Each unit includes the following components: Illustrated poem page -- Pocket chart word cards -- Pocket chart picture cards -- Student illustration page -- Mini book version of the poem -- Home/school connection activity -- Daily activities -- Literature links.

An ideal gift for children who love animals, this picture book is a celebration of Poem in your Pocket Day and a charmingly illustrated collection of playful poems about 19 different creatures. Fascinating information about the animals (yes, sea otters have pockets!) tucked into short, lively poems and bright, bold artwork make this collection perfect for National Poetry Month—or any day of the year. In honor of Poem in Your Pocket Day, a child imagines the poems animals might carry in their pockets, if they had pockets. What would a hummingbird write? A fox? A sea otter? These poems capture the essences of animals furry, feathery and finny, exploring what makes each unique. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird sings with its wings, Red Fox's poem is a fiery tail flashing in the dark, and Sea Otter’s poem is its secret pocket. Which poem will capture the heart of the child narrator? A poem about loving animals, of course!

Suggested level: junior, primary.

Consists of five units: Teddy bears, Leaves, Pumpkins, The nut hunt, and Apples. Each unit contains a full week of thematic lesson plans based on an original poem.

These poems are an invitation to let go of the burdened self, and join our poets into the world of effervescent feelings. The perspective on Spring varies from one poem to another. Spring is intensively lived both as an individual experience, and also a collective one. Some poems focus on the harsh treatment people give the Earth, but the fact that Spring never fails to come back, chasing the long and cold winter away, reminds all human beings about the constancy of life and the ability of fulfilling its cyclical renewal. Feelings of relief and joy are abounding through the poems; clusters of snow melting here and there, the freshness of the air, the nature clad in velvet green, the bees and the animals, the birds' songs that animate the scenery, the scent of the flowers that blossom in this particular season, the sunshine that gently pats every life form. Life pulses through each pore. The balance between death and life is restored as the remnants of winter and its dark and gloomy days are replaced with a comforting light and an imperishable craving for cheerfulness, joie de vivre and optimism.In a poem, Spring is likened to a young, beautiful maiden who gracefully walks on the earth, dispersing the morose winter days, reinstalling happiness while nature comes back to life. In other poems, Spring is associated with the loved one, either present or projected in a fantasy world. The contemplation of Spring is regarded as an opportunity to assort the sentiments and the changes that take place in the outside world.Reading some of the poems, you can overcome the blurred line between reality and dreams..like a sudden, passionate dialogue between two lovers where the season becomes a reference point, being used in order to express one's love and tenderness; while others depict in vintage hues a story of longing, with an emphasis on the shattered heart and pleas for the lover's return that echo through the entire poem. There are also poems that remind the reader of one of the most beautiful and adventurous stages of life, namely the childhood. Other poems are focused on the role of words and language in recreating all these changes that occur in nature once this long awaited season is installed. Spring also becomes synonymous with tough life lessons, experienced in a Soviet gulag: a strong evocation of unyielding personal values such as dignity and strength to find hope in the most troubled times for an upcoming liberation.The poems that are included in this anthology are original, and each can be viewed as an ode or a tribute to one of the most spectacular seasons: the season of rebirth. [A-E Laposi]

Ivy patiently waits for the coming of spring, in a poem utilizing excerpts from famous poets including Wordsworth, Longfellow, e.e. cummings, and Dickinson.