Celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day

Read a few poems this month

April is National Poetry Month. What better way to celebrate than to share a few math and counting poems. You may have recited this one in preschool:

One, two, buckle my shoe.
Three, four, shut the door.
Five, six, pick up sticks,
Seven, eight, lay them straight.
Nine, ten, a big fat hen.

Perhaps you (or your grandparents) learned this rhyme in kindergarten to help you remember the days of the week:

Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Got sick on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday,
This is the end of Solomon Grundy.

Or you may have sung this subtraction rhyme:

There were ten the bed and the little one said, "Roll over, roll over."
So they all rolled over and one fell out!
There were nine in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over, roll over."
So they all rolled over and one fell out!
There were eight in the bed... (continue in this way until you have one left)
There was one in the bed and the little one said, "Goodnight!"

In Excel Math, we combine math with literacy to help students develop writing skills as they learn elementary math concepts. Our CreateAProblem exercises give students a chance to write their own word problems. These are located on the back of tests to help students develop higher-order thinking skills. Here's a CreateAProblem sheet from 2nd Grade:

Excel Math Grade 2 CreateAProblem Student Worksheet

Don't forget that Thursday, April 26th is Poem in Your Pocket Day! The idea is simple: select a poem you love then carry it with you on Poem In Your Pocket Day, sharing it with co-workers, family, friends, and students.

Use your mobile device or cell phone to record a poem and then play it back later in the day. Carry it around in your pocket and share it when you have a chance. Or simply write a poem on a piece of paper, carry it in your pocket, and read it to your coworkers and friends. You could print the poem on index cards and hand out the cards with a message on the other side that says something such as, "Happy National Poetry Day!"

Here's a poem to help students remember the months of the year:

Thirty days has September,
April, June and November.
February has 28 alone,
All the rest have 31,
Except for leap year, that's the time
When February has 29.

Sometime this week, encourage each of your students to write a poem and carry it around in a pocket. You could have the students write poems about pockets, math, or whatever topics they suggest (within reason).

I love the poems of Ogden Nash. Here's one of my favorites that's not math related:

Some primal termite knocked on wood
And tasted it and found it good!
And that is why your Cousin May
Fell through the parlor floor today.

And we'll end with a famous math riddle:

As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives.
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats.
Every cat had seven kits.
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?

The answer is one! Only "I" was going to St. Ives. The others were people he met along the way. Enjoy National Poetry Day with some of your favorite poetry and perhaps a math riddle of your own.