Connections to Picture Books

• Preview some of the poems in Thanku: Poems of Gratitude using Google Book Preview, then write tricube poems using this activity guide!

• Use the poetic elements chart on page 5 of this activity pack for Wave to explore similes, shape, line breaks, rhythm, and more in any poem.

• Try turning a poem into a song like the author does in this video reading of "Fifty Ukeleles" from A Hatful of Dragons: And More Than 13.8 Billion Other Funny Poems.

• Amuse with alliteration in this playful complete video reading of "The Flippy, Floppy Flappers" from A Hatful of Dragons.

• Watch this complete video reading of Bubbles....Up!, then have students write poems about their favorite fun activities, using the verses in Bubbles as a model.

• Find figurative language activities, a poetry assessment, a verb-hunt chart, and other printable activities in this teachers' guide for In the Wild, and hear David Elliott share some of his poems in this video reading.

• Rhyme with rhythm using the activity from these teachers' notes for Honey for You, Honey for Me: A First Book of Nursery Rhymes. Watch this video book reading for more fun with rhymes with the author!

• Demonstrate rhyme and visual structure with the complete video reading for Room for Everyone. Then try out a Poetry Multi-Leveled Lesson.

• Perform poems expressively using Reader’s Theater Scripts, such as these three examples:

  • Poems in the Attic
  • Little Cat’s Luck
  • Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems about Our Presidents

• Hear from author Suzanne Slade in this Meet-the-Author Recording for Exquisite, then create a Poet-Tree in her Invitation to Imagine activity.