Stardust

We're made of stardust, and stardust is atoms.

Memory Poem

All Things Bright and Beautiful
~Cecil Frances Alexander

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.



Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset, and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.


He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.



Printable version of All Things Bright and Beautiful at storyit.com Classic Children's Poetry

Memory Poem Books

What is Pink?

by Christina Rossetti

What is pink? A rose is pink
By the fountain's brink.
What is red? A poppy's red
In its barley bed.
What is blue? The sky is blue
Where the clouds float through.
What is white? A swan is white
Sailing in the light.
What is yellow? Pears are yellow,
Rich and ripe and mellow.
What is green? The grass is green,
With small flowers between.
What is violet? Clouds are violet
In the summer twilight.
What is orange? Why, an orange,
Just an orange!

Make a memory poem book

You need:
A poem
Blank papers
Colored pencils or crayons

Fold your papers in half to create your book. Copy one line or stanza of your poem on each page. Illustrate that page. The next day, read what you've written in your book before you move on to write and illustrate the next line. By the end of the poem, you'll have it memorized! Once your book is finished, punch holes in the fold and tie your book together with yarn or string. Voila!

Kindergarten gent memorizes his poems quickly and easily, and he ends up with a beautiful book that he's proud to share with others. Try What is Pink? by Christina Rossetti, A Apple Pie by Kate Greenway, 1, 2 Buckle My Shoe or choose another poem that you love!

Classic Poems for Children

Poetry Foundation

Explorations 4 kids: Poetry

Correggio, Nativity (Holy Night) - 1528-1530

Whom have we, Lord, like you?

The great one who became small,

the wakeful one who slept,

the living one who died,

the king who abased himself to ensure honor for all,

blessed is your honor.

It is right that heavenly beings worship your humanity.

It is right that earthly beings worship your divinity.

The heavenly beings were amazed to see how small you became,

and earthly ones to see how exalted.

(4th century prayer, Ephrem the Syrian)

Joy

i thank you God for most this amazing

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

~e.e. cummings

Winter star poem

February Twilight

I stood beside a hill

Smooth with new-laid snow,

A single star looked out

From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature

That saw what I could see--

I stood and watched the evening star

As long as it watched me.

--Sara Teasdale

Click here for a printable "February Twilight" color poster or coloring sheet.

Butterfly Eyes

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow, Joyce Sidman. Illustrated by Beth Krommes.

Butterfly Eyes and Other Secrets of the Meadow is a lovely book of nature riddle poems set in a meadow. Each pair of lovely riddle poems is followed on the next pages by the answers to the riddles. Kromme's illustrations are gorgeous. Sidman also wrote Song of the Water Boatman, a collection of pond poems. (Poohsticks review here.)

Butterfly Eyes is a perfect companion to Song of the Water Boatman, and I have a feeling we'll be pulling it off the shelves and poring over it often.

Winter Lights

Winter Lights: A Season in Poems and Quilts, Anna Grossnickle Hines.

A library find, Winter Lights is a book of lovely seasonal poems. The shining stars in this book, though, are the stunning quilts illustrating each poem. Or perhaps it's the other way around: The poems illustrate the quilts, beautiful works of art. Each winter-themed quilt is accompanied by a lilting poem. The quilts celebrate the beauty of winter and snow, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, the Solstice and most of all the lights that darken our winters. Just right for a leisurely winter bedtime read-aloud.

There Was a Child

THERE was a child went forth every day;

And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became;

And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.

................................

The hurrying tumbling waves, quick-broken crests, slapping,

The strata of color’d clouds, the long bar of maroon-tint, away solitary by itself—the spread of purity it lies motionless in,

The horizon’s edge, the flying sea-crow, the fragrance of salt marsh and shore mud;

These became part of that child who went forth every day, and who now goes, and will always go forth every day.

~From "There was a Child went Forth," Walt Whitman.
Take ten minutes to read the full poem here. Time well spent for a bit of peace and beauty.

Song of the Water Boatman

Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems, written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beckie Prange.

Delightful. When I saw Song of the Water Boatman, a 2006 Caldecott Honor Book, I knew it belonged on the Poohsticks bookshelves. A wonderful combination of poetry, art, and nature study, Song of the Water Boatman is a collection of poems about pond life. Poems about algae, the pond food chain, pond plants and different pond animals and insects. "I grow daughters like ears," goes a line in my favorite, "A Small Green Riddle," a poem about duckweed. The gents especially enjoy the poem about the predaceous diving beetle, and the wood duck poem, "Spring Splashdown." Each poem is lovely to read aloud, stunningly illustrated with Prange's beautiful prints, and is accompanied by a short informative paragraph about the subject of the poem. There's even a short glossary at the back of the book. We get this book off the shelf again and again, especially in the spring and fall when we're making our nature excursions.