A series of various poems for children to explore. Many poems are different in the subject of the poems but correlate to the same main subject

Kristine O'Connell George writes from observation. She takes very basic concepts and turns them into an art form. Young children can be inspired to write their own poetry from simple concepts. ( )

Summary:
I picked the poem about how the children caught frogs with flashlights in the damp, secret garden. They gathered the frogs and placed them into a box, wet down the driveway and laid the garden hose across as a finish line. Ready-Set-Go! Sadly, the race was over rather quickly as the seventeen frogs upon release hopped off in all directions fleeing into the moonlight to disappear.

Personal Reaction:
I liked the poem that I chose to read and focus on. I only wish that I could have gotten more of them read.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Talk about frogs and ask if anybody has ever gone frog hunting or caught one
2. Let them create their own frog out of various materials...pom poms, felt, beads, rhinestones, sequins
3. Catch some frogs and set up your very own frog race for your class outside on a nice day.

Summary: This collection of poetry is about the outdoors, nature, and farm life. The Great Frog Race was the name of the collection and this poem was about a group of kids who found a big group of frogs and decided to race them and the frogs hopped away afterwards. Another one that I enjoyed was Weeping Willow, it was about a girl who enjoyed to look at the Weeping Willow that was in her front yard, and how one day she found out why it was named weeping for when it lost it's leaves it looked like piles of tears.

Personal Reaction: I'm not a big poetry fan, but I did enjoy this collection. I felt like I could relate to it a lot I grew up in South Carolina and saw a lot of weeping willows and frogs everywhere. I think that books of poetry like this one can help young children become interested in poetry who enjoy being outside and live on a farm/country.

Classroom Extensions:
1. Share some of these poems as you are teaching Science or nature and then have students make their own poem about something they like in nature an animal, plant, etc.
2. For a music class share the "Music Class" poem and have students write a poem about one of their favorite instruments and illustrate. Then hang around classroom. ( )

“Canada Geese”
This is a short poem about geese flying south for the winter. This is would be a great poem to introduce a chapter on geese. The book as a whole is cute and has a lot of poems mostly about animals and nature.

I really like this poem it’s cute and short. I think children who like animals would love this poem.

1.) This would be a great poem to use to introduce a unit on geese.

2.) have the children draw pictures of geese flying south.