-
- WATER
—
Water can be all three states of matter--a solid, a liquid,
or a gas.
-
- CLOUDS
—
In the March 1994 issue of Creative Classroom, an article on the
“Universal Solvent” suggests a water cycle experiment.
Use two empty baby food jars, put 4 ml of water in one, invert the
other jar on top and tape together at the necks.
Set in a sunny spot to watch the water disappear, or evaporate.
Placing an ice cube on top will lower the temperature and make the
water reappear, or condense.
-
- OCEAN
—
Look at a map or globe. How
many oceans are there? Which
is the largest? About 71% of
the earth’s surface is water. The
human body is approximately 65-70% water.
This poem is an example of personification—giving human
characteristics to something that is inanimate. Let several children join hands to create a wave and
dramatize the poem.
-
- CROCODILE
TEARS —
I had fun making up my own “legend.”
There are many animal legends which attempt to explain why things
are the way they are. Have
children bring in animal legends to share or let them try making up their
own.
-
- WATERFALL
—
Why doesn’t a waterfall fall up?
Talk about gravity and how water flows to a lower level.
The highest waterfall in the world is in Venezuela—Angel Falls,
named after U.S. pilot Jimmy Angel.
-
- SPRINKLER
—
There is a lot of alliteration in this poem and a chance for auditory
discrimination. Read the poem
and have students listen for which letter I keep repeating. There are 12 S's, counting the title. As you read each “spray” of words, have your class repeat
after you and run through the sprinkler together! Find other examples of
alliteration.
-
- ICE
CUBES —
I used a lot of crunchy, hard c sounds in this one to convey the
sound of ice cubes. Ice cubes
and Popsicles are solid forms of water because they have a definite
shape—at least until they melt!
-
- POPSICLE
—
This is a tongue-treat and a tongue-twister.
What are some other tongue-twisters?
Explain why things freeze. If
you have access to a freezer, pour juice into ice cube trays, add sticks,
and freeze to make your own Popsicles.
-
- RAIN
—
Why is rain important? Floods
are caused by too much rain and droughts by not enough; how does each
affect us? The Diaguitas, a native Chilean people, gather dead and dried
Normata cacti and press thorns into the hollow shafts.
Pebbles cascading over the thorns create a water sound.
This ancient instrument is still heard in the music of the Andes.
Rainsticks are played to remind the spirits that rain is welcome.
Other cultures use rainsticks also.
You can make a very simple rainstick with a paper towel roll.
Push in straight pins, and wrap with masking tape to keep the pins
in place. Seal one end with
cardboard, add rice, seal the other end, and cover with construction paper
or yarn. Or try using a
mailing tube with nails a bit shorter than the diameter and fill with
lentils or pebbles. Experiment
to hear how the sounds can vary with different materials.
-
- BABBLING
BROOK —
In a way, this is a “found” poem.
I found part of it in the thesaurus of my computer, when I looked
up “babble.” I loved how
the words sounded, bumping up against each other.
They became “babble.”
With older children you could discuss the subtle differences in
meanings. Try to “find” a
poem.
-
- POOL
—
Objects and people float because they weigh less than the water they
displace. Share the famous
story about Archimedes and how he found out the king’s crown wasn’t
gold. (Look in Brainstorms and Thunderbolts for that and other
great stories of discovery.)
-
- HAIL
—
What causes hail, another solid form of water? Why do things bounce?
-
- DEW
—
Use a prism or sun-catcher to separate sunlight into the colors of the
rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (Roy G. Biv).
What creates colors?
-
- RIVER
—
Why did civilizations begin around rivers?
What advantages did they offer?
Use a map or globe to locate some of the world’s greatest rivers.
To learn about a fabulous Environmental Poetry and Art Contest, River
of Words, visit www.riverofwords.org.
-
- STEAM
—
Water can be a gas when it turns to water vapor. Discuss what happens when something boils.
-
- LAKE
—
Talk about the Great Lakes, man-made and natural lakes, and lakes around
the world. Are there any
special lakes your students remember visiting?
-
- SNOW
—
What causes snow? Explain
that snowflakes are six-sided, hexagonal, and all different.
Snow Crystals by W. A. Bentley and W. J. Humphreys (Dover)
has 2453 photographs of snowflakes! To
make a snowflake, have children trace a CIRCLE on a piece of paper.
Cut out. Fold the
CIRCLE in HALF. Fold this
HALF into THIRDS. Snipping
through the layers cut out designs on all three sides.
Unfold to see a lacy snowflake.
Experiment with different textured papers. Read Snowflake Bentley.
-
- POND
—
What kinds of plants and animals do you find in and around a pond?
How is a pond different in summer and winter?
-
- SHOWER
—
Who invented the shower? Study
some other inventions that make use of water’s special properties: steam
engine, water wheel, irrigation. A
metaphor is a figure of speech, where you say one thing is
something else — a shower is a “private cloud.” Encourage students
to try writing a poem with a metaphor, to see something in a fresh,
original way.
-
- ICICLE
—
What causes an icicle? What
effect does the sun have on ice?
-
- WAVE—Discuss
how three things create waves: 1.wind, 2.tides, and 3.earthquakes.
*Divide
students into cooperative learning groups and, using reference books such as
the Information Please Almanac and The Guinness Book of World
Records, have them devise a Water Quiz for each other. (i.e. Where is the
rainiest place on earth? What are
the two longest rivers in the world and where are they located?
Name one waterfall and the country where it is found.
On what river did Tom Sawyer travel?)
*Leave
an empty fish bowl on your desk with a stack of orange construction paper fish
beside it. Whenever students
think of other ways we use water, or, other shapes it can take, they can write
their ideas on a fish, put a paper clip on it for a mouth and drop it into the
bowl. At the end of the week,
make a fishing pole with a magnet on the end and let them "fish" out
all the ideas to share. You can also do this with water conservation ideas.
*Take
a field trip to your local water treatment facility.
*With
younger children the poems could be used to discuss a variety of concepts:
up/down, above/below (“make a lake” on a flannel board and position
objects above and below the water line), hot/cold, big/little, colors.
Use with students acquiring English, as it is very visual and the
titles describe the picture-poems.
*The
first word that Ann Sullivan was able to teach her pupil, Helen Keller, was
“water.”
This
is just a sampling of ideas—the tip of the iceberg.
Water is a great theme which can flow through all areas of the
curriculum! And poetry
belongs everywhere!
