POETRY PLUS = VIDEO, AUDIO, POCKET POEMS® + AND MORE!
Authors and Illustrators on Vimeo
Pomelo Books has a Vimeo channel! You'll find great videos of authors and illustrators sharing their work online. Take a look at short videos hosted by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong featuring "Pomelo Poets" Kristy Dempsey, Carol-Ann Hoyte, Renée M. LaTulippe, and Holly Thompson plus additional favorite authors and illustrators Yangsook Choi, Adolfo Córdova, Tania de Regil, Mary Beth Leatherdale, Irene Luxbacher, Amanda Mijangos, Kashmira Sheth, and Bethan Woollvin.
One of our favorite poetry websites is No Water River, created by Renée M. LaTulippe. You'll find 130+ clips of poets reading their work at the site's Poetry Video Library. Make sure to watch April Halprin Wayland's engaging reading of her poem "I Like That Night Follows Day" from The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Science and Renée's cinematic performance of her poem "Opening Night" from The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Middle School!
Pocket Poems® on Pinterest—for Carrying in Pockets, Of Course!
Kids love carrying poems in their pockets on Poem in Your Pocket Day in April. Why not do it more often? Have them copy a favorite poem by hand on an index card—and then illustrate it. Or, go to our Pinterest boards and print an assortment of Pocket Poems® for your students; you'll find hundreds to choose from.
If you're feeling ambitious, another fun way to share poetry with children is to show them how to make a Print-and-Fold Mini-Book of their own poems.
Here are some additional poetry printables for your students:
Older students: Blue Bucket / Here We Go Found Poetry Activity Sheet at Every Child a Reader
Younger students: Book Hound Acrostic Activity Sheet at Every Child a Reader
Pocket Poems® to Set the Tone for the Day
Print single copies of our Pocket Poems® and post them on your classroom door to greet your students each morning. Or project a poem onto a screen at the beginning of class to fill students with joy and optimism from the moment they step into the room.
Share a poem about taking tests during testing week. Share a school bake sale right before snacktime. A poem can even provide an energizing and enriching "30-second indoor recess"!
Some of our favorite Pins from our Pinterest boards feature Poem Collages created by teachers in our workshops. We love comparing the way several people approach the same poem with different images and different techniques. Using these Bare Poems, create your own!
Poetry Blog Posts
Here are some links to posts on poetry blogs to give you additional information about our work. If you like what you see, please post comments—bloggers really appreciate feedback from readers. Please share with your colleagues!
Bookology: Pomelo Books (Small Press Medley)
Library Lions Roar: Poetry Friday Series Roars On
Life on the Deckle Edge: Let's CELEBRATE with Vardell and Wong
Nerdy Book Club: A Big Helping of Poetry by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong
No Water River: The Poetry Friday Power Books by Sylvia Vardell & Janet Wong
Poem Farm: Poetry Friday, Connecting Poems, and YOU JUST WAIT
Reading to the Core: It's a GREAT Morning!
Today's Little Ditty: Thinking about World Thinking Day
Wee Words for Wee Ones: several posts featuring poems inspired by YOU JUST WAIT prompts
Write Time: A Suitcase of Seaweed & MORE
Listen to Poems in Different Languages
You can listen to 30+ poems from The Poetry Friday Anthology® for Celebrations in English and in Spanish—for FREE on SoundCloud! A fun thing to do after listening to "Bilingual" by Alma Flor Ada in Spanish and English: challenge students to translate the poem (or even just its key words) into as many other languages as they can.
Poem Movies
Strong imagery is an important element of poetry—and "poem movies" like "Opening Night" by Renée M. LaTulippe are a way to get students thinking about imagery. See below for a few poems that are especially fun to read BEFORE you play the videos. Ask students to imagine what they might see—and maybe even storyboard it quickly together as a collaborative activity (kids love seeing teachers draw, especially when your drawings are shaky; this is a great way for you to model courageous, self-accepting behavior, too). Then click play and see what approaches the moviemakers took! (Find more video links while browsing the monthly pages at PoetryCelebrations.com)