Poems

A tree house, a free house,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house

A street house, a neat house
Be sure to wipe your feet house
I not my kind of house at all-
Let's go live in a tree house.


By Shel Silverstein


An important part of the literacy curriculum in our classroom is reading and learning poems.  The past 2 weeks, the children have been reading Shel Silverstein poems.  I copy a poem on big paper and the children take turns reading it to the class.  We read the same poem all week.  By the end of the week many of the children can say the poem from memory.  There are many benefits to reading poems, but my personal favorite is learning a love of language and play with words.