets ,… read by Neil Harvey . I have them all on tape and i am trying now to copy them to cds . You would find all those in their book store or online , they are all part of their better baby course . it was wonderful to watch their kids performing a Shakespeare play fully dressed with beautiful costumes . yes they encouraged exposing your kids to poetry and good literature , learning about famous poets and authors the same as learning about the flags of the world 
xxx
viv