my2boysteacher Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 (edited) My boys have weekly memorization assignments, either poems or Latin prayers. Recently my 3 year old has been trying to join in, so I would like to find some short poems for her. I will probably end up scouring all our poetry books for short poems, but thought I'd take a chance here first. Do you have any favorite 4-6 line poems? :) Edited March 26, 2011 by my2boysteacher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jessica* Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Nursery rhymes! There are so many short ones. My son memorized a bunch last year when he was only 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Nursery rhymes!:iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjgrubbs Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Nursery Rhymes for sure! And I got a book of 1000 poems. Had to order it from half.com but you can search in the back by topic and find poems about so many things. This is a very friendly book. We choose a poet this year and my kids have each memorized 3 poems that he wrote. We also read some of a biography about him and I am hoping to finish off the year with a novel he wrote. Robert Louis Stevenson. The book Children's Garden of Verses is all poems by him. Memorizing and reading/enjoying poetry are very good for language development! Wish I would have done this when my kiddos were younger! And just as a side note. I taught preschool for 3 year and in my class of 4 year olds, we learned Psalm 23. The WHOLE thing. Most of my students could say it by Christmas after starting in August. Simply by repeating it and working on it every day they can learn so much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 My SIL read poems from Talking Like The Rain to my nephew, and he had them memorized at a REALLY young age. They are not all short, but they are all fun! I bet your older kids would like them too. The ones I remember he knew are "I Wouldn't" and "The Wolf." "I Wouldn't" is one of my very favorites. :) Otherwise, I agree with nursery rhymes. They are perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2bee Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Look into educational poems, chants, songs, short prayers and the like. If you can, I highly recommend that you teach some thing a little more 'meaningful' than Nursery ryhmes, but there isn't anything 'bad' about Nursery ryhmes that I can think of either... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 If you can, I highly recommend that you teach some thing a little more 'meaningful' than Nursery ryhmes, but there isn't anything 'bad' about Nursery ryhmes that I can think of either...I challenge you to find a body of rhymes or short poems more often alluded to in western literature. ;) They're every bit as essential as Grimm and Perrault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RecumbentHeart Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I challenge you to find a body of rhymes or short poems more often alluded to in western literature. ;) They're every bit as essential as Grimm and Perrault. :iagree: Familiarity with nursery rhymes is one of the foundational steps to literacy in western culture. :001_huh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
my2boysteacher Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Thanks for all the suggestions. I have tried some short bible verses with her, but with her being so young I think I'd prefer something with an even meter and rhyme. I'm not a big fan of nursery rhymes, I know a lot of them have interesting stories behind them, but.....meh.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 One of our bigger anthologies is divided by age groups, which makes it much easier to find something. Aside from Mother Goose, this was the first poem DS4 memorized: Through the Jungle the Elephant Goes Through the jungle the elephant goes, Swaying his trunk to and fro, Munching, crunching, tearing trees, Stamping seeds, eating leaves. His eyes are small, his feet are fat, Hey, elephant, don't do that! Grace Nichols It is still a favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arghmatey Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Our 4YO enjoys reciting Shel Silverstein, especially Mrs. McTwitter, the Babysitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Mother Goose Also, Ambleside Yr1 poetry by month HTH- Mandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RecumbentHeart Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Thanks for all the suggestions. I have tried some short bible verses with her, but with her being so young I think I'd prefer something with an even meter and rhyme. I'm not a big fan of nursery rhymes, I know a lot of them have interesting stories behind them, but.....meh.:D Certainly not to say you have to or anything but just to (attempt to) clarify, it's not about any interesting stories behind the rhymes, it's about cultural literacy and the value of that to future writing and communication skill. That's obviously not important to everyone but it seemed that for some it wasn't obvious why it is important to anyone. I know that at one point the value of it to anyone was far from obvious to me. Hope you find what you're looking for. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krisandpaula Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 My dd, then 3/4, loved poems from this book: The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry She has memorized several just from us reading it together. Currently, we are enjoying the work of Jack Prelutsky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalknot Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Seconding short books or poems, such as Silverstein and Prelutsky. My 3 year old also loved reciting Sandra Boynton and selections from Dr. Seuss books. I didn't do formal memorization work with my pre-schoolers, but they definitely gravitated towards rhyming type works with the even meter you're looking for. The above suggestions definitely fall in line with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockermom Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I challenge you to find a body of rhymes or short poems more often alluded to in western literature. ;) They're every bit as essential as Grimm and Perrault. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3lilreds in NC Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 One of our bigger anthologies is divided by age groups, which makes it much easier to find something. Aside from Mother Goose, this was the first poem DS4 memorized: Through the Jungle the Elephant Goes Through the jungle the elephant goes, Swaying his trunk to and fro, Munching, crunching, tearing trees, Stamping seeds, eating leaves. His eyes are small, his feet are fat, Hey, elephant, don't do that! Grace Nichols It is still a favorite. Now you have to tell us what it is! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Oh sure! I believe it's out of print, but last time I looked, there were used copies on amazon. The title is Treasury of Children's Poetry, edited by Alison Sage, foreword by Michael Rosen. The illustrations are quite wonderful too. Now you have to tell us what it is! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsutsie Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 My 3 year old memorizes the FFL poems right along with her brother (while it looks as if she is not paying attention, playing, etc), and then surprises us with how well she knows them when we are least expecting it. She also knows "the silent final e" song from PR. Ha-ha, off course, she has no idea what it means! So, I also vote for Nursery Rhymes, especially ones where the meaning is not to far over his head. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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