1. POETRY PIZAZZ
April 30, 2013

2. Five Little Monkeys
Pre-K
Five little monkeys swinging from a tree
Teasing Mr. Alligator, can’t catch me.
Along came Mr. Alligator quiet as can be
And snatched a monkey right out of the tree.
Four little monkeys…
Three little monkeys…
Two little monkeys…
One…
Missed me, missed me, nah nah nah nah nah!

3. Who has seen the Wind?
by Christina Rosetti K1
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you;
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither your nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

4. Deep Inside my Heart K2
Deep inside my heart
I’ve got this everlasting light.
It’s shining like the sun,
it radiates on everyone.
The more that I give,
the more I have to give.
It’s the way that I live.
It’s what I’m living for.

5. Clouds
by Dorothy Aldis K3
If I had a spoon
As tall as the sky
I’d dish out the clouds
That go slipping by.
I’d take them right in.
And give them to cook
And see if they tasted
As good as they look.

6. The Beech Tree
by Rose Fyleman 1G1
I'd like to have a garden
With a beech tree on the lawn;
The little birds that lived there
Would wake me up at dawn.
And in the summer weather
When all the leaves were green,
I'd sit beneath the beech boughs
And see the sky between.

7. Little Seeds
by Else Holmelund Minarik 1G3
Little seeds we sow in spring
growing while the robins sing,
give us carrots, peas and beans,
tomatoes, pumpkins, squash and greens.
And we pick them,
one and all,
through the summer,
through the fall,
Winter comes, then spring, and then
little seeds we sow again.

8. Calling All Readers
by Laura Purdie Salas 1G4
I’ll tell you a story
I’ll spin you a rhyme.
I’ll spill some ideas—
And we’ll travel through time.
Put down the controller.
Switch off the TV.
Abandon the mouse and
Just hang out with me.
I promise adventure.
Come on, take a look!
On a day like today,
There’s no friend like a book.

9. The Pasture
by Robert Frost 2G1
I’m going out to clean the pasture spring;
I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha’n’t be gone long. – You come too.
I’m going out to fetch the little calf
That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha’n’t be gone long. – You come too.

10. Good Night
Dorothy Mason Pierce 2G3
On tip-toe comes the gentle dark
To help the children sleep
And silently, in silver paths,
The slumber fairies creep.
Then overhead, God sees that all
His candles are a-light,
And reaching loving arms to us
He bids His World Good Night

11. Learning Nothing
by: Mattie Stepanek 2G4
It’s impossible
To learn nothing.
Even when you believe
You are learning nothing.
Your are actually
Still learning something.
Consider each day, each moment,
Each possible lesson, carefully.
It is truly impossible
To learn nothing
When you believe

12. In the Kitchen
by John Cotton 3G1
After the aimless
Chatter of the plates,
The murmurings of the gas,
The chuckle of the water pipes
And the sharp exchanges
Of knives, forks and spoons,
Comes the serious quiet,
When the sink slowly clears its throat
And you can hear the occasional rumble
Of the refrigerator’s tummy
As it digests the cold.

13. On Being a Champion
by Mattie Stepanek 3G2
A champion is a winner,
A hero…
Someone who never gives up
Even when the going gets rough.
A champion is a member of
A winning team…
Someone who overcomes challenges
Even when it requires creative solutions
A champion is an optimist,
A hopeful spirit..
Someone who plays the game,
Even when the game is called life..
Especially when the game is called life.
There can be a champion in each of us,
If we live as a winner,
If we live as a member of the team,
If we live with a hopeful spirit,
For life.

14. Sound 3G3
Pssst!
Have you heard what’s going round?
Sound!
Do you know how sound behaves?
It travels in invisible waves.
How do you know the waves are
there?
They vibrate through the air.
When the waves reach our ear,
Sound is what we hear!
Pssst!

15. Words Are Ours
Michael Rosen 4G1
In the beginning was the
word
and the word is ours:
the names of places,
the names of flowers,
the names of names,
words are ours.
Page-turners
for early-learners
How to boil an egg
or mend a leg
Words are ours

16. Wall-charts
Love hearts
Sports reports
Short retorts
Jam-jar labels
Timetables
Words are ours
Following the instructions
for furniture constructions
Ancient mythologies
Online anthologies
Who she wrote for
Who to vote for
Joke collections
Results of elections
Words are ours

17. The tale's got you gripped
Have you learned your script?
The method of an Experiment
Ingredients for merriment
W8n 4ur txt
Re: whts nxt
Print media
Wikipedia
Words are ours
Sub-titles on TV
Details on your cv
Book of great speeches
Guide to the best beaches
Looking for chapters
on velociraptors
Words are ours

18. The mystery of history
The history of mystery
The views of news
The news of views
Words to explain
the words for pain.
doing geography
Autobiography
What to do in pay-phones
Goodbyes on gravestones
Words are ours.

19. I Know You Won't Believe Me
by Jack Prelutsky 4G3
I know you won't believe me, it must sound strange to you,
but, teacher, what I'm saying is absolutely true.
I worked on my assignment, it took me half the night.
I answered every question, and think I got some right.
As soon as I was finished, I left it on my chair,
but when I woke this morning, my homework wasn't there.
My sister hadn't taken it, she told me I was weird.
My mother simply shrugged to hear that it had disappeared.
I rummaged through the closets, the kitchen, and the den,
expecting that my homework would soon be seen again.
But when I saw the ashes, you should have heard me shriek-
My dragon burned my homework, just like he did last week!

20. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost 4G4
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

21. Mother to Son
by Langston Hughes 5G1
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So, boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps.
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal chair.

22. The Mother of the Movement (for Rosa Parks)
By Carole Boston Weatherford 5G2
The sewing machine hums as Rosa hems
a ball gown; last task before quitting time.
Downtown twinkles with Christmas lights.
She boards the bus, takes the first rear seat
and sighs, hoping she can stay put.
Segregation is a stubborn old mule,
but Rosa stands firm, too. This ride home,
she is not budging for Jim Crow,
not giving up her seat to any white man;
law or no law. Facing handcuffs, Rosa slides
her small hands out of a woolen muff,
wraps her slim fingers around a plow,
and gives that mule a slap. In the soil
of her heart, the movement takes root,
seeds of change blossom, then bear fruit.

23. Hope
by Emily Dickinson 5G3
“Hope” is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops-- at all—
And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird—
That kept so many warm—
I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.