Poetry Picnic: June 1, 2017

We had a poetry picnic on June 1st to welcome the new month. I chose a lot of poems because many of them were so short, but it didn't take the girls as long to eat at this picnic as it had at the previous one, since it was a snack and not lunch, and they became pretty restless. I'd probably choose to read half of these if I had it to do over. (As usual, anthology titles link to Goodreads; poem titles link to online full text when available.)

From The Posy Ring: 

• Where Go the Boats? by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Fairy Folk by Robert Montgomery Bird
• Discontent by Sarah Orne Jewett 

These were the longest and most difficult-to-understand poems on the list, which is why I started with them. I read poems like these mainly to expose the girls to the language. I don't necessarily expect them to comprehend the meaning at all.

From All the Small Poems and Fourteen More: 

• sun by Valerie Worth
• coins by Valerie Worth
• duck by Valerie Worth
• caterpillar by Valerie Worth
• mushroom by Valerie Worth
• pocket by Valerie Worth

Miss Muffet really responded to these "small poems" and their corresponding illustrations. My favorite was "duck" but she seemed most fond of "coins." I like this collection because the poems are very short, but they are not dumbed down in any way for kids. When we someday begin to study and analyze poetry, these would be good ones to start with.

From Listen, Children, Listen: 

• Blum by Dorothy Aldis
• Numbers by Elizabeth Madox Roberts
• Whispers by Myra Cohn Livingston
• Discovery by Myra Cohn Livingston
• The Sun by John Drinkwater 

Miss Muffet liked "Blum" because she is in a phase where she likes to make up words. She also liked "Numbers", which I chose because I have started doing very basic math with her using Cuisenaire rods. The other poems didn't seem to make any particular impression, though Miss Muffet did seem to think the suggestion in "The Sun" that we tell the sun we are happy was pretty amusing.

From Everything Glistens and Everything Sings:

• The River by Charlotte Zolotow 
• Toward Dark by Charlotte Zolotow
• Raccoon by Charlotte Zolotow
• Ladybug by Charlotte Zolotow 

These poems are a little too pensive for little kids, but since they are short, I read them for the language. "Ladybug" was probably the girls' favorite. 

From Favorite Poems Old and New: 

• Song for a Little House by Christopher Morley
• Swimming by Clinton Scollard
• At the Garden Gate by David McCord
• What Do We Plant? by Henry Abbey
• Old Log House by James S. Tippett

Most of these poems were chosen based on recent discussions I had with Miss Muffet. We've been talking about wanting a bigger house, but trying to enjoy the littleness of our current small one. The pool had just opened, so we were preparing to swim, and Miss Muffet likes to ask about the materials from which things are made so "What Do We Plant?" seemed a natural choice. I chose "At the Garden Gate" because I liked the rhythm, and "Old Log House" because it was about the "old days" which Miss Muffet seems increasingly interested in hearing about. 

From The Year Around:

• Alone by John Farrar 
• June by Douglas Malloch
• That's June by Mary F. Butts
• Stay, June, Stay! by Christina Rossetti (part IV of the linked poem)

These poems all came from the June section of the book. I hope to keep using this book each month to introduce themes related to the current season and upcoming holidays.

From All Together:

• Everybody Says by Dorothy Aldis
• Bad by Dorothy Aldis
• We Know a House by Dorothy Aldis
• Awful Mornings by Dorothy Aldis

This is the most preschool-friendly collection of poetry we have, so I try to include a few poems from it at each picnic. This one had two about having a bad day, as we'd had struggled through the morning. I chose "Everybody Says" because it mentions "Aunt Bee" which is what Miss Muffet sometimes calls my sister. "We Know a House" was a random choice to complement the house-themed poems from Favorite Poems Old and New above.