Start joking around!

I once read that children laugh approximately 400 times a day! Adults? Adults laugh about 15 times a day-- not nearly enough since laughter is supposed to be good for the heart, circulation, and stress.  So it's time to share a joke and a chuckle with the kids in your life. Try this poem and these activities from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations to get you started! And if you don't have your copy of this collection ready for the new school year, you can get it here. 

And here are the Take 5 activities for sharing this poem:

1. Set the stage for this poem in honor of National Tell a Joke Day by telling a favorite joke (e.g., Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide). Then read the poem aloud slowly.
2. Share the poem again and invite children to say the important final line (Go share your favorite joke!) while you read the rest of the poem aloud.
3. Check out jokes submitted by children, click for the punch line, and vote on favorites at JokesByKids.com. Encourage children to submit their own jokes, too.
4. Pair this poem with the picture book Why the Chicken Crossed the Road by Tedd Arnold and others (Dial, 2006). Talk about all the different interpretations of this old joke and work together to draw a new one as a group.
5. Link with “Laughing” by Cynthia Grady (May, pages 140-141) and with funny poems from If You Were a Chocolate Mustache by J. Patrick Lewis (WordSong/Boyds Mills, 2012) and I’ve Lost My Hippopotamus by Jack Prelutsky (Greenwillow, 2012).

Now head on over to Heidi's Juicy Little Universe for lots more Poetry Friday fun!