Poetry

I've been feeling for a while now that Poetry is missing from our school curriculum so I was very happy to find and start this course, A Young Scholar's Guide To Poetry from Bright Ideas Press. L (11), Jy (9) and I study it a few times a week and I'm pleasantly surprised how much they're enjoying it. 

The course covers a wide range of poets and poetic devices. It incorporates history as we make timelines and include on those timelines historic events alongside the poets. Also geography, as we plot on maps where poets lived etc. Students also get a chance to write their own poems.  There are 32 lessons and I'm thankful to say it is all downloadable, which makes my life easier- no pre-planning for ordering books required!

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We enjoyed this poem by E.E.Cummings (1894-1962):

little tree

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see          i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don’t be afraid

look          the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i’ll give them all to you to hold.
every finger shall have its ring
and there won’t be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you’re quite dressed
you’ll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they’ll stare!
oh but you’ll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we’ll dance and sing
“Noel Noel”