One of my favorite poets to use in the classroom is Langston Hughes! His poems are not too long for the attention spans of my Kinder students and they are as beautiful as they are meaningful.
I played some blues music for my students and then we read this poem by Hughes:
When the shoe strings break
On both your shoes
And you're in a hurry-
That's the blues.
When you go to buy a candy bar
And you've lost the dime you had-
Slipped through a hole in your pocket somewhere-
That's the blues, too, and bad!
On both your shoes
And you're in a hurry-
That's the blues.
When you go to buy a candy bar
And you've lost the dime you had-
Slipped through a hole in your pocket somewhere-
That's the blues, too, and bad!
Then I asked them to write about what "The Blues" looks like in Kindergarten. I expected a little more drama between BFF's to be honest. :)
a kid knocks down my tower
bullies come in the school
boys don't listen
the room is messy
I got paint on me
A shelf fell on my head
someone skips me in line (the most grievous of offenses!)
I got hit by a soccer ball
no book club
when I get hurt and when I get mad and when I go home.
