Explore Poetry!: With 25 Great Projects - Hardcover

Diehn, Andi

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1619302799 ISBN 13: 9781619302792

Publisher: Nomad Press, 2015

Synopsis

Poems can be silly, serious, or fun, just like kids! Whether it’s the sing-song rhythm of a limerick, the serendipitous magic of a found poem, the deceptive simplicity of a haiku, or the easy familiarity of an acrostic poem, children are charmed by poetry. And what’s more fun than reading poetry? Writing it! In Explore Poetry! With 25 Great Projects children have fun learning about different forms of poetry while delving into different literary techniques such as personification, metaphor, and alliteration, all of which are discussed in a simple and accessible way.

Activities include creative writing exercises designed to reinforce language arts skills, plus art projects that encourage children to visualize concepts and definitions. Short biographies of important poets reinforce the concept of poetry as an important part of society.

Explore Poetry! meets Common Core State Standards for language arts; Guided Reading Levels and Lexile measurements indicate grade level and text complexity.

Informational and inspiring, Explore Poetry! fits seamlessly into the poetry curriculum of grades 2 to 4 and serves as an enrichment resource all during the school year, especially April, Poetry Month.

About this title

About the Author

Andi Diehn is a writer, editor, and book critic with a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. She has published dozens of articles, stories, and essays and spent many hours volunteering in her sons’ classrooms. She lives in Enfield, New Hampshire, with her family.

Bryan Stone is a cartoonist and the illustrator of several books for Nomad Press including Explore Night Science!, Explore Flight!, Explore Rivers and Ponds!, Explore Rocks and Minerals!, and Explore Electricity!. He lives in Hartland, Vermont.

Review

Praise for Explore Poetry! With 25 Great Projects
School Library Connection
Students will have fun learning about the many different forms of poetry in this informational resource. . . This book would be a handy resource for teachers to have available to them in the library. Recommended

Publishers Weekly
"This addition to the Explore Your World! series of workbooks focuses on both reading and writing poetry, with poems and profiles of famous poets featured throughout. Over five chapters, Diehn describes poetic forms like limerick, haiku, and acrostic; explores literary techniques, such as personification and exaggeration; and finds connections between poetry, music, and math. Projects include creating a poetry journal and writing ideas on rocks to combat writer’s block. Stone’s cartoons, which star a fox dressed like a Beat poet and a Shakespearean bear, make for a lively layout, while helping target the book at younger readers and poets-to-be."

Ann Turkle, PhD, professor of creative writing
Explore Poetry! is a veritable bento box of poetic snacks. Explore Poetry! will give parents, teachers, and young learners the confidence to pursue memorable fun with words and the adventure of poetry.”

Peter Money, poet and teacher
Imagine a vast playground with woods, challenges, games, and treasures. Now imagine the same kind of playground for language: Welcome to Explore Poetry! ”

Heather Sellers, PhD, professor of English, University of South Florida
Fabulously readable. Here are 25 projects that really work. Diehn offers so many layers of learning in this bright, fun, accessible, wonderful text. Highly recommended.”

Ellen Daugherty Durr, teacher and literacy consultant
Through comprehensive content, vocabulary support, compelling examples, and open-ended activities, this valuable resource makes reading and writing poetry accessible to every reader.”

Praise for other books in series.

Explore Natural Resources!

National Science Teachers Association
". . .Teachers should consider teaching one chapter per week, which will allow them to have enough time to supervise the elementary aged students. This is the perfect activity book to instruct and demonstrate the immediate interconnectedness humans have with natural resources and the world."

Booklist
The hands-on nature of the activities, age-appropriate text, and inclusion of high-interest examples and sidebars make this a great primer on a timely topic for the classroom, library, or home bookshelf.”

Allen Hershkowitz, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
This is a wonderfully informative, easy to read, and fun book. Any young student learning the material in this book will have acquired important scientific knowledge that will benefit them for their entire lives. Given the scientific illiteracy plaguing our nation, I only wish that all grown-ups in the USA would read this book as well.”

Bill McKibben, environmentalist, author
A colorful introduction to the fact that water doesn’t come from a faucet, nor electricity from a socket!”

Explore Gravity!

National Science Teachers Association
Are you looking for projects about gravity that are equally interactive as well as instructive? Explore Gravity! is sure to be one of the more popular science books in your class.”

Marla Conn, Educational Consultant
Explore Gravity! provides endless opportunities for students to make text-to-text, text-to-self, and text-to-world connections! The great flow of ideas and activities incorporate the cross-curriculum subject areas of STEM, offering many opportunities for teachers and parents to expand and do more. Presents scientific theories of the past and challenges students to look at how modern technology changes the way we interpret them.”

Roger Blandford, Professor of Physics, Stanford University
Explore Gravity! should excite the curiosity of young scientists and help them understand one of the great mysteries of physics.”

Explore Night Science!

School Library Journal
Six chapters cover the when’ and why’ of night; seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling the night; and, finally, night lights. The chapters on the senses are a fine introduction to how human senses work, with experiments that further explore the concepts. It isn’t all serious science as there are plenty of silly jokes, such as, What did the atmosphere say to the Earth? I’ve got you covered!’ and a funny little cartoon owl mascot follows readers through the book . . . Information on what happens at night, nocturnal animal adaptations, and fun facts such as the reason that pirates wear eye patches will keep kids interested. This one will be worth staying up past bedtime for.”

Children's Literature

The presentation of some of the most utilized types of poems--found poems, free verse, haiku, limericks, shape poems--as well as literary terms that all teachers routinely teach are easy to follow in this book. In addition, several pages on the history of poems throughout time and the projects that utilize templates are winners all the way around. The projects shared are sensible in approach and would certainly aid younger poets in remembering how certain terms are used or how to put together specific types of poems. The highlighting of authors throughout time and what each is known for brings added value. The glossary of terms is extensive. Some of the highlighted websites are helpful to those working with kids, while others connect to a poet who writes primarily for younger readers; all are excellent. This book is part of the Explore Your World series and would be a helpful guide for any elementary/middle school teacher looking for additional ways to inspire students love, or at least, interest, in poetry.

Edition details

• Publisher: Nomad Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1619302799
• ISBN 13: 9781619302792
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96
• Illustrator: Stone Bryan