Saturday, April 02, 2016

Science + Poetry = Life in the pond

For the month of April (National Poetry Month), I'm featuring science poetry tied to science-themed picture books. My graduate students (in my "Poetry for Children" class) are each selecting a science-themed picture book (or pair of picture books) from the series of professional resource books, "Picture Perfect Science Lessons" by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan (and published by the National Science Teachers Association). Here's the first example (created by me) and centered around the food web of the pond. The focus picture book pair is:

  • White Owl, Barn Owl by Nicola Davies 
  • Butternut Hollow Pond by Brian Heinz

The poetry book that works perfectly with this book pair is Song of the Water Boatman by Joyce Sidman. Plus Pond Circle by Betsy Franco is a great "bonus" selection to connect with this topic too. Below is a graphic featuring those books, followed by a featured poem from Song of the Water Boatman and Take 5 activities to accompany the poem along with a "bonus" poem, "Alligator with Fish" by Jane Yolen, from The Poetry of Science. Here's heaps of science + poetry fun. Enjoy!




Copyright Sylvia Vardell 2016
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4 comments:

  1. Donna Smith4:09 PM

    I love poems that can be integrated with science. It seems a natural!

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  2. Sylvia Vardell10:06 PM

    Thanks, Donna. Me, too! And there are lots more to come here at my blog. Please check back when you have time.

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  3. cynthia11:32 AM

    Great titles! Thanks, Sylvia.

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  4. Maria Gianferrari11:41 AM

    I love White Owl, Barn Owl and another barn owl book by Tony Johnston, The Barn Owls.

    I hadn't heard of Butternut Pond/Pond Circle books, so I will definitely check them out.

    Thanks for doing science-themed poetry, Sylvia!! It's some of my favorite to read. I love pretty much everything by Joyce Sidman.

    I also write sciency-poetic NF andrecently sold a book called Whooo-Ku, on great horned owls, which was written in a series of haiku poems :).

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