This comprehensive listing and discussion of poetic works supports the standards of all areas of the curriculum, helping librarians and teachers working with kindergarten through middle school students.
Poetry is a natural favorite of children and a wonderful way to enhance learning. Poetry can invite discussion of social issues, including war and peace, race and ethnicity, and the environment. There are poems about health, poems that draw on jazz, and poetic retellings in the form of fables, tales, myths, and legends—each with its own story or lesson.
This second edition of Using Poetry Across the Curriculum: Learning to Love Language offers a comprehensive list of poetry anthologies, poetic picture books, and poetic prose works in a wide variety of subject areas. While it maintains the original edition’s focus on ideas and resource lists for integration of poetry into all areas of the curriculum, it is thoroughly revised to cover current issues in education and the wealth of new poetry books available.
The book is organized by subject areas commonly taught in elementary and middle schools, and, within these, by the national standards in each area. Numerous examples of poetry and poetic prose that can be used to help students understand and appreciate aspects of the standard are listed. A sampling of units that arise from groups of works, writing and performance ideas, and links across the curriculum is also included. While many teaching ideas and topics provide references to the standards they meet, this title is unique in starting with those standards and making links across them.
Features
• Updates from the first edition include new and different poetry and newer authors than the first edition
• Provides numerous lists of anthologies, poems, and poetic prose and meets national standards and areas within those standards
• Offers lists of bilingual works in Spanish and English and lists of poems representing various cultural groups both in the United States and around the world
• Includes teaching ideas, writing activities, and links for crossing the curriculum
Highlights
• Gathers all of the major national standards into one volume with cross references to make connections across them and comprehensive lists of poetic works for all standards areas
• Both poetry and poetic language references help teachers and librarians focus on language instruction
• Many of the activities are generated by the poems themselves, rather than attempting to force poetry into particular activities
• Encourages the use of poetry as a pleasing language activity rather than as a single "unit" or "week" of the curriculum
Barbara Chatton , PhD, is professor of elementary education at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, where she teaches courses in children's and young adult literature. She received her degree. at The Ohio State University. Her published works include Blurring the Edges: Integrated Curriculum through Writing and Children's Literature with N. Lynne Decker Collins, as well as numerous articles in publications such as Book Links and the Journal of Children's Literature.
Reviews
"With the emphasis in most schools on improving literacy, fluency, and reading and writing test scores, this book is extremely valuable. . . . Because all teachers must incorporate writing into their teaching, having relevant poetry for their curriculum and ideas on how to use it, will make this book popular. . . . Many of these books may have been missed when they were first published, and including them in one source will make filling the gaps in the library collection much easier. . . . Highly recommended."—Library Media Connection
"Chitton (elementary education, U. of Wyoming, Laramie) offers elementary and middle school librarians and teachers ideas for reading and sharing poetry to communicate and interrelate all areas of study. The text contains an opening chapter on the national education standards, poetry, and language. Each of the six subsequent chapters contains lists of poetry anthologies, poetic picture books, and poetic prose works for use in teaching language arts, science, mathematics, social studies, fine arts and physical education. Within each subject chapter, the materials are conveniently organized into themes and specific standards. The thoroughly revised second edition covers current issues in education and the wealth of new poetry books available."—Reference & Research Book News
"This edition retains much of the same format as the 1st edition but new poetry has been added and new activities result. This would be a great addition to the teaching collection of most school libraries."—ARBA
