East Harlem 5th Graders Know That Poems Don't Always Have to Rhyme!
The cost of 45 book titles is $689, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
Creating students who love poetry means that students have to be exposed to a lot of poetry... every day, not just in April during National Poetry Month. This is not an easy task since by the fifth grade some students have already been turned-off from poetry. However, it has been my experience that the students in my East Harlem classroom like what I like. Therefore, I've been sharing my love of poetry and beautiful language with them since the first day of school. They're slowly transforming into young people who want to explore poetry.
In order to encourage the exploration of poetry, children need to be exposed to a variety of poems. Some of the types of poetry I would like to expose my students to are concrete, free verse, limericks, narrative and rhyming. Once children are immersed in poetry, they are then able to take off and write their own poems using the poems they have been exposed to as mentor texts.
Poetry draws students into listening. Kids pay attention to poetry because it plays with the sounds of language, uses intriguing words and deals with fascinating topics. It also increases children's vocabularies (i.e., if kids hear poetic language, then they tend to use poetic language in their own writing and speaking). To that end, poetry also helps children learn to write since it gives them a plethora of words and language patterns to draw from in their own writing. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, poetry helps kids learn to think by showing them how to look at the world in a new way.
Due to a "Poetry Pond Program" I'll be starting in October 2006, I need to establish a large collection of poetry books in my classroom so that my students can have access to great poetry to read at our Poetry Pond Program Meetings on Friday afternoons. (Poetry Pond is an idea I recently heard about where students bring a published poem, or one of their own, to a class meeting where they read it aloud to their peers.) Hence, I need your help bringing fresh, exciting books of poetry to my classroom. My school has limited funds and cannot afford to provide all of these books for my classroom. With your help, 31 kids, year-after-year, can be exposed to great works of poetry.
Thank you, in advance, for your generosity.
Days to Celebrate: A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More Lee Bennett Hopkins, Stephen Alcorn (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$16.19
1
$16.19
A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children Caroline Kennedy, Jon J. Muth (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$15.96
1
$15.96
A Maze Me: Poems for Girls Naomi Shihab Nye, Terre Maher (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$15.29
1
$15.29
Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices Walter Dean Myers
• Barnes and Noble
$15.25
1
$15.25
A Patriot's Handbook: Poems, Stories, and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love Selected by Caroline Kennedy
• Barnes and Noble
$15.25
1
$15.25
Fold Me a Poem Kristine O'Connell George, Lauren Stringer (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.40
1
$14.40
Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems Kristine George, Kristine O'Connell George, Barry Moser (Illustrator), Barry O'Connell Moser (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.40
1
$14.40
Fire in My Hands Gary Soto
• Barnes and Noble
$14.40
2
$28.80
Pocket Poems illustrated by Marylin Hafner Selected by Bobbi Katz, Marylin Hafner (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.39
1
$14.39
Where the Sidewalk Ends: 30th Anniversary Special Edition Shel Silverstein, Shel Silverstein (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.39
1
$14.39
Oh No! Where Are My Pants? and Other Disasters: Poems Lee Bennett Hopkins (Editor), Wolf Erlbruch (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.39
1
$14.39
Valentine Hearts: Holiday poetry (I Can Read Book Series) Lee Bennett Hopkins, JoAnn Adinolfi (Illustrator), JoAnn Adinolfi (Photographer)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.39
1
$14.39
Got Geography!: Poems Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Philip Stanton (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$14.39
1
$14.39
Winter: An Alphabet Acrostic Leslie Evans (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$13.50
1
$13.50
Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic Leslie Evans (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$13.50
1
$13.50
Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems Kristine O'Connell George, Kate Kiesler (Illustrator), Kate A. Kiesler (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$13.50
1
$13.50
Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic Leslie Evans (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$13.50
1
$13.50
Summer: An Alphabet Acrostic Leslie Evans (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$13.50
1
$13.50
The Tree Is Older Than You Are: A Bilingual Gathering of Poems and Stories from Mexico with Paintings by Mexican Artists Naomi Shihab Nye
• Barnes and Noble
$13.49
1
$13.49
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States Lori M. Carlson (Editor), Oscar Hijuelos (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$13.45
1
$13.45
A Giraffe and a Half Shel Silverstein, Shel Silverstein (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$12.79
1
$12.79
Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems Kristine O'Connell George, Debbie Tilley (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$12.60
1
$12.60
This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort Selected by Georgia Heard, Georgia Heard (Editor), Various (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$11.69
1
$11.69
Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky: Poems Georgia Heard, Jennifer Owings Dewey (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$9.85
1
$9.85
What Have You Lost? Naomi Shihab Nye, Michael Nye (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$8.99
1
$8.99
Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People Jane Yolen, Jason Stemple (Photographer)
• Barnes and Noble
$8.95
1
$8.95
Wham! It's a Poetry Jam: Discovering Performance Poetry Sara Holbrook, Foreword by Jane Yolen
• Barnes and Noble
$8.95
2
$17.90
Writing Kind of Day: Poems for Young Poets Ralph J. Fletcher, April Ward (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$8.95
1
$8.95
Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls Betsy Franco-Feeney (Editor), Nina Nickles (Photographer)
• Barnes and Noble
$8.09
1
$8.09
Ashley Bryan's ABC of African American Poetry Ashley Bryan, Ashley Bryan (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$7.19
2
$14.38
Laughing Tomatoes/Jitomates Risuenos: And Other Spring Poems/Y Otros Poemas de Primavera Francisco X. Alarcon, Maya Christina Gonzalez (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$7.15
2
$14.30
Palm of My Heart: Poetry by African American Children Davida Adedjouma (Editor), Gregory Christie (Illustrator), Lucille Clifton (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$7.15
1
$7.15
From the Bellybutton of the Moon/Del Ombligo de la Luna: And Other Summer Poems/Y Otros Poemas de Verano Francisco X. Alarcon, Maya Christina Gonzalez (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$7.15
1
$7.15
19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East Naomi Shihab Nye
• Barnes and Noble
$6.29
1
$6.29
Spectacular Science: A Book of Poems Lee Bennett Hopkins, Virginia Halstead (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$6.29
1
$6.29
You Hear Me?: Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys Betsy Franco-Feeney (Editor), Nina Nickles (Photographer)
• Barnes and Noble
$6.29
1
$6.29
Cool Salsa Lori M. Carlson (Editor), Oscar Hijuelos (Introduction)
• Barnes and Noble
$6.29
1
$6.29
Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps WritersCorps, Foreword by Nikki Giovanni, Kevin Powell
• Barnes and Noble
$6.29
1
$6.29
Marvelous Math: A Book of Poems Lee Bennett Hopkins, Karen Barbour (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$6.29
1
$6.29
Love That Dog Sharon Creech
• Barnes and Noble
$5.39
3
$16.17
Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out Ralph J. Fletcher
• Barnes and Noble
$5.39
1
$5.39
Heartbeat Sharon Creech
• Barnes and Noble
$5.39
4
$21.56
Locomotion Jacqueline Woodson
• Barnes and Noble
$5.39
2
$10.78
The Great Frog Race: And Other Poems Kristine O'Connell George (Illustrator), Kristine O'Connell George
• Barnes and Noble
$5.35
1
$5.35
Neighborhood Odes Gary Soto, David Diaz (Illustrator)
• Barnes and Noble
$5.35
1
$5.35
Materials cost
$547.06
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Total project cost
$634.48
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$139.28
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$773.76
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$773.76
2 Donors
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-$635.00
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Shubitz and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.