From: Janet Wanamaker <jwanamaker>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 13:04:08 -0500

A few ideas for promoting poetry in April.

Idea #1: As my school's coordinator for TV-Turnoff Week (held toward the end of April) I planned a Poetry Night. Last year students memorized and recited poetry. This year I'm billing it as "Poetry Night: Read or Recite." The kids chose lots of Shel Silverstein. I even had an audio recording of Billy Collins reading
"Forgetfulness." Parents love any chance to see their children participate in a special event. It evoked feelings of "the good old days."
 

Idea #2: Our state's poet laureate, Ellen Kort, was planning a trip and asked people to donate books of poetry which she planned to leave on airplanes, in airports and other miscellaneous places. She spread the word -literally! It's a great spring break idea.

Idea #3: My idea was to have a class of fifth grade students at my school read Love That Dog, in the month of April. The idea was to have each student in the class get the book for one night, read it and return it the next day. The pressure was on. Each student signed the copy and some wrote comments to the author, Sharon Creech. The fifth grade teacher also read the book aloud and used it for teaching poetry. I sent the book to Sharon Creech and received a very nice note over the summer. She said that she loved knowing the book had been in so many hands.

This is my first contribution Janet Wanamaker Neenah, WI janetwana at aol.com
Received on Fri 11 Apr 2003 01:04:08 PM CDT