Thursday, June 20, 2013

Poem Pause Day

                                      Quote of the Day

"I've decided that the stuff falling through the cracks is confetti and I'm having a party."
                                          ~Betsy Canas Garmon


The school year is winding down and as a former teacher I know there is lots to do to get your classroom tidied before the big exodus.  One of those dreaded tasks is to encourage your students to sort, organize and clean out their desks. You supply them with garbage bags, personal plastic bags to use as a tote-home, buckets of soap, water and sponges.  Each students scrutinizes their station and a variety of "stuff" is uncovered, some probably dating back to last September.  The ughs, (meaning I found something festering and rancid here) to the ahhhhs, (meaning there it is, I've been looking for that all year) echoes across the classroom.  After all the paraphernalia has been pawed through, each child washes and dries out the desk making it ready for a new tenant that will arrive next September.  Here are a few fun poems to get you in the mood for cleaning out those messy desks. (or not)



The Contents of My Desk....




A nail.
A nickel.
A snail.
A pickle.
A twisted-up
slinky.
A ring for
my pinky.
A blackened
banana.
A love note
from Hannah.
My doodles
of rockets.
The lint from
my pockets.
A fork-like
utensil.
But sorry...
no pencil.
--Kenn Nesbitt

This poem is taken from his wonderful book of poems:








 Messy Desk Pest                               
Beware all you kiddies of the Messy Desk Pest, 
Who will lurk inside any desk it finds messed.
It lolls among comic books, coins, stinky socks,
Banana peels, paper wads, toys, and rocks.
It nibbles pencils, gnaw pens, and white glue it will slurp.

It chews chalk, chomps crayon, and ends with a burp.
It erases math answers, pops desktops an inch,
If you’re getting out paper, your nose it will pinch.
Warning! During reading be especially aware!
The pest might reach out to snap underwear.
So you’ve been warned kiddies of the Messy Desk Pest.
Let this be a lesson: NEVER LEAVE YOUR DESK MESSED!




If your child is not in school, your challenge may very well lurk at home....




             Get prepared!  The test of a mess is to clean it up fast and pretend it never happened!!!

Read on and read always!


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