Poetry

I am taking a college class at our local community college for my alternative certification...Children's Literature. I love it! It's helped so much. I'm learning about good authors to read to my students and finding out so many different kinds of books there are to read. We are discussing poetry right now and I came across my old Shel Silverstein books. I received these books in the 4th and 5th grade from my parents for Christmas and I was reading them last night and thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

"Early Bird"
Oh, if you're a bird, be an early bird
And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.
If you're a bird, be an early early bird -
But if you're a worm, sleep late.

"Scale"
If I could only see the scale,
I'm sure that it would state
That I've lost ounces...maybe pounds
Or even tons of weight.
"You'd better eat some pancakes -
You're skinny as a rail."
I'm sure that's what the scale would say...
If I could see the scale.

"The Monkey"
1 Little monkey
Was goin' 2 the store
When he saw a banana 3
He's never climbed be4.
By 5 o'clock that evenin'
He was 6 with a stomach ache
'Cause 7 green bananas
Was what that monkey 8.

By 9 o'clock that evenin'
That monkey was quite ill,
So 10 we called the doctor
Who was 11 on the hill.
The doctor said, "You're almost dead.
Don't eat green bananas no more."
The sick little monkey groaned and said,
"But that's what I 1-2 the 3-4."