It is Friday, time for a poetry party and time to celebrate the new Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, published by Pomelo Books. .
The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science is a fun way to discover science and poetry together. The Anthology has 218 poems written by 78 children's poets.
Each poem is a magic creation to develop a child's interest in science and poetry.
Three great children's poets have kindly agreed to help with the celebration--Laura Purdie Salas, Janet Wong, and Eileen Spinelli.
Laura Purdie Salas, children's author and poet has allowed me to share her acrostic poem from the anthology. Thank you, Laura.
THINGS TO DO IN SCIENCE CLASS
by Laura Purdie Salas
Look at labels.
Ask advice.
Be sure to check directions twice! Wear
Solid shoes to shield your feet,
And keep your table clean and neat.
Follow Rules that you are given.
Explore
The startling world
You live in.
©2014 Laura Purdie Salas. Used with permission of the author, all rights reserved. (Third Grade, Week 2, Lab Safety, from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, Pomelo Books.)
I love acrostic poems and this one I thought was a dandy. Do you see how it fits to spell a word in the left margin? But this poem also rhymes, which makes it a special poem to me. Well done, Laura. Can you take your own science word and write an acrostic? I used the word LAB to write mine:
Love
All about
Biology.
Now it's your turn.
And while you are thinking about writing your own science poem, I want to share another fun science poem. This one is from Janet Wong, extraordinary children's poet. Thanks, Janet.
DR. LEE
by Janet Wong
Last week
I couldn't
see the board
in any
of my classes.
Dr. Lee
saw
right away
that I needed
some glasses!
When I grow up
I want to be
a doctor
just like
Dr. Lee!
©2014 Janet Wong. Used with permission of the author, all rights reserved. (Kindergarten, Week 34, Science Careers, from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, Pomelo Books.)
Janet told me she envisions Dr. Lee as a woman. I think it is a delightful poem to think about all the medical, biological, scientific professions one can go into if you like science. Young people hold the future of the world and science can help to make our lives better.
Eileen Spinelli has also given me permission to share her poem. This poem has a special effect on me. Every time I read it, I get a tiny little flutter in my heart as I consider all the possibilities in the world that can happen between those spaces inside the atoms. (If you click on her name above you can see another science poem of hers and all the covers of her wonderful books.)
IMAGINE SMALL
by Eileen Spinelli
Imagine something very small:
a rubber duck, a ping-pong ball.
Imagine something smaller yet:
a pebble or a violet.
Go smaller now: a silver bead
a baby's tooth, a pumpkin seed.
Keep going--
freckle, flea or gnat,
a speck of dander from the cat.
Imagine that.
And then imagine this--so cool--
a teeny-tiny molecule.
So teeny-tiny you and I
can't see it with the naked eye.
To think of it gives me a chill.
But there is something smaller still:
the atom!
Billions fit in a fleck of foam
or on the dot at the end of this poem.
Billions.
©2014 Eileen Spinelli. Used with permission of the author, all rights reserved. (Second Grade, Week 9, Matter, from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, Pomelo Books.)
Gosh, I don't know why, but I really feel up-lifted when I read this poem.
Here is my poem from the anthology:
Capillary Action
by Joy Acey
I put my stick of celery
in my cherry drink.
Three days later
the leaves turned pink!
Tell me your reaction.
Tell me what you think?
Could capillary action
happen when I drink?
If you'd like to know more about THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE you can see more sample poems at the Pomelo Books web site here.
Sylvia Vardell had a terrific post about the books on her blog Poetry for Children last week, here.
These science poems are special to me because science plays a big part in my life. My husband is a scientist, an immunologist to be specific. He loves to do science experiments and find out new things. It is exciting to find out something new no one else has ever known before and then to be able to share that information with others. But, due to cuts of almost 25% to federal research budgets, less than one in six new grants is being funded. Research programs across the United States are being eliminated and scientific labs are shutting down. There are some fun student made videos titled STAND UP FOR SCIENCE, that discuss this problem on the Federation of Societies for Experimental Biology web site.
Perhaps by reading THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE you'll discover something you never knew before, or find something about yourself you didn't know. I hope you do and I hope you'll be able to share your new knowledge. Have fun with science and poetry. Happy Friday.
For more poetry on our Poetry Friday Roundup, hop over to Rogue Anthropologist and catch lots of other great poetry sites.
On Saturday at 1, Juantia Havill, Ken Slesarik and I will be reading science poems from the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science at the Science tent at the Book Festival in Tucson, on the mall at the University of Arizona. It is all FREE and we'd love to see you. Drop by and say HELLO.
