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poetry: grades 3-7 activity ideas
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The American Eagle: History, Science and Poetry
Symbols form the treasure in the realm of shadowy thought -- Kant
History shows that birds inspire man's imagination. Depictions of birds are part of early cave paintings. The sun gods, Ra and Horus, of the ancient Egyptians had the bodies of men and the heads of birds. The flight of birds inspired the Wright brothers. Even today, bird symbols abound in modern culture: consider the owl in Wise potato chips, the bald eagle that is America's symbol, and the Black Hawk helicopter.
The bald eagle is a regal symbol of America and freedom. Yet, how much do we know about the bald eagle and the details of this species in its American habitat? What do we know about the eagles that the the PBS Nature series calls "The Masters of the Sky" with their "stunning acrobatics and ferocious hunting skills"?
Activity: Ask students to identify symbols associated with America such as the national flag, the Liberty Bell, the White House, and the eagle. Ask students to describe what those symbols make them feel. Next, ask students to describe what characteristics accompany those symbols. Encourage students to describe symbolic associations such as freedom, strength, independence, pride, and patriotism.
Then, focus on the eagle. What characteristics specifically do students associate with this American symbol? What about the eagle encourages these ideas?
Visit http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/to access very specific information on the American bald eagle ranging from its feeding habits and history to scientific details on its vision. Students may also visit the PBS Nature Eagles Web site for information about efforts to restore the bald eagle population in America. Information available at these Web sites might be organized into group presentations, a scavenger hunt, or puzzle.
Ask students to access Alfred Lord Tennyson's Victorian poem "The Eagle" on the Internet. Ask a student volunteer to read the poem aloud for the class.
The Eagle, by Alfred Lord Tennyson
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Ask students to discuss Tennyson's poem in terms of whether he offers an accurate and vivid description of the eagle. Ask students to support their answers with reference to the poetic text as well as the scientific, historical, and cultural information they have just encountered.
Extended Activity: Ask students to bring in the e-mail address of a friend or family member. Have students send a "bald eagle" postcard to a friend or family member as well as to the instructor and/or a classmate, including at least one historical, cultural, or poetic detail about the American eagle.
Go to the PBS Nature Web site's video database (if you do not have fast access, do this in advance and save the clip) and play the video on the eagle to provide further stimulus to students for additional exploration about eagles as an international species.
Food Pyramid: Health and Poetry
Why has our poetry eschewed
The rapture and response of food?
What hymns are sung and praises said
For the home-made miracle of bread?
--Louis Untermeyer
Common ground between the art of poetry and the craft of a healthy diet is found in the joy of food. The zest of food and the energy of poetry combines to energize insights into a healthy diet.
Activity: Photocopy for students the Food Guide Pyramid found in the UDSA pamphlet at http://www.usda.gov/cnpp/pyrabklt.pdf. Explain to students why the food guide pyramid is important to follow. Have students identify each different piece of the pyramid and list a few of their favorite foods in each food group.
Indicate that poetry can offer funny, serious, and clever views of food. Share with them examples such as:
Animal Crackers
Animal crackers, and cocoa to drink
That is the finest of suppers, I think
When I'm grown up and can have what I please,
I think I shall always insist upon these.
--Christopher Morley
Blueberries
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,
Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!
And all ripe together, not some of them green
And some of them ripe! You ought to have seen!
--Robert Frost
Parsley, parsley everywhere
Let me have my victuals bare.
--Ogden Nash
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
--Joy Harjo
Students can find other examples to explore on the Internet at http://www.foodreference.com/html/poetry.html.
Assignment: Photocopy a blank version of the food guide pyramid or have students draw their own. Starting at the base of the pyramid, have students compose poems about eating their favorite foods in that particular food group. Each poem should fit in the available space and have the same number of lines as the maximum number of recommended daily servings.
As students move up the pyramid, they will have fewer and fewer lines with which to describe eating the food and less and less space in which to fit it. Challenge them to try to make each poem as descriptive as possible with the limited number of lines and limited amount of space.
Discuss with students the importance of precise words. Tell them that poetry is "putting the best words in the best order." Challenge them to go back and replace some of their less descriptive words with more accurate words. Challenge them to replace wordy phrases with single words. See how concise their language can become.
Follow up Activity: Students can be encouraged to value the foods of their personal cultures. Ask them to go to the site of the PBS program, "Food for the Ancestors" at http://www.pbs.org/foodancestors/main.html. Within that site, ask students to click into some food recipes and pictures of food from ancient Mexico.
Allow students to bring in favorite family recipes, original poetic descriptions of a favorite family food, or a digital picture or photograph of a favorite family food. Collect those items and the earlier food pyramid poems together for a class display or portfolio of Health, Poetry, Culture, and Food.
"Can you do addition?" the White Queen asked. "What's one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one and one?"
"I don't know," said Alice. "I lost count."
--Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll, or Charles Lutwidge Dodge, was not just the writer of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, he was also a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford. He often combined mathematical and poetic concepts to illogical and humorous effect. One aspect of mathematics he played with often was that of symmetry. Look at the mirror images of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, the symmetrical shape of the Jubjub from "The Hunting of the Snark" and the entire logic of the "Looking Glass" world. Children can likewise play with symmetry and poetry by creating a concrete poem using a symmetrical shape.
Activity: Begin by showing students a variety of concrete poems. One example is Lewis Carroll's "Mouse's Tale", which takes the shape of a mouse's tail. Student examples can be found online at http://www.comsewogue.k12.ny.us/showcase/magnani/poems.htm.
The book When a Line Bends, A Shape Begins, by Rhonda Gowler Greene, builds various geometric figures from a line -- the simplest element of every shape -- and combines the visual with the poetic: "A line is thin. A line is narrow/ curved like a worm, straight as an arrow." Another example is, "An oval's like a circle, except it's not as stout. Two sides go in to make it thin. Two other sides go out." Have students read an example aloud while following along on paper. Guide them to indicate that the image formed by the concrete poem is related to the subject of the poem. Have students create quick examples of concrete poems on their own.
Assignment: Now, tell students that they are going to make an even more specific form of concrete poem, a symmetrical concrete poem. Review or introduce the concept of symmetry to students.
Remind the students that they are probably familiar with two types of symmetry: reflection and rotational. Reflection symmetry is when a line can be drawn down the middle of an object and each side forms a mirror image of the other. The human body is a good example of this, the right side is a mirror image of the left side. Rotational symmetry is where an object can be rotated around a point and looks the same at two or more points of the rotation. A starfish is an excellent example of this.
Students may explore symmetry at the PBS Cyberchase site. Once students understand both concrete poetry and symmetry, have them pick a symmetrical object to write a poem about. Have students write a concrete poem in the shape of that object. Have them draw a line or point to show where the symmetry occurs.
Challenge Activity: For students who wish to, challenge them to create a concrete poem using reflection symmetry. Have them draw the line where the symmetry occurs. Along this line, challenge students to only use palindromes.
A Miniature Artifact: Art and Poetry
Writing a poem is like making an artifact. It is making something physical out of words.
--Galway Kinnell
What do the craft of bonsai and the writing of poetry have in common? On the PBS EGG web site, diverse forms of modern art are covered. In examining the art of Bonsai, the question is posed "Is it more than just a tiny tree in a pot?" For Harry Hirao, Bonsai master, "it is about finding harmony, shape, and balance." Surely, poetry is a similar quest.
Activity: Ask students if any of them collect or make "miniature" versions of anything? Responses may range from dollhouse collectors or makers to train collector and makers of car or airplane models. Likely, every student has a "miniature" of something.
Ask student to explore why an "artifact" or miniature is meaningful or pleasurable? What can it represent? What does it capture?
Have students access the "How to Be Happy" section of the Bonsai slide show of Harry Hirao, Bonsai Master. After they view the slide show, ask students if they can offer definitions for the terms bonsai and horticulture. Then, ask student to view the Bonsai galleries at http://www.bonsaisite.com/gallery1.html.
Re-emphasize the sense of the miniature reflecting the whole by reading and discussing the English poet, William Blake's short poem:
To see a World in a grain of sand,
And a Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
Assignment: Indicate to students that miniatures can capture both beauty and meaning...small images, small replicas, and small poems or excerpts.
Ask students, independently or in groups, to read poems on nature. Ask students to identify either a favorite, small poem or a powerful excerpt that captures a scene or moment well. Individual students or groups of readers are to prepare a short PowerPoint poetry/art presentation that offers the text of the selected poem/excerpt with accompanying images that reflect the beauty of the poem and the student's interpretation of poem's meaning and focus.
The Poetry Society has compiled a Recommended Reading List of Poetry Books for Schools at http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/education/joint.htm. Collect some of those books from the school or local library for students to examine or read in class.
Also, on the Internet, guide student to these sites of online poetry with guided reference to specific poems on nature:
- Robert Frost: America's Poet, with the suggestion of "Birches," "The Pasture, Road Not Taken," "Nothing Gold Can Stay," "Fire and Ice," and "To Earthward."
- A. E. Houseman's "Loveliest of Trees
- Maya Angelou's "Inauguration Poem"
Published: February 2002