My friend Alicia, an amazing and inspiring homeschool Mom and published poet, is offering a free 10-week online course called Poetry For Kids. You can find this first week’s lesson and suggested activities here. This week’s lesson is focused on cliches, and trying to find fresh ways of saying things / evoking imagery in one’s poetry. The boys and I did the “fill in the blank” cliche-busting exercise, and came up with:

It was a fun exercise to do, and while not every answer quite ‘worked’ for me, some of my kids’ suggestions surprised me. “Soft as oatmeal”, “chickadee days” and a “Mary Poppins ending” all create a clear image in my mind. What are your favourites? (And yes…all the ‘butt’ related answers came from the 6-year-old. Sigh.)

Hope you get a chance to play along with some of the Poetry For Kids activities. I am very appreciative when folks offer up some activities from their area of expertise, and even more so when their area of expertise is one of my areas of weakness. So thank you, Alicia, the the poetry  course. I’ll stick to math.

Ten Times Better turned out to be a far better book and better fit for our family that was apparent from the cover. I’d gotten it out of the library ages ago, and it had laid around, unread—until I got notice this week that it was due back. When I finally got around to reading it aloud to the boys as part of our math lessons that day, we all loved it! It is a series of playful poems (and playful artwork!) featuring different animals, with the first animal saying what he/she thinks the best number is, and why. And the second animal saying, in effect, “Oh, yeah? This ten-times-bigger number is better!” So the book starts with an elephant singing the praises of ONE (as it has one trunk), and a giant squid saying TEN (as in tentacles) is clearly better than one! And on it goes with very logical choices for the animals: a 3-toed sloth, a 9-banded armadillo, a giraffe with 70 spots on its neck. And my children’s favourite animal and line of poetry: “I have 60 teeth” says crocodile, “I’m a great  masticator. (That means I chew first, and ask questions later.).” A delightful book for kids learning multiplication and into animals.

The History of Counting was a book that caught Daegan’s attention; Gareth half-listened as he played on the floor nearby. It does exactly as its title suggests, outlining some of the major steps in humankind’s “invention of counting”, from using pebbles / physical markers (counting without numbers), to body counting (“1 is left little finger…11 is left neck…16 is right ear” up to a very limited number: 28), to using different words to represent the same number of different things (like we use “twins” to mean two babies who share a womb, but “duo” to mean two people in other contexts, like music), and so on. We visit the Sumerians (whose ‘base 60’ lives on today in our number system: 60 seconds in a minutes, 60 minutes in an hour, 360 degrees in a circle),  Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Hindus, etc. up to modern day arabic numerals and the importance of zero and place value. Daegan was particularly engaged with the section on Roman Numerals, and the way the book showed their severe limitations when it came to computation. This is a very abstract concept for a 9-year-old, that’s for sure—understanding why place value was such a big leap over Roman Numerals—but attempting the addition problems in the book:

1084+1797

vs. the same numbers written in Roman Numerals:

MLXXXIV + MDCCXCVII

drove the point home. And even more so when I suggested he try multiplying those numbers instead of adding them! Happy reading!

Gareth was keen to have a go, so he chose his topic (woolly mammoths) and grabbed the die:

He rolled a 2, and started his poem, rolling a 6 and a 4 and dictating each line to me as he went along. It was a bit tricky getting the exact number of words correct, but by telling me what he wanted to say, we were able to paraphase without loss of meaning. (e.g., his final line he wanted to say “The dinosaurs were already extinct, and then the mammoths went extinct too” so we played around with various phrases until he found a 4-word phrase he liked.)

Gareth then wanted to add a picture to his poem, so while he worked on that, Daegan and I created another dice poem. His topic? Dinosaurs—what else? Daegan’s rolls were surprisingly non-random: a whole lot of 1s and 5s.

Daegan then copied his poem (he needed no help from me with his dice poem other than transcribing what he said) and drew pictures to accompany it:

Here’s the boys’ finished work. This was a great activity! Thanks, Alicia!

but we are more

than genteel or civilized

we are an idea in the process

of being realized

we are young

we are cultures strung together

then woven into a tapestry

and the design

is what makes us more

than the sum total of our history

we are an experiment going right for a change

with influences that range from a to zed

The only part of the opening ceremonies I greatly disliked was the rendition of our national anthem, O Canada, right at the beginning. As one reviewer said, you could see folks wanting to sing along and show the world the pride they feel being Canadian, but this rendition deprived them of that opportunity. I also thought Rick Hansen should have been the one to light the final cauldron, not Wayne Gretzky, but was pleased that Hansen brought the flame into B.C. Place stadium and I also liked that the cauldron was lit by several people inside—a fitting end to a show about the coming together of peoples. For those who do not know who Hansen is, please click the link to his wikipedia entry I provided above—his life is one of pure inspiration. Too bad one of the columns of the final cauldron-lighting malfunctioned, but it gave me yet another opportunity to drive the point home to our 7-year-old about going with the flow and making the best of it when things don’t go as expected!

Of course, being homeschoolers, we seized the opportunity to learn a little more about our world: we had a globe at the ready and consulted it throughout the athlete’s parade:

And the boys learned more about Canada’s regions and peoples and traditions too. We were VERY happy to see the prairies represented (Calgary is at the intersection of prairie and Rocky Mountain) with the boys flying over wheat fields with Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now (Clouds)” warbling in the background. If you’ve never been to this part of the country, with its seemingly infinite wheat fields and open space, it might not have made much sense—but it was a fantastic representation I thought.

I’ll leave you with the full text of “We Are More”, the poem about Canada and one of my favourite parts of the ceremony: (I’ve put links to wikipedia entries for bits that may be less familiar to folks from outside this country)

We Are More

by Shane Koyczan

When defining Canada

you might list some statistics

you might mention our tallest building

or biggest lake

you might shake a tree in the fall

and call a red leaf Canada

you might rattle off some celebrities

might mention Buffy Sainte-Marie

might even mention the fact that we’ve got a few

Barenaked Ladies

or that we made these crazy things

like zippers

electric cars

and washing machines

when defining Canada

it seems the world’s anthem has been

" been there done that"

and maybe that’s where we used to be at

it’s true

we’ve done and we’ve been

we’ve seen

all the great themes get swallowed up by the machine

and turned into theme parks

but when defining Canada

don’t forget to mention that we have set sparks

we are not just fishing stories

about the one that got away

we do more than sit around and say "eh?"

and yes

we are the home of the Rocket and the Great One

who inspired little number nines

and little number ninety-nines

but we’re more than just hockey and fishing lines

off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes

and some say what defines us

is something as simple as please and thank you

and as for you’re welcome

well we say that too

but we are more

than genteel or civilized

we are an idea in the process

of being realized

we are young

we are cultures strung together

then woven into a tapestry

and the design

is what makes us more

than the sum total of our history

we are an experiment going right for a change

with influences that range from a to zed

and yes we say zed instead of zee

we are the colours of Chinatown and the coffee of Little Italy

we dream so big that there are those

who would call our ambition an industry

because we are more than sticky maple syrup and clean snow

we do more than grow wheat and brew beer

we are vineyards of good year after good year

we reforest what we clear

because we believe in generations beyond our own

knowing now that so many of us

have grown past what used to be

we can stand here today

filled with all the hope people have

when they say things like "someday"

someday we’ll be great

someday we’ll be this

or that

someday we’ll be at a point

when someday was yesterday

and all of our aspirations will pay the way

for those who on that day

look towards tomorrow

and still they say someday

we will reach the goals we set

and we will get interest on our inspiration

because we are more than a nation of whale watchers and lumberjacks

more than backpacks and hiking trails

we are hammers and nails building bridges

towards those who are willing to walk across

we are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss

we are not the see-through gloss or glamour

of those who clamour for the failings of others

we are fathers brothers sisters and mothers

uncles and nephews aunts and nieces

we are cousins

we are found missing puzzle pieces

we are families with room at the table for newcomers

we are more than summers and winters

more than on and off seasons

we are the reasons people have for wanting to stay

because we are more than what we say or do

we live to get past what we go through

and learn who we are

we are students

students who study the studiousness of studying

so we know what as well as why

we don’t have all the answers

but we try

and the effort is what makes us more

we don’t all know what it is in life we’re looking for

so keep exploring

go far and wide

or go inside but go deep

go deep

as if James Cameron was filming a sequel to The Abyss

and suddenly there was this location scout

trying to figure some way out

to get inside you

because you’ve been through hell and high water

and you went deep

keep exploring

because we are more

than a laundry list of things to do and places to see

we are more than hills to ski

or countryside ponds to skate

we are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can’t wait

we are first-rate greasy-spoon diners and healthy-living cafes

a country that is all the ways you choose to live

a land that can give you variety

because we are choices

we are millions upon millions of voices shouting

" keep exploring… we are more"

we are the surprise the world has in store for you

it’s true

Canada is the "what" in "what’s new?"

so don’t say "been there done that"

unless you’ve sat on the sidewalk

while chalk artists draw still lifes

on the concrete of a kid in the street

beatboxing to Neil Young for fun

don’t say you’ve been there done that

unless you’ve been here doing it

let this country be your first-aid kit

for all the times you get sick of the same old same old

let us be the story told to your friends

and when that story ends

leave chapters for the next time you’ll come back

next time pack for all the things

you didn’t pack for the first time

but don’t let your luggage define your travels

each life unravels differently

and experiences are what make up

the colours of our tapestry

we are

the true north
strong and free

and what’s more

is that we didn’t just say it

we made it be.

Being Five by Dennis Lee (in _Garbage Delight_)

I’m not exactly big,
And I’m not exactly little,
But being Five is best of all
Because it’s in the middle.

A person likes to ride his bike
Around the block a lot,
And being Five is big enough
And being Four is not.

And then he likes to settle down
And suck his thumb a bit,
And being Five is small enough,
But when you’re Six you quit.

I’ve thought about it in my mind -
Being Five, I mean -
And why I like it best of all
Is ’cause it’s In Between.

(Dennis Lee is a Canadian poet with several books of ’nonsense / absurdist children’s poetry. To this day there are countless poems from both _Garbage Delight and _Alligator Pie_ I can recite from memory, as my Mom read them to my brother and I countless times when we were children.)