Poetry Paige’s Pocket: Part Two

Do you share poems at your story time? Is your story time loud and interactive?  

Last year, I shared a collection of poems on the ALSC Blog to dance, swim, munch and yell out at story time.   With so many new poetry books, below is a fun new list of poems to incorporate into your story time.  Add one or two poems to your story time theme each week.

Animal Ark: Celebrating Our Wild World in Poetry and Pictures (National Geographic Kids) by Kwame Alexander
Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer
Double Happiness by Nancy Tupper Ling 
Keep a Pocket in Your Poem: Classic Poems and Playful Parodies Written and Selected by J. Patrick Lewis
Lots of Spots by Lois Ehlert
One Minute till Bedtime: 60-Second Poems to Send you off to Sleep Selected by Kenn Nesbitt
Pet Crazy: A Poetry Friday Power Book by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong
Thunder Underground by Jane Yolen
Steppin’ Out: Jaunty Rhymes For Playful Times by Lin Oliver
When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by Julie Fogliano

Explore the full list of Poetry Paige’s Pocket Story Time poems and book list on Rifflebooks.

Poetry Pocket Song: (Tune: Old MacDonald Had a Farm) Here’s my poetry pocket with something inside. What could it be? I’ll open it up and take a look. Tell me what you see? (Part Two Felt Items: A Turtle!  A Cat! A Tree! A Duck! A Train! A Giraffe! A Snowflake! A Pumpkin!)

I love when poems have a variety of animals in them.   For example, in the poem, Stuffed Animal Collection by Eileen Spinelli, you can decide if you want to use an unusual felt animal or a favorite felt animal to pull out of your poetry pocket.   Maybe a camel, a zebra, a fox, a hippo, a lion, a giraffe or a gray kangaroo! What animal felt will you use for Pet Week Show-and-Tell by Eric Ode? Maybe a mouse or a lizard!

One of my favorite poems to read at story time this year is Each Day at the Zoo is Always New by Young People’s Poet Laureate, Margarita Engle.  Have everyone stand up, share the interactive movement parts first – pretend you have leaves in your hand, reach up, up, up, stick out your tongue, tap your eyes, make funny horns above your head, stretch your hands way up high for a long neck and then hop like a kangaroo. Then read the poem with the movements.  Ready?

What new poems are you wiggling and mooing to at story time? Please share your favorite poems for story time in the comments below.