3-E Poetry

I have been working, for the second half of the year, helping out in one of the Year 3 classes. There are some wonderful kids in "3-E", some real characters. The kids have been learning poetry in term four, much to the distress of the boys.

"But poetry is gay, Mr. Doherty"

I've heard that statement more than once this term.

Week one was Limericks. One of the boys insisted that if he was writing a poem it would be about something cool! Theropods. Finding rhyming words for that is not an easy task. I thought I would set a good example and write a limerick of my own. It is about young Nicholas and his theropods.

....Young Nicholas loves dinosaurs
.....Even though they have very sharp claws
....He can name them all for us
.....Like the Tyrannosaurus
....With short arms but terrible jaws.

This week's style of poetry was Diamond Poems. Seven lined poems shaped like a diamond about a linked subject. The poem switches between the subjects in the middle of the 4th line. The 2nd and 6th line have 2 descriptive words. The 3rd and 5th line have three verbs, ending in -ing

....................Egg
.............Oval, white
..Moving, cracking, hatching,
Helpless, hungry, high nest
..Growing, learning, flying
..........Black, feathers
...................Bird
..................................by Oden.

All the words were his, with only a little prompting.

I love working with the Year 3 students. I'm definitely going to miss them over the Christmas holiday break.

Great Books Week - Thursday

.

Thursday:

I hated … when I had to read it in high school, but when I read it on my own later, I loved it because….



Sorry, but this is not a question I can answer. There were plenty of books we were forced to ... read ... while in high school that certainly fit the category. However, I have never even contemplated revisiting any of them to check if I still hate them.



It might be an interesting experiment though. If I had to choose one book, the one I hated the most, it would have to be Wuthering Heights.



Usually, I liked books that had movies based on them. Armed with a little skimming and the video fresh in my mind, I found I could cobble together a more than passable book report - as long as was careful not to mention any of the actors names in the report. Once bitten...



Wuthering Heights was the exception to the method. I loathed the movie even more than the book. I made it fifteen minutes in before I turned it off.


Visit the original Great Books Blog Tour blog post located on the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) web site.


http://news.naiwe.com/2009/10/03/great-books-week-blog-tour-october-4-10-2009/
.
.

Life is a Jungle (well more like a Savannah)

Book Fairs are such wonderful things.

Seeing how excited the children from my local primary school were at the book sale in the library today, made it an even greater pleasure.

We hear so much about how books are on the same path as the dinosaurs. How video games and technology are killing children's love for books.

I did not see any sign of this today. And, if the look of delight on the faces of the kids as they picked out the books they were going to buy is anything to go by, books are going to be with us for a long, long time.

Book Safari was this years book week theme and the children and parents of Eglinton Public School did themselves proud today. The Book Week costume parade offered up an amazing variety of African animals, safari guides, witch doctors, Zulu warriors and traditionally dressed African girls. There were also a couple of young tigers, obviously on holidays from India, a wookie, a ninja turtle and even Herbie the Love Bug made an appearence to make the parade a true spectacle.

Today was a good day!

Education Week

Buy a book for your school library:

There are always things schools want that require funds. New computers, interactive whiteboards, teacher resources, sporting equipment, the list goes on. Often, the place that misses out is the library and the students are left with outdated and worn books to read.

In today's digital world, it is hard enough to entice children into reading for pleasure and it is harder still if the books you want them to read have been at the school longer than they have.

I don't know if all schools do this but my local Primary school, Eglinton Public has a tradition during Education Week where students can purchase a book to donate back to the school library.

I think this is a wonderful idea. Not only does the library have a regular supply of new books, they get topical books that the students actually want to read.

During open day on Thursday, the local book store set up a display in front of the library of new release books made up of the librarian's wish list of fiction and non-fiction titles. During the day, student would browse with their parents and select the books they want to read.

What's in it for the students? Their library ends up being one of the best school libraries in the area. Plus the student donating the book get to be the first to borrow it.
Some people would say that's not a lot of incentive BUT it seems to be enough to make the idea work. Books were flying off the display. I even got into the action and donated a couple of books myself.

I donated a copy of Sandy Fussell's 'Polar Boy' because I couldn't believe the library didn't already have a copy of this wonderful book. And I donated a copy of Sue Whiting's 'Freaky' because it is such a boy book, full of gross and creepy things.