April 2016 - Page 3 of 10 - Anastasia Suen

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary
by Laura Shovan (Author)

Eighteen kids,
one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.
Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They’re going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

The poem for April 21 (today!) begins:

April 21
STAND UP, SIT DOWN
Hannah Wiles

The phone rings.
I can hardly believe what I see.
Shoshanna’s number on the ID.
She says George is planning a protest
for our school to stay open.
She wants me to come.

The poem begins with an action:

The phone rings.

That action leads to a reaction that rhymes:

I can hardly believe what I see.
Shoshanna’s number on the ID.

What Shoshanna says on the phone comes next. The information is first:

She says George is planning a protest
for our school to stay open.

Then Shoshanna makes a request:

She wants me to come.

Not a word is wasted as the story in the poem moves forward line by line with actions and reactions.

Rain, Rain, Go Away (Tangled Tunes)
by Steven Anderson (Author) and Misa Saburi (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The BIG Picture

See what a family does on a rainy day and what they wish they were doing. (Book + CD)

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

The song begins:

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.

Daddy wants to play.
Rain, rain, go away.

The first two lines of this Tangled Tune are the same as the traditional tune:

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day.

The third line is the one with the new twist:

Daddy wants to play.

The last line is the same as the first:

Rain, rain, go away.

As the pages turn, readers see each member of the family. A classic tune has been updated with a new story.