Dawn K Homeschool

Wow!  It's been a while since I posted.  I've fallen into the habit of just posting on Facebook because it's so convenient.  So, I thought I'd go through my Facebook posts and see if there is anything worth posting here. First subject -- Poetry! Though I read a lot of poetry to my boys, I wanted something poetry-related for them to complete independently. Essentially, they read a poem a day, then they answer a few multiple-choice questions for comprehension, then they focus on some poetry elements. Though Evan Moor offers other grade levels, this is the book we are using. Here are some samples from two different grade levels: I Hear America Singing Grass

I have been committed to reading poetry to the boys since they were old enough to be read to. Some of our favorites over the years have been: Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes (Beatrix Potter) A Child's Book of Poems A Child's Garden of Verses A Child's First Book of Poems Eric Carle's Animals Animals Nursery Rhymes Puddle Wonderful: Poems to Welcome Spring Poems and Prayers for the Very Young Poems to Read to the Very Young Cotton Sailboats Poems for Little Children Over in the Meadow (and all other similar books) Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose (Huntington Library Children's Classics) The Random House Book of Poetry for Children We also read several books of haiku which I blogged about  here . One of the most hilarious encounters we've had has been with  Favourite Poems for Children (Classic Literature with Classical Music) .  We listened to this CD on our way to and from piano lessons.  One of the make narrators also narrates  Aesop's Fables (Junior C...

We finished  this  edition of  A Child's Garden of Verses  illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa. It contains such sweet illustrations, and of course the poems themselves are classic! I could not keep from crying through the reading aloud of "To Minnie." It was just so poignant! To Minnie   The red room with the giant bed   Where none but elders laid their head;   The little room where you and I   Did for awhile together lie   And, simple suitor, I your hand   In decent marriage did demand;   The great day nursery, best of all,   With pictures pasted on the wall   And leaves upon the blind--   A pleasant room wherein to wake   And hear the leafy garden shake   And rustle in the wind--   And pleasant there to lie in bed   And see the pictures overhead--   The wars about Sebastopol,   The grinning guns along the wall,  ...

As you know, we have been studying Japan -- specifically during the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868).  We read the following books about haiku. One Leaf Rides the Wind by Celeste D. Mannis The Cuckoo's Haiku and Other Birding Poems by Michael J. Rosen What is the Moon? Japanese Haiku Sequence by Ruby Lytle Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak (About a poet in the 17th century, Basho, who traveled through Japan) Includes several haiku and beautiful art work. See here  for more information about him. Cool Melons -- Turn to Frogs: The Life and Poems of Issa (Another poet in the 18th century who traveled and wrote Haiku. Today and Today -- Haiku by Issa In the Eyes of the Cat: Japanese Poetry for All Seasons by Demi Though not exclusively haiku, we also read Fold Me a Poem by Kristine O'Connell George .  Afterward, the boys made some of  these  simple origami.  A teacher's guide to accompany the ...