POETRY BREAK: SPRING POEMS

GREEN SCENE

Florian, Douglas. 2006. "Green Scene," from Handsprings: Poems and Paintings.  New York: HarperCollins, p.42 -43.

Introduction:  Open up a box of 64-count Crayola Crayons and see how many different green crayons are in the box.  Read some of the different green names.  Read the following poem.

GREEN SCENE

Cool green

Blue green

Green chartreuse.

Pale green

Yellow green

Green let loose.

Moss green

Grass green

Grape green, 

Lime.

Spring's the bright green

Grown-up time.

Extension:  Ask students how many things they see in Spring are a shade of green.  List what students say on chart paper.  Pair this poem with another "Green" poem.  See below.

Pair Florian's, Green Scene poem with the poem, "Do You Know Green?" from Pieces.

Hines, Anna Grossnickle. 2001. "Do You Know Green?" from Pieces: A Year in Poems and Quilts. New York: Greenwillow.

DO YOU KNOW GREEN?

Green sleeps in winter

waiting

quiet

still

beneath the snow

and last year's stems

and old dead leaves

resting up for spring

and then...

Green comes

tickling the tips

of twiggy tree fingers

Psst!

Psst!  Psst!

poking up as tiny

slips of baby grass

Ping!

Ping! Ping!

springing up as coiled

skunk cabbage leaves

Pop!

Pop! Pop!

bursting out on bare

brown branches

Pow!

Pow! Pow!

Brand new baby

yellow green

bright

bold

biting

busy green

Until it seems

Everywhere one goes

green grows.

Extension:  After reading both "green" poems and making a list of green things in Spring, ask children to illustrate something using only green crayons or markers.  Hang the students' green artwork in the hallway next to the two poems above.  Since the buzz of late has been about "going green" to save the planet, these poems would make excellent Earth Day poems and could be used in science class when teaching about photosynthesis.