reading with no expression, no stopping for periods, commas, etc. >You know, as Tim has suggested-- how about poetry,
Poetry has worked all kinds of wonders for all different kinds of students in my classrooms. As Patricia Cunningham used to say about her word work activities, poetry the way I use it is "multi-level." There are some poems that just refuse to be read without prosody & comprehension. Most recently I've discovered 2 or 3 really good new collections of poetry selected for children with CDs inside the cover. (I left all three at school though.They are hardbound, but I don't know any citations.) In at least one of these collections the poems are read by the poets themselves. I quickly copy the individual poems we use each day for every child. I can remember a couple BROTHER & RABBIT, both by Mary Ann Hoberman; SNEEZE by Maxine Kumin; TRIPS by Nikki Giovanni; WOLF by Billy Collins; and GOOD HOT DOGS by Sandra Cisneros. Some years I've had up to 4-5 boys try to "out-nasty" each other by performing NASTY LITTLE DRAGONSONG-I think it might be by Jack Prelutsky. Sara Holbrook's books on performance poetry really appeal to both boys and girls. Her poems STEAMED and A CHOICE really get a variety of kids wound up. And, there are a few poets that really appeal to 8 -11 year-olds, like James Stevenson, Brod Bagert, and Douglas Florian. I keep it really simple. The poem is at each spot when the kids arrive. They know to read it sometime before reading workshop begins in their Read Around time. To be able to take a turn reading it aloud they know they have to have read it at least twice. When I get to the poem I first ask if anybody wants to clarify any words or ideas. By then at least one student is absolutely beside themselves to be the first to read it aloud. The hard part is cutting off the reading! Every morning is different. I usually don't decide on a poem until before school depending on what's been going on the day before. Some years we do a very low key family performance after several weeks of being immersed in poetry of all kinds. Everyone wants to memorize at least one poem. You have to be patient to see and hear the prosody carry over to the reading of the kids you all are all talking about, but it happens! I highly recommend getting a collection and have the child listen to the poets read their poems, too. John D. _______________________________________________________ Sent through e-mol. E-mail, Anywhere, Anytime. http://www.e-mol.com _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
