If you haven’t read “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” nursery rhyme in a long time, you might want to revisit it. Cheer on the spider for climbing up the spout again and listen to the poetry of the rhymes.
That’s what the children did at Montrose Preschool, where my daughter works. I was asked to give a presentation in honor of National Poetry Month. Even in the very young classes of children aged two and three years, the children were attracted to the sound of the rhyme scheme and the plight of the spider. It was a familiar story with a new twist once the emphasis was on the sounds.
“A poet is a person who writes poetry, and today you are all going to be poets,” I told the older class of four and five-year-olds. But first, we practiced rhymes and before I knew it, rhyming words were bouncing off the walls of the classroom accompanied by delighted giggles. Little cheeks puffed out when I suggested rhyming words could be friends, and you might feel the sounds tickling the inside of your cheeks. They watched carefully as “how” and “now” type rhymes held hands and fell out of their mouths.
I was so excited with their enthusiasm that I couldn’t wait to try a group poem. Eighteen poets-to-be raised their hands to contribute as I gave them prompts. One word at a time, the poem was created out loud.
We are girls and boys
We all like toys
We like to play
And today we play
Everything I love about poetry was validated by the young poets. Poetry is fun. You can write a poem about almost everything. It changes the way you look at words and how you use them. And no matter how many poems you write, there is always something new to look forward to and learn.
And, alas, poems do not have to rhyme.
So, we tried creating a little free verse where again the children’s active minds were the stars. I loved their whimsical choice of a zebra as the subject and had fun with it.
A zebra is short
A zebra has stripes
A zebra smells
A zebra says, “Nice to meet you”
We love the zebra
I have been writing poetry, at least in my head, from an early age. It was mostly a solitary experience, so it was a real treat for me to join in with the young children who were having fun creating with each other and being nurtured by caring teachers and staff.
The morning ended with snug-as-a-bug hugs.
This may be my favorite poetry month celebration ever.
Email patriciabunin@sbcglobal.net. Follow her on Patriciabunin.com