October Poetry Page

Our poetry units go along with the October units on Fall, Pumpkins, Columbus, Fire Safety, and Watermelons.

Fall

From September to December,

What’s the season?

Fall!

Red leaves start to

Fall!

Brown leaves start to

Fall!

Gold leaves start to

Fall!

Orange leaves start to

Fall!

Yellow leaves start to

Fall!

After all, it’s

Fall!

Pumpkin Picking

Let's go picking in the pumpkin patch.
Now we're jiggling the old gate latch.
Gate swings wide and we step inside
Pumpkins spread like an ocean tide.
You take the one like a fat balloon
I'll take the one like an orange moon.
Hike to the house in fifty paces
Then we'll carve out the pumpkin faces.
-Sandra Liatsos

Fall is Here

Another year is coming to an end,

Summer’s finished,

Summer’s gone,

Winter’s round the bend,

Fall is piles of crunchy leaves,

Orange, gold and red,

Fall is sweaters with long sleeves

And blankets on the bed,

Fall is football,

Fall is pumpkins,

Fall’s where summer ends,

And

Fall is coming back to school.

Pumpkin Surprise
I was choosing a pumpkin,
A fat orange pumpkin,
When I spotted a hole
In its side-
A hole like a door,
A little round door,
A door that led straight
To a house-
In the space of a minute
I saw what was in it,
It wasn't a thing you'd forget!
Curled in that pumpkin,
That fat, orange pumpkin,
Was a fat, little gray MOUSE.
A mouse in a house in a pumpkin.
On a floor that was covered with seeds.
Curled up and cozy,
Snoozy and dozy,
Asleep on a soft bed of weeds!
-Patricia Hubbell

On Christopher Columbus’ Ship

If I had been a tiny mouse

on Christopher Columbus’ ship,

I would have sailed across the sea

on a very dangerous trip,

I would have heard the thunder boom

and seen the scary lightning flash,

If I had been his small wet pet

in Christopher Columbus’ hand,

I would have reached America

the beautiful and dry new land.

Sandra Liatsos

Columbus

Three Ships

First I’ll draw a triangle.

And then another one.

One, two, and three triangles.

But, still I am not done.

I’ll make a bowl beneath each one.

For Columbus and his crew.

In the Nina, the Pinta and Santa Maria, that crossed the ocean blue.

Five Little Firefighters

Five little firefighters

One, two, three, four, five they go,

Hop on the engine with a shout!

Quicker than a wink, the fire is out!

Fire Safety Song

(Sung to: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Listen now, this is no joke,

Before a fire, there’s always smoke,

If you smell it, go outside,

Never find a place to hide,

Stay down low and crawl away,

Fire trucks are on the way.

Fire Rap

If your clothes catch on fire

Don’t run or hop

The thing you’ve gotta do

Is come to a stop.

Then drop to the ground,

The floor, the dirt.

Don’t worry ‘bout the mess-

Keep from getting hurt.

When you’re down

Put your hands right over your face,

Then roll like a log all over the place-

To the left, to the right,

Till the flame is out,

And whatever you do, give a big shout!

It might be mighty-mighty scary,

But keep in control,

You’ll start being better

When you stop, drop and roll!!!!!

9-1-1

(Sung to: Frere Jacques)

There’s a fire!

There’s fire!

Call 9-1-1!

Quickly call the firemen!

9-1-1!

Stop Drop and Roll

(Sung to: The Farmer in the Dell)

Stop, drop and roll,

If your clothes should catch on fire,

Stop, drop, and roll.

Watermelon

(Sung to Are You Sleeping)

Watermelon, watermelon,

On the vine, on the vine,

Red and ripe and juicy,

Please be mine,

Please be mine.

Alphabet Watermelon

A-B-CDE

Watermelon is good for me.

F-G-HIJ

I can eat it everyday.

K-L-MNO

Plant a seed and watch it grow.

P-Q-RST

Ripe and very juicy.

U-V-WXY

You will like it if you give it a try.

Z-Z-ZZZ

Watermelon is good for me.

Fall Activities

Take a nature walk with your class. Look for signs of fall, especially the changing colors in the leaves. If possible, collect some leaves to bring back to the classroom. If there are no trees around your school, you could have the children bring in a selection of leaves from home. Some of these could be laminated, so they will last longer in the science center. Discuss similarities and differences. Have children sort leaves.

Make leaf rubbings. Place one leaf under a sheet of paper--not construction paper, as it is too thick. Rub over the paper with the broadside of a crayon. My students love doing this!

Your children may also enjoy making fall leaves using crayon shavings. Place crayon shavings between sheets of wax paper. An adult should press together with a hot iron (no steam). Cut out shapes of leaves from construction paper and then cut a circle in the middle of each one. Use two of these "frames" to hold the crayon shavings picture.

Finger paint with red, orange and yellow. When the paintings have dried, use a template to cut out leaf shapes. Another idea is to tape a leaf or paper leaf to white paper. Using a sponge and fall colored paints swipe paint onto paper going from on top of the leaf to the outsides of the paper. When dried, peel off leaf to see a white leaf surrounded by lots of beautiful fall colors!

Make leaf mobiles using real or construction paper leaves. Using leaf die-cuts, make patterns focusing on leaf shapes or colors. Glue on strips of paper.

Glue a real leaf or leaf shape to a piece of paper. Have students add features such as arms, legs, etc. to make "leaf people." You could also add wiggle eyes. You may also have children add products from nature for features--use seeds for eyes, pinecone needles for arms and legs; whatever they think looks best.

Here's a fun leaf activity and incorporates color mixing. A parent volunteer cuts a large maple leaf shape out of "Bounty" paper towels for each child. This is stapled onto a piece of green construction paper. We have cups of food-coloring dyed water--red, yellow and green and the children use eyedroppers to put tiny drops of colored water on their leaf shape. They really look beautiful when they are dry. Remind the children just to use tiny drops so that it doesn't get soaked through.

Mini-Book: Using the following text, have students make illustrations for a take-home book. This could also be made into a poetry card.
Text: A red leaf, An orange leaf, A yellow leaf, A green leaf, A purple leaf, A brown leaf---I like to see the colors of the fall leaves!

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