Written by Jack Prelutsky

Written

by

Jack Prelutsky

Illustrations

by

Doug Cushman

I have always enjoyed playing with words, but I had no idea

that I would be a writer. There was a time when I couldn’t stand poetry! . . . When I was a young man, I discovered poetry again and it changed my life.

—Jack Prelutsky

Mr. Jack

Prelutsky

Mr. Doug Cushman

Mr. Jack

Prelutsky

BIOGRAPHY Jack Prelutsky, named the nation's first Children's Poet Laureate by

the Poetry Foundation, is the author of more than 40 books of

verse and editor of several poetry anthologies. He has charmed

children and adults with his witty, musical poems for nearly four

decades. His poetry is memorized and recited by children across the

country who love his inventive wordplay and unpredictable

rhymes. His best-selling classics include "A Pizza the Size of the

Sun" (1996 ) and "The New Kid on the Block" (1984). His latest books

are "In Aunt Giraffe's Green Garden" and "The Wizard", both

published in 2007 by Greenwillow/HarperCollins. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

More Books by Mr. Prelutsky

A Special Book

WHAT A DAY IT WAS AT SCHOOL

By Jack PrelutskyJack Prelutsky provides 17 poems as a kitten reports back to mom about a typical school day at school. Typical? Not at

Roanoke Elementary, but definitely fun and full of giggle opportunities.

TEACHER FAVORITES

Mrs. Pickett Teacher’s Pet Page 37

Mrs. Pitts We’re Shaking Maracas Page 10

Mrs. Haynes I Wish I’d Studied Harrder Page 14

Mr. Guerin My Backpack Weighs 1000 Pounds Page 7

Mrs. McKee A Classmate Named Tim Page 16

Mrs. Lard In the Cafeteria Page 22

Mrs. Merki I Tried to Do my Homework Page 8

Poetry Readings Next Week by Teachers

More Poems

By

Jack Prelutsky

Kinder 7 Respond to rhythm and rhyme in poetry through identifying a regular beat and similarities and word sounds.

Guiding Questions F - How can you move to demonstrate the beat?

C - What words sounded the same and how?

P - If we took the rhyming words out of a poem, would you still like the poem?

1.8 Respond to and use rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration in poetry.

Guiding Questions F - Can you find an example of alliteration?

C - How could you add alliteration to a poem and make it more appealing?

P - If humorous poetry was outlawed, what effect would this have on Mr. Prelustky?

2.7 Describe how rhythm, rhyme, and repetition interact to create images in poetry.

Guiding Questions F - What is your favorite image in this book and which words describe the image?

C - Can you illustrate a poem without looking at the pictures?

P - Remove the adjectives from a poem, how does the image change for you.

TEKS & GUIDING QUESTIONS – K, 1st, 2nd

3.6 Describe the characteristics of various forms of poetry and how they create imagery.

Guiding Questions F - What are the characteristics of different types of poetry? C - When are different types of poetry used?P - Can you think of a time that a certain type of poem would not

be appropriate?

4.4 Explain how the structural elements of poetry relate to form.

Guiding Questions F - Can you identify the different forms of poetry? C - Can you alter the structure of a poem into another form? P - How does changing your favorite song into a story, affect your

enjoyment?

5.4 Analyze how poets use sound effects to reinforce meaning in poems.

Guiding Questions F – How do sound affects affect the meaning of a poem?

C - How would the sound change the meaning of the poem?P - How would removing sound affects change the meaning of the

poem?

TEKS & GUIDING QUESTIONS – 3rd, 4th, 5th

Integrating TechnologyKelly Valdez

•Use Flip Cameras – Students work to create a dramatic interpretation of one of the poems in the book (Speaking TEKS).

•Audacity – Use Audacity (located on the NAL – Staff Applications) to create a Poetry Podcast. Students can share their original poetry with the world.

•Kidspiration – Use the ready made activities to create your own poems – Content Vocabulary Poem, Poem Frame, and Thinking About Poetry.

•Interactive Poetry Websites – http://www.squidoo.com/k12interactivepoetryhttp://www.vpsb.net/cc/poetry/poetrykids.htmhttp://ettcweb.lr.k12.nj.us/forms/newpoem.htmhttp://www.literactive.com/Download/stories.asp?cat=40

WEB RESOURCESInterview with Jack Prelutsky

http://media.barnesandnoble.com/?fr_story=0f633e404f4faf84a67b7347fe19ddf37f20262c&rf=sitemap

Another Interview

http://www.indiebound.org/author-interviews/prelutskyjack

One More

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/authorExtra.aspx?authorID=13328&isbn13=9780060291945&displayType=bookinterview

Prelutsky Web Site

http://www.jackprelutsky.com/flash/index.html

About Jack

http://jackprelutsky.com/flash/index.html

Information on Doug Cushman

http://authorfest.org/authors/cushman/

http://biography.jrank.org/pages/1150/Cushman-Doug-1953-Sidelights.html

Children’s Poetry by Other Authors

http://poetry4kids.com/

Interview with Jack Prelutsky on It's Raining Pigs & Noodles

Q. How did you start writing poetry?A. It was an accident. When I was in my early twenties, I had visions of being an artist. I spent about six months inventing and drawing imaginary animals that simply popped into my head...creatures with eleven heads, with elastic bodies, or with hundred-foot-long tongues. After I'd produced about two dozen pen and ink drawings, one evening I decided that they needed poems to accompany them. I still have no idea where that notion came from, but it took me about two hours to produce verses for these creatures. A friend suggested that I show these poems and drawings to an editor, and with some apprehension I did. The editor, Susan Hirschman, did not think much of my illustrations, but she told me that I was a natural poet and encouraged me to keep writing. She published my first book, and now, more than thirty-five years later, she's still my editor. Q. Your most recent book, It's Raining Pigs & Noodles, is your fourth collaboration with illustrator James Stevenson. Is writing these collections different from writing for a poetry picture book? A. Actually, it's our fifth collaboration. Before The New Kid on the Block, we came out with The Baby Uggs Are Hatching, a collection of imaginary animal poems, some of which were based on those incipient verses I'd concocted years earlier. There's not too much difference between writing a picture book and writing a collection of a hundred poems or so, except that the bigger books take a lot longer to do. Q. Which poets and/or authors do you admire? A. When I began writing, I didn't read any other children's poets...I didn't want to be influenced until I'd found my own voice. Now I read them all. I hesitate to name any poets in particular, as "favorite" questions have always been difficult for me and make me a bit uncomfortable. I'm always afraid that I'll leave someone out. I've been influenced by poets as diverse as Dylan Thomas, Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Allan Poe. Interestingly enough, many of the people who have influenced me the most have not been poets. I love creating surprise endings, as O. Henry did in his short stories, and you are apt to find the sort of antic humor exhibited by comedians such as Sid Caesar and the Marx Brothers manifested in my poems.Q. Many of your poems are about strange creatures-snutterwudds, doddies, wibbles, yubbazubbies, to name a few-how do you invent such zany characters?A. Frequently I have no idea. However, some of them are ways of expressing my feelings, moods, or sentiments, while others grow out of fragments of language. For example, a friend had a license plate which had the letters UGG followed by three numbers. I found the word "ugg" to be very appealing...it sounded to me like a combination of the words "ugly" and "egg"...soon there was a poem. On another occasion, I was gluing up some bookshelves I'd just built, when the phone rang, and I rushed to answer it. Later, I realized that I'd accidentally kicked over the glue bottle, and a sizable amount had found its way through the newspapers I'd used to cover the carpet — it was a gloppy mess. The carpet was a total loss, but the situation wasn't. Some of the glue looked to me like strange creatures oozing through my living room, and I was inspired to write "Song of the Gloopy Gloppers"...it's in The New Kid on the Block.Q. What makes writing for children fun, and why do you think kids respond so well to poetry?A. We all need ways to express ourselves, and poetry is one of mine. Writing gives me the opportunity to explore ideas, play with language, solve problems, use my imagination, and draw on my own childhood. Frankly, writing poetry for children is plain old fun, and I consider myself blessed to have such a delightful career. Children seem naturally drawn to poetry — it's some combination of the rhyme, rhythm, and the words themselves. Poetry seems to sink into us the way prose doesn't. I can still quote verses I learned when I was very young, but I have trouble remembering one line of a novel I just finished reading.Q. What can we look forward to next?A. Lots! There's going to be a book of poems about a simply awful ogre, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky, and a book of very peculiar poems about very peculiar creatures that Peter S’s is illustrating. I've also written a third book of nursery rhymes, in the style of Ride a Purple Pelican and Beneath a Blue Umbrella. It's called The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders, and it will be illustrated by Petra Mathers. Currently, I'm working on a book of scary poems from outer space, a book of funny poems about school, some lullabies, and a collection of around-the-year holiday poems. Q. What do you like to do when you are not writing about bridges made of bananas, gargoyles, or preposterpusses? A. Plenty! I'm never bored. I'm inventing word games, writing music, playing them, gardening, woodworking, making found-object sculpture, collecting books and frog miniatures, taking photographs and printing them in the darkroom, learning computer graphics, cooking, eating out, going to concerts and the opera, and spending time with friends. I probably left something out.

Pictures by Mr. Doug Cushman

Mr. Doug Cushman

In the many well-received picture books that California-based

author Doug Cushman has written and

illustrated, his emphasis on character is evident

in both text and artwork. As he once commented: "A good character will almost

write a book by himself with a little nudge or

two from the author."

More Books with Pictures by

Mr. Doug Cushman

More Drawings by Mr. Cushman

VOCABULARY

chocolatecompetition

explorersimagine

impressioninspire

impressioninfirmaryprecisely

seven-leggedthousand

unexpectedunfortunate

BUILDING VOCABULARY

• The teacher provides a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

• The teacher will ask the learner to give a description, explanation, or example of the new term in his/her own words.

• The teacher will ask the learner to draw a picture, symbol or locate a graphic to represent the new term.

• The learner will participate in activities that provide more knowledge of the term.

• The learner will discuss the term with other learners.

• The learner will participate in games that provide more reinforcement of the new term.

Marzano, Robert Building Academic Vocabulary

http://www.tec.leon.k12.fl.us/Vocabulary%20Project/The%20Systematic%20Vocabulary%20Instruction%20Project.ppt#267,8,Instruction in Content Specific Words

thousand

unexpected

chocolate

competition

impression

imagine

precisely

infirmary

succeed

explorers

seven-legged

unfortunate