Or piece of liver (by Myra Cohn Livingston)

Chip O liver

Get lost! Go!

You shiver and shake

O sliver of liver —

You made me shiver

And ruin my day —

Chip O liver,

Get lost! Go! (Livingston, 1979, p. 22)

When I taught second grade, my students and I played with poetry almost every day. The poem, "Oh, Sliver liver, was acquired in a period of rapid – and often practice for all children who are at the tip of the tongue in the liver the next time you are served at home. (I even had children ask their parents to serve liver – only so they could use the poem!) Poetry is fun and useful!

For many of us had little experience with poetry as school children primary and then had negative experiences with poetry as middle and high school students. Unfortunately, as a result, now that we are teachers, we avoid poetry for other types of literature. In this article, I will offer information about poetry and ideas of how to teach children about poetry while allowing them to enjoy poetry.

There are a lot of poetry for children available today. Basically, these volumes the fall of poetry in four categories (Hopkins, in Rudman, 1993):

1. Unique collections that are books of poems written by a single poet, for example: Valerie Worth all the small poems and a Pelican Ride Purple Jack Prelutsky.
2. General collections, books are produced by an anthologist to highlight a variety of topics. For example, to study anything edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins and the words that my place is looking selected by Paul B. Janeczko.
3. Collections specific, which are compiled by an anthologist, focusing on a subject which brings together the works of many different poets. Myra Cohn Livingston are among the best of this type, for example, why am I grown so cold: Poems of the Unknowable.
4. Picture Poetry Books that present a poem by an individual poet, illustrated throughout by an artist. For example, Casey at the Bat, illustrated by Patricia Polacco and Nancy Willard's trip Ludgate Hill: Travels with Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provense.

Before launching into a poetry unit, the four categories mentioned above can be displayed on a bulletin board. Children can be challenged to find as many books as possible that fit in each category. The resulting collection will provide class members throughout the study unit.

Just like the books mentioned above are 'old' books, many students are older books, too. Poetry is not 'age' as fast as some other types of literature, so that the library your school is likely to have poetry books that have copyright date of this year, as well as going back to the 1960s – and they all have a potential value to read and enjoy.

Bibliographic information on books mentioned:

• Hopkins, Lee Bennett (Ed). (1978). To see anything. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Janeczko, Paul B. (Ed.). (1990). The words that my place is looking, New York: Bradbury Press.
• Livingston, Myra Cohn. (1979). Or piece of liver and other poems. New York: Atheneum.
• Livingston, Myra Cohn (Ed). (1982). Why am I grown so cold? Poems of the unknowable. New York: Atheneum.
• Polacco, Patricia. (1988) Casey. Ernest Lawrence Thayer's at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in 1888. New York: GP Putnam's Sons.
• Prelutsky, Jack. (1986). Ride a Purple Pelican. New York: Harcourt Children's Books.
• Rudman (1993). Children's Literature: Resources the classroom. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
• Willard, Nancy. (1987). The crossing of the Ludgate Hill: Travels with Robert Louis Stevenson, San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
• Worth, Valerie. (1987). All the small poems. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.

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Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, and consulting.

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