So,
You Don't Know Jack
About Poetry...So,
You Don't Know Jack
About Poetry...|
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Jack Prelutsky |
The project examining the works of Jack Prelutsky, which is presented on this page, was designed by students at Salisbury University on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Our group is composed of four students, Chris Allhoff, Dot Bell, Bill Butler, and Ernie Miller. The primary audience for the materials on this page is elementary school teachers. We have included a book talk (which is designed to entice students into reading the books), author and illustrator studies (which can benefit student interaction with text in so many ways, not the least of which is the realization that individuals like them actually write books -- they do not just magically appear in bookstores), suggestions for activities (an excellent asset for any teacher), a list of related books, and finally a list of websites related to the author and the novel.
We chose our topic based on an Author Chat series found on Scholastic.com. The material found on the website is available for teacher use and allows students to view works by Jack Prelutsky, create pieces of poetry using starter poems he created, and to publish their work on the Internet for other children to read.
The three poetry anthologies we chose to mention to the children during our project were The New Kid on the Block, Something BIG Has Been Here, and A Pizza the Size of the Sun. Each anthology has dozens of poems created by Jack Prelutsky that include his signature rhyming patterns and the witty twists and turns of his pen. The illustrations that accompany the text in all three of these anthologies are done by James Stevenson. They visually represent the subject of the poem and allow the reader to see all of Jack Prelutsky's creatures and hilarious situations.
For years, Jack Prelutsky's imaginative poems have been turning children into poetry lovers. His silly poems have tickled the most stubborn funny bones, while his scarier verses have been known to raise the little hairs on the back of children's necks. Jack Prelutsky was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1940. He has had a variety of jobs during his life, including truckdriver, folk singer, and cab driver. In interviews he has revealed that although he hated poetry as a child, he found later in his life that he had the ability to create funny children's poems and has since made that his occupation. He began his career by drawing imaginary creatures and decided one day to write a little poem to accompany the drawing. He currently lives in Washington State with his wife Carolynn. He urges all children who are interested in poetry or in any form of writing to write as much as they can and to write about whatever amuses them.
The activity we intend to present to the children
at the Wicomico County Free Library uses information obtained at the Scholastic.com
webapge Author Chat series. We will also use three of his works mentioned
in the Booktalk section of this website. We will introduce ourselves
to the group and begin the lesson by discussing Jack Prelutsky and asking
the students if they have had any exposure to his poetry and if so, what
did they think of it. We will then continue by reading our favorite
Jack Prelutsky poem. After the readings, we will ask the students
to choose a favorite poem. Next, we will have three shoeboxes placed
on the tables in front of the children, and they will choose a box.
Inside will be an item. The children will then share words that can
be used to described the revealed item. This will lead to the children
being able to think of descriptive words to use in poems they can create.
This activity will then flow into the main activity of the day. The
children will have the opportunity to create their own piece of poetry.
They will have four options of poems that they can write; they can create
a poem using the letter of their first name, they can create any poem they
would like in any format, or they can use either of the two sample poem
starters created by Jack Prelutsky that are in the Author Chat series.
They will write their poems, create an illustration to accompany the poem,
and share the poems with the group. This will end the program and
the students will be able to leave with their poetry, and may find that
they like poetry and would like to continue writing poetry in the future.
Imagine That!
It's Raining Pigs and Noodles
Hooray for DiffendooferDay!
Monday's Troll
A Pizza the Size of the Sun
The Dragons are Singing Tonight
Tyrannosaurus Was a Beast: Dinosaur Poems
Something Big Has Been Here
The New Kid on the Block
It's Valentine's Day
Jack's biography: http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=69&CFID=2391296&CFTOKEN=19851276
Jack's Writing Workshop: http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/jack_home.htm
Jack's Complete Booklist: http://my.linkbaton.com/bibliography/prelutsky/jack/
More info about Jack: http//www.teachingk-8.com/archives/html/prelutsky.html
Interview by students with Jack: http://teacher.scholastic.com/authorsandbooks/authors/jprelutsk/tscript.htm
Teacher resource file: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/prelutsky.htm
Another interview with Jack: http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-prelutsky-jack.asp
James Stevenson information: http://www.booksellernow.com/bsnauthorjamesstevenson.htm
