Celebrating Poetry and the Outdoors

   

Being outdoors has always been Emmy's favorite thing to do.  From a very young age, her curiosity led her to explore nature in wide open spaces and in little nooks and crannies. Today Emmy still enjoys being outside, but I am starting to see a difference in how she relates to nature.  The magic of fairies and gnomes hidden amongst the flowers and leaves is disappearing and in its place is more of a scientific approach to life around her.  I hear things like, "Did you know that sand is made up of millions of tiny rocks?  Did you know that the anther is the part of the flower that produces pollen?  Did you know that there are more than 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth?"  I know that these facts are important and am grateful that she is interested in learning these things, but I am a believer that life is magical and will continue to encourage her to look at things in a variety of different ways (not black or white).  For example, we know that an orb web is made of spirals and is used to catch prey, but seeing an orb web in the early morning mist is magical as the first rays of the morning sun hit its spirals and creates shimmers of gold.

Emmy has attended a Montessori school for the past six years (pre-school through second grade). Going out and exploring nature has always been a part of her school day.  It is understood that fresh air along with children's natural desire to explore their surroundings is beneficial to their growth and learning. Montessori believes that to delight in the wonder of the natural world at a tender and impressionable age is to become a steward to the earth in the years to come. I will be forever grateful to all of her Montessori teachers for gifting Emmy with the awareness that nature doesn't belong to us, but rather that we are responsible for its care.  

This past school year, Emmy spent a lot of time immersed in poetry.  It wasn't just a unit to teach, a box to be checked off, but rather a time to delve into the beauty of words - sweet, juicy, interesting words.  Through read alouds, the poems came to life begging Emmy to dive in.  Through writing, poetry became a way for Emmy to express herself.  By using mentor texts, Emmy began to understand the different ways that poets put words together. Through reciting poems, Emmy realized that the rhythm and rhyme of poetry was a fun way to play with words.  Through drama, Emmy took her love of poetry to a dramatic level by creating little skits to go along with the poems.  In the spring, the children helped to organize a Poetry Tea as a celebration of all that they had learned.  From the invitations to the set up of the classroom, the children were involved in the process.  It may have been lacking a smoky atmosphere and the adornment of berets, but it felt very "beatnik" anyway.  The children each took a turn reading from their hand sewn poetry books where they had written five types of poems such as a couplet and a diamante.  The look of pride on their faces as they stood before a large group of adults and read their poems was a joy to witness.  Also part of the Poetry Tea was food and drinks.  When we arrived, Emmy greeted us and showed us to our table.  She then went and got the snacks and served us hot tea with honey, lemon and/or sugar.  It was such a sweet celebration.  Emmy continues to find poetry wherever we go from noticing words that rhyme to making very poetic remarks such as, "Doesn't the color of the sun have a shade as deep red as a beautiful Poppy in spring."  When she carries what she has learned in school into her day to day life, I know that learning has really occurred. A love of poetry has truly been instilled in her being and I, again, thank her teachers for helping to facilitate this love.  Please take a moment to watch this video of Emmy as she reads her poems at Inn Street Montessori's Lower Elementary Poetry Tea.

 

Ever since her work with poetry at school, Emmy has become interested in books that hold collections of poems.  We have quite a collection of poetry books including Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Shel Silverstein and Mattie Stepanek.  Stepanek has been described as a peacemaker, a philosopher and a prophet.  He suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy and died in 2004 at the age of thirteen. His poems are full of messages of peace and love.  Stepanek called his poems heartsongs.  

"A heartsong doesn't have to be a song in your heart, " he said.  "It doesn't have to be 

talking about love and peace.  It can just be your message.  It can be your feeling.  

Some people might even call it a conscience."  

At a very early age, Stepanek developed his personal life philosophy summed up in the following quote,                                              "Remember to play after every storm."  

You can read more about Mattie Stepanek and his books of poetry and essays titled, Heartsongs, (all NY Times bestsellers) on his website.  

With Emmy's love of the outdoors,  I searched for poetry books that focused on nature. These two books stood out as winners.

The first one is A Stick is an Excellent Thing (poems celebrating outdoor play) by Marilyn Singer with illustrations by LeUyen Pham.  

This book of poetry celebrates universal types of play that are timeless and engaging no matter what generation is participating.  From organized games like jumping rope, hop scotch and hide-and-seek to imaginative games like making mud soup and turning sticks into magic wands, the poems held within these pages invite children to join in the fun.

A Stick is an Excellent Thing

A stick is an excellent thing,

If you find the perfect one.

It's a scepter for a king,

A stick is an excellent thing.

It's a magic wand, It's yours to fling,

To strum a fence, to draw the sun,

A stick is an excellent thing,

If you find the right one.  

(Click HERE for our post about the book Not a Stick)

The second one is Outside Your Window (a first book of nature) by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld.  Hearld's juicy layered collages bring the poems to life.  Davies, a zoologist and best known for writing books about science, finds a way to bring amazing facts and fun things to do in her poetry writing. The book cycles through the seasons with a good number of poems focused on each one.  I like that the poems do not always follow a rhyming format, but instead bring about vivid images through colorful language.  

Honey

Buzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz

It's coming from the beehive

It sounds like sweetness

And the sleepy, sleepy summer

Hmmmm mmm

The bees bring nectar from the flowers

For miles around and in the hive,

They make it into honey.

Buzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz

Hmmmmm mmm

The sound of sweetness and the smell of flowers

Of sunny, sleepy summer -

The sound of honey.

Emmy and I hope that we have inspired you to enjoy the poetry of nature!  I leave you with a quote by one of my favorite philosophers and the person that my Emmy is named after, Ralph Waldo Emerson.    

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." 

For the Love of Rocks

Like many children, Emmy loves to collect items from nature -especially rocks.  Ever since she could walk, treasures from nature have come into our house.  Emmy has a nature tray in her bedroom where she keeps all of these treasures.  To this day, it is rare for her to come home without a rock, shell or acorn in her pocket (or in my purse).  Emmy also enjoys going to stores and museums that have polished rocks. A recent find, from the Harvard Museum of Natural History, is a piece of Chalcopyrite KAL-kah-PIE-rite (shown on the left in her hand above). It is also known as peacock pyrite because of its shiny iridescent qualities which is what drew her to this rock right away.  

Along with collecting rocks, Emmy and I love to read books about rocks.  Here are a few that we have added to our collection of rock books.  

In the photo essay style book, If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian with photographs by Barbara Hirsh Lember, children are finding different kinds of rocks that aren't classified by mineral or structure, but rather by use:  skipping rocks, splashing rocks, climbing rocks, resting rocks.  

Maybe you find a soft white rock - 

a rock that feels dusty in your fingers.  

Then you have a chalk rock and you use it

 to make pictures on the pavement.  

Emmy's favorite classification from this book is a wishing rock. This is a rock with a line all the way around it.  Trace the line, whisper what you want and then throw it.  Here is an example of a wishing rock from our collection.  If You Find a Rock is the perfect beginning to a more formal classification of rocks.  I love that it focuses on observation and appreciation for rocks.  

Next up is a book by one of my favorite authors Byrd Baylor. Baylor lives and writes in an adobe house powered by solar energy in the Sonoran desert of Arizona (she refers to a technical glitch as one where her pen runs out of ink). She presents images of the Southwest through beautiful prose that illustrates vividly the value of simplicity, the natural world and the intense connection between the land and the people.  Baylor's book, Everybody Needs a Rock with illustrations by Peter Parnall, outlines ten rules for choosing the absolutely perfect rock for you. The specifications will make you smile... 

Rule Number 1 

If you can, go to a mountain made out of nothing 

but a hundred million small shiny beautiful roundish rocks. 

But if you can't, any place will do even an alley, even a sandy lake.  

Emmy's favorite rule:  Rule Number 6...The size must be perfect.  It has to feel easy in your hand when you close your fingers over it.  It has to feel jumpy in your pocket when you run.  Some people touch a rock a thousand times a day.  There aren't many things that feel as good as a rock if the rock is perfect.  

I'm going to be sure to reread this book with Emmy because I know that we can use Baylor's idea of ten rules to make lists for other nature items such as, ten ways for choosing a shell, a leaf, a horse chestnut or perhaps even a friend. 

Last is a book by Leo Lionni that is quite different from his signature color and collage work. On My Beach There are Many Pebbles provides us with a whimsical look at rocks.  Part realism and part fantasy...there are fishpebbles and goosepebbles and peoplepebbles and letterpebbles to admire and talk about.  Emmy and I get very excited any time we find a rock that looks like the shape of a heart.

On my beach there are many pebbles 

Most are ordinary pebbles but 

some are strange and wonderful.  

I want to mention two items that Emmy and I use when we are on the hunt for a special rock or something else found in nature.  

(1) We love this mesh bag that was given to Emmy as a birthday gift a few years ago.  It is perfect for holding lots of special items and keeps them from ending up in my purse!  

(2) We also love this little book, Dig Into Rocks, Minerals & Crystals, that we found at the shop in the Harvard Museum of Natural History.  It is simple in text with real photographs of a variety of rocks like the Chalcopyrite.  Emmy often refers to this book when she comes home with a new rock.  

One last thought before I end this post...using rocks to create art is one of Emmy's favorite things to do. She will often move rocks around to create a picture or stack them to create a sculpture.  Sorting them is another thing that she does naturally without any nudging from me.  I love that we can create art anywhere using items from nature!   

Happy Rock Collecting! 

The Busy Tree

"I'm a tree, a busy tree...come and see."

So begins the story The Busy Tree by Jennifer Ward with illustrations by Lisa Falkenstern. In beautiful rhyme, Ms. Ward explores every part of an oak tree from its roots to its boughs introducing such wonderful words such as hollow, prowl and hatchlings. As the oak tree grows tall, the reader sees the many creatures that rely on the tree to live. Ants, chipmunks, and spiders are among the creatures that the illustrator brings to life through her oil paintings. The story comes full circle as the children who play in the shade of the tree plant an acorn which creates another busy tree.

"These are my boughs that creak, bend, and sway,

shading the children below as they play."

This is Emmy's favorite page as she wishes that she could be on the swing hanging from the

tree branch. We've had the opportunity this year to really watch the trees change through the four seasons and Emmy has shown such interest in these changes. Each morning, when I open her curtains, Emmy will tell me what the tree outside of her window looks like. Right now its branches are fully covered in the most beautiful bright green leaves.

Not only is Jennifer Ward instilling the importance of literacy through her books, she is also encouraging her readers to get out into nature and discover its beauty. In addition to her large number of children's books with a focus on nature, Ms. Ward has created two wonderful resources for parents and teachers.

(best for ages four to nine)

(best for ages eight to twelve)

What I love most about both of these books is the way that Ms. Ward presents ideas that allow parents and children to slow down and really engage with their surroundings. Each book has 52 activities designed to capture young minds and all four senses. These books, along with an explorers kit full of essentials such as, binoculars, magnifying glass, cloth bag for collecting, notebook and pencil, field guides, camera, bottles of water, sunscreen and insect repellent, would be a great thing to have on hand for the upcoming summer months. I think I will create my kit and keep it in the car.

"The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Elsa Beskow

Elsa Beskow (1874-1953) is the Beatrix Potter of Scandinavia, and for over one hundred years Swedish children have grown up with her books. With a focus on nature, the changing seasons and the adventures you can only have as a child, her books transcend nationality and time and are true classics.

As I've mentioned previously, anything vintage just makes me absolutely melt. Elsa Beskow books do just that! If you love fairy, elf or gnome stories than these books are definitely for you. Elsa has created the most enchanting world for her characters. Set in the forest amongst beautiful plants and creatures live tiny people living harmoniously together. There are far too many to list here, but let me mention Emmy's favorite Beskow book at the moment. Around the Year (first published in Swedish in 1927 and then published in English in 1988) is a charming book of verses that gives me such an unexplainable, cozy feeling deep down inside. Much like Tasha Tudor's books, Around the Year captures the essence of childhood throughout the year as seen through the eyes of three children. The illustrations are fanciful and the poems are wonderful to read aloud. This simple book is a keeper - one that will stick with you long after you have closed the cover. Here is the poem for the month of August:

Floris Books, the largest children's book publisher in Scotland, has translated and published many of Elsa Beskow's books. Go to their site if you're interested in seeing her collection. Books by Elsa Beskow can be ordered through your local book seller or through our astore on Amazon.

A wonderful project that will embrace the seasons/holidays is to create a nature table in your home. Young children enjoy marking the seasons of the year. A nature table will help them to begin to understand the concepts of the passage of time, and the calendar with its months, weeks, and days as well.

Nothing is a better, soothing, more joyful activity than to bring home bits and pieces of a day's adventure or walk and place it on a table as a celebration of that day or season. Lovely things can be collected such as pebbles, seashells, feathers, pine cones, acorns, sticks, flowers, etc. Emmy always comes home with pockets full of items from our outdoor adventures. A nature table doesn't have to be a table. Emmy has several baskets where she keeps her collection of nature items. A drawer, box or shelf would work just as well. Just remember to put it in a place where it is accessible, but not likely to get knocked over. I believe that the ritual of a nature table, where items are displayed according to the season, will create a wonderful connectedness between Emmy and nature and instill an understanding of the rhythm of the year.

Here's a beautiful example of a nature table displayed prominently in a home.