Karla Kuskin

I was so sad to read about the death of Karla Kuskin, the children's poet, author and illustrator. Read the obituary in the New York Times here. I find her poems to be so satisfying in their rhythm, both line by line and overall. One of my favorites is in a collection I just purchased for my library, Wonderful Words: Poems about reading, writing, speaking and listening, selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. It is called "Finding a Poem", and goes like this:

Dig deep in you,

Keep everything you find.

Sketch the ever changing views,

dappled behind your eyes,

rustling in your mind.

Unlock the weather

in your heart.

Unleash a thousand whispers,

let them shout.

Then

when you feel

the presence of a poem

wating to spring

to sting

within you,

bewitch it

into words

and sing it out.

There is no doubt that Kuskin loved (and understood) cats, frequent subjects in her work. On the cat or dog question, I place myself in the dog camp, yet I love to read these stories and poems because she shares her special insight so poignantly and with few words.

Some favorite Karla Kuskin titles in the Mohansic Library:

Any Me I Want to Be: Poems
Dogs & Dragons, Trees & Dreams: A collection of poems
Moon, Have You Met My Mother: the collected poems of Karla Kuskin
Soap Soup and Other Verses (An I Can Read book)
The Upstairs Cat
I Am Me
A Boy Had a Mother Who Bought Him a Hat
A Great Miracle Happened There: A Chanukah story
The Philiharmonic Gets Dressed
The Dallas Titans Get Ready for Bed
So, What's it Like to Be a Cat?

Here is a link to a workshop with Kuskin on Scholastic's Writing with Writers site.

Thank you, Karla, for sharing your voice with all of us. You will be missed, but fortunately, we will continue to read your poems and stories and enjoy the gifts you shared.

Thinking of Poetry

National Poetry Month is around the corner, though I believe in celebrating poetry throughout the year. Kindergartners loved Touch the Poem by Arnold Adoff. I look forward to Eloise Greenfield's recent book, Brothers & Sisters.


If you choose to begin with Mother Goose, take a look at The Real Mother Goose. Find ideas for a Poem in Your Pocket Day at NYC Bd of Ed's page here. First graders loved listening to Kristine O'Connell George reading her short and touching dog poems. Hear Charles R. Smith, Jr. reading from Perfect Harmony, his magnificent collection about the Boys Choir of Harlem. Naomi Shihab Nye's poems for teens are amazing; for elementary, try Come With Me: Poems for a Journey. Enjoy children's poet laureate Mary Ann Hoberman. Don't wait until April!

Web 2.0 Goodies

The Web 2.0 goodie of the month: Jing Project, for video screen capture. Capture exactly what you are doing on your computer into a video package which you can narrate then share. Great tool! Thank you to friend Sarah Chauncey who introduced me to it! Jing seemed cool right away, but I keep thinking of more ways to use it in professional training for teachers and classroom instruction. You need to download a piece to your computer then you're good to go!

Another fun tool: Remindr - lighter than Jing, but very useful! Tell it what to remind you of, when, and how (phone, email, Twitter). It sends you a message. The authors do not take themselves too seriously either; but, they have a really simple tool that works.

I am excited to begin studying with Shelley Paul's online K12-Learning 2.0 class this month. Off topic for a moment, I highly recommend the online course, Teaching Poetry to Children, offered through ALSC, taught by Sylvia Vardell, a tireless advocate for poetry for children. The Moodle course improved my practice in the library. I was charged up about several poets and well-prepared to share their work with my students. A favorite "find" from the course (perfect for kindergarten!) was Touch the Poem by Arnold Adoff.

One more: I follow Teachers Love Smartboards. There are some gems on this site,including a link to Nicole Mobley's site with Smart Board lessons for your Kindergarten classroom.