I am leaping into Poetry Friday this week for several reasons, most importantly because my cyberspace friend Catherine Flynn of Reading to the Core (honestly, when are we going to meet IRL, Catherine?) is hosting this week’s gathering. Won’t you join us there? I’m bringing a hat trick of poems to the celebration.
Catherine threw out an International Women’s Day poetry challenge to everyone a few week ago. I love a challenge, so I turned to Wonderopolis (as one does) for a bit of text to craft a blackout poem with. I found Wonder of the Day #401: What is Suffrage? and uncovered this blackout/list poem.
If you are teaching students how to write blackout poetry, Wonderopolis is a great text source!
Next, and the reason why I am leaping is that the amazing Georgia Heard’s new collection of poetry for children, BOOM! BELOW! BLEAT! Animal Poems for Two or More Voices (WordSong/Boyds Mills Press) is about to celebrate its book birthday and I am not waiting until March 12 to talk about it. My Kindergarteners and I have been having a blast reading these fun poems together. I’m joining Georgia today for a celebration of #FrogFriday!
While many members of the animal kingdom are represented in the book, our hands-down favorites are the frog poems. Many of you know that in my district we study our campus vernal pool and the frogs that make their home there. I love taking my students out to the pool in the late winter when the spring peepers begin to let us know spring is on the way. We want to see them SO BADLY, but can only hear them. I’m pretty sure Georgia wrote “You Can’t See Us, but You Can Hear Us” just for us. Thanks, Georgia!
Aaron DeWitt’s gorgeous artwork does a great job filling us in as to what we are missing visually in the forest. I think we are going to have to add a performance of this to our spring celebration for parents. Don’t you?
And “We Don’t Say Ribbit!” is proof positive that poems are teachers. Frogs and toads most definitely don’t say Ribbit!
We love the back and forth dialogue between our amphibious friends in this poem. Another gem!
And now for the best news! Our good friends at WordSong/Boyds Mills Press have generously donated a copy of the book to give away to one lucky Poetry Friday reader. To enter, just leave me a comment referencing BOOM! BELLOW! BLEAT! I’ll let you know if you are the lucky winner! Thanks, Boyds Mills!
And lastly, to close out the hat trick, changes are starting to happen outdoors and in my classroom, and I suspect other classrooms, too. I love this time of year!
***********************************************
Thanks to Catherine for hosting this week’s celebration! Happy Poetry Friday, all!
Wondering and Wandering 
Christie, what an awesome post. Your blackout poem is great–I love blackout poems and have done found poems from Wonders with students, too:>) I can’t wait to read Georgia’s BOOM1 BELLOW! BLEAT! Talk about poetry that MUST be read aloud:>) And finally, I love your March Thaw poem–how it can refer to weather but also to other things we work toward, like equal rights for all…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this. I’m sharing this book at Check It Out. I used it as a mentor text for kinder. I have the book so won’t need to be in the drawing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wonderfully contagious enthusiasm, Christie! This makes me want to be a kindergartner again. (My wife says I already am.) And I love your photographs paired with your poem – especially of your two little guys.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So much celebration here, Christie – peep, peep, peep! I have Georgia’s new book ordered, so don’t put me in the drawing, but can’t wait for it. And I love your blackout poem in tribute to those fierce women!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been hearing the excitement on social media about this great new collection. Hip! Hop! Hooray! for Frog Friday! I love all the information built into the poetry and all those sounds! Can’t wait to get a copy of this book!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Boom! Bellow! Bleat! looks like an amazing collection. Thanks for sharing your experience with it. I hope to read it soon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a great new book! I enjoyed learning about the sounds that frogs and toads really do make. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
I definitely need to add this book to my classroom library! I always look forward to reading your posts! You continue to expand on my appreciation of poetry and I especially look forward to your Friday posts! Thank you for spreading the poetry love! You definitely deserve #glitterconfetti!
LikeLike
Oh, I’ve been on a bit of a book buying binge lately and am trying to stop. This isn’t helping!! My fourth graders love poems for two voices and I love Georgia Heard. Win! Win! We’re due to share at an assembly soon and this might just be the ticket! I’m also admiring your smarts in composing a blackout poem today using a Wonderopolis text and your fabulous March Thaw poem. Sadly, the thaw hasn’t arrived here yet. I was out taking sunrise photos in -8˚F this morning! Brrrr! I’m so looking forward to hearing those spring peepers!
LikeLike
Great post! I love your poem. Christie, you definitely have a gift for poetry!
LikeLike
What a fun and gorgeous post Christie–Your poems both top and bottom are powerful and wonderful! Love your line, “Make voices heard,” and you also featured Georgia Heard’s fantastic new book. That spread with the sounds that all the frogs and toads are making is great! I can just hear all the peeping coming from your students. While I haven’t heard any peepers yet I have been hearing more and more bird songs, thanks for all here.
LikeLike
My students are in love with poems for two voices! Every Poetry Friday features a full slate of Mary Ann Hoberman “you read to me, I’ll read to you” poems. This will be a fabulous addition to my poetry library!
LikeLike
Thank you for this treasure-filled post, Christie! And I agree, we must meet IRL soon. Let’s make it happen this summer! First of all, I LOVE that your blackout poem includes the names of those instrumental women, to whom we owe so much, especially the right to “make [our] voices heard.” My students and I have also been enjoying Georgia’s new book. I agree, it is a gem. (As I already have a copy, don’t include me in the giveaway.) Hearing the peepers is our family’s favorite sign of spring. My son’s birthday is the 22nd, so that is our “are they peeping yet?” date. It’s snowy here this morning, but there was a redwing blackbird at my feeder, a sure sign that “change will happen!”
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll be listening extra hard on 3/22!
LikeLiked by 1 person