First Day of Summer

Tomorrow, Saturday, June 21, is officially the first day of summer! 
Here's a poem to celebrate from The Poetry Friday Anthology.

Family Vacation
   by Allan Wolf

I started packing Monday
when I gathered up my shirts.
My sister packed away a blouse,
a hairbrush, and three skirts.

Daddy packed his razor
and his woolen dress-up slacks.
Mother packed her flowered dress
and a box of crunchy snacks.
  
We gathered up a couple lamps
and a box of dictionaries,
we even took Sir William
and Bernice, our pet canaries,

the sofa and the kitchen sink,
my old, stuffed Teddy Bear,
the television, bicycles,
Great Grandma’s rocking chair!

By Friday we had taken
all the things we had to take.
We even took some things
we really needed by mistake.

We’re ready for vacation now,
with all the stuff we’re towing.
The only problem is that we’ve 
forgotten where we’re going!

Take 5

(Here are the activities in The Poetry Friday Anthology that accompany this poem.)

1. As a poetry prop for sharing this poem, have a suitcase or backpack handy while you read the poem aloud.

2. Share the poem again and invite students to chime in on the last two lines of the poem (The only problem is that we’ve / forgotten where we’re going!). Read the rest of the poem aloud, starting slowly, accelerating speed as you go, and then pausing before the final stanza. 

The Texas Edition

3. For discussion: What is the one item you feel like you can’t leave behind when packing for a trip?

4. Poets give their poems shape in many ways. Here the poem is made up of four-line stanzas, or quatrains. Talk with students about each stanza and what it adds to the poem. What details tell you the poem is humorous?

5. Match this poem with the acrostic poem “Family Vacation” by Kathi Appelt (4th Grade, Week 35, page 221), the packing poem “By the Sea” by Lesléa Newman (1st Grade, Week 35, page 101), or selections from Vacation: We’re Going to the Ocean! by David L. Harrison.

Now head on over to Check it Out where Jone is hosting our Poetry Friday gathering!

Image credit: Middle-state.com