A Need to Feed

"What does this poem mean?"

"How should I read it?"

"How do we talk about it?"

"What do I DO with it?"

"What's the best way to assess it?"

"How do I meet standards?"

"When can I possibly fit it into my already over-packed day?"

Have you ever asked these questions about poetry? The 30 Painless Classroom Poems series makes it easy for you, the elementary school teacher, media specialist, or reading specialist, to share poetry with your students. Whether you already love poetry or you fear or even actively dislike it, these books are for you. The poems, Notes from the Poet, extension activities written by experienced classroom teachers, and tips for using poetry in your classroom will have you sharing poems in no time.

In A Need to Feed, award-winning poet Laura Purdie Salas (author of BookSpeak , Water Can Be..., and more) shares 30 poems in which predators stalk, pounce, trick, lure, and attack their prey. These rhyming poems, mostly from the predators' point of view, show how animals' bodies and hunting styles are adapted to their ecosystem and their prey. The final word in each poem is the prey animal, so you can also use these as riddle poems, letting students employ close reading and additional research to find clues and figure out the prey animal. Extension activities by Karen Ganon share ideas for springboarding from these poems into deeper learning across many content areas.

Sample:

Great Horned Owl: Cravings Stink

In midnight's black velvet

I silently glide

My golden moon eyes

Expose each place you hide

I tear with my beak

My claws neatly slice-

Well, that's enough detail.

(This story's not nice )

Last year, all my friends said

My taste in food stunk

But the fast food I crave is

Still smelly old...

SKUNK

Note: The Great Horned Owl is the only animal who really loves to eat skunk. They also enjoy fox and porcupine The Great Horned Owl's excellent night vision allows it to hunt at night.

Note from the Poet:

Owls are so gorgeous and mysterious, and I really wanted to start the poem by focusing on that. I thought it would be a nice contrast to the slicing and dicing that comes later. In lines 1 and 3, I used phrases like "black velvet" and "golden moon" to make you picture a beautiful night.

See all of the 30 Painless Classroom Poems at www.30PainlessClassroomPoems.com.

Disclaimer: For those of you collecting all my 30 Painless Classroom Poems books, please note that some information, such as Why Poetry Matters and Classroom Poetry Tips, is repeated from book to book. The introduction to the book, the poems, the Notes from the Poet, and the classroom activities are unique to each book.