POETRY FRIDAY

Throughout the month of April, I read Amy Ludwig Vanderwater's fabulous Thrift Store poems. Most days, I commented on her poems. One day, Amy had a giveaway and I won!

I won! I won! I won!

 I won THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE. And in addition to the anthology,  Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong threw in an extra book, the fourth grade student anthology edition.

As a literacy coach, I'm always looking for ways to make poetry easy and accessible for teachers to use and this is a fabulous resource! So much to love about the Poetry Friday Anthology series:

• The teacher anthology includes 218 poems by 77 poets- you'll know many (most?) who you will recognize from Poetry Friday.

• Each student anthology includes the 38 grade level poems from the teacher anthology, but then also five bonus poems! It also includes a glossary, as well as a list of 60 science-related websites for kids.

• The poems are aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards. There are poems on just about any science-related subject- the scientific process, animals, geology, atoms, the water cycle, sound, famous scientists, the solar system-- that you can imagine.

• There are some bilingual poems! More than half of the students at my school speak Spanish, and I'm always hunting poetry for my Spanish teachers. I find myself going back to the same old favorites- Alma Flor Ada, Francisco X. Alarcon, Gary Soto- again and again. I love those poets but it's really nice to have some new and different poems to share (maybe you could do a whole bilingual edition Janet and Sylvia??? PLEASE!!!!!???)

• Each poem features a "Take Five" section; five things- multimedia resources, ideas for choral reading, discussion suggestions, related books and poems, links to science concepts, etc.- teachers could use to make the poem/science concept accessible to kids.  Most are simple and could be pulled together in a matter of minutes. My teachers, especially those that are a little nervous about poetry, are going to love these ideas/

• There are a TON of extra resources. Some of these resources are poetry related- there's a section on why to read poetry aloud, another on how to read poetry, ideas for how to start a poetry collection in your classroom and poetry blogs for teachers and kids. Others are science related-- a glossary of science terms, science-related poetry books, more than 60 science websites for kids. 

• There is also an e-book edition that would be super easy to use in classrooms.

A terrific resource. Thanks so much Sylvia and Janet!

BESADO POR EL SOL
por Guadalupe Garcia McCall

No es solo tu piel la que
siente sus rayos cariñosos y calidos
El sol amó a la tierra
que abrazó a la semilla besada por el sol
que desdobló sus hojas besadas por el sol
y cultivó el tallo besado por el sol
produjo el trigo besado por el sol
que se convirtió en panecillo besado por el sol
que fue horneado en una cocina besada por el sol
y fue untado por mantequilla besada por el sol
porque también  tú lo amabas.


SUN-KISSED
by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

It is not just your skin that
feels its warm, loving rays.
The sun loved the dirt
who hugged the sun-kissed seed
who unfurled its sun-kissed leaves
and raised the sun-kissed stalk
who produced the sun-kissed wheat
which became a sun-kissed roll
that was baked in a sun-kissed kitchen
and was slathered with sun-kissed butter
because you loved it too.

You can hear Guadalupe read these poems at the Pomelo Book website. 

Violet Nesdoly is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today.