And it’s EDUCATIONAL! (Shhh…don’t tell him that.Despite his many attributes he made the most prominent splash as a songwriter and was nominated for both Grammy and Oscar. And finally, a proud, grinning performance as my son reads the text just as well as anyone could and anticipates the moment I share the punchline. Next is usually an examination of the illustration, which always suits the poem so perfectly, because it was drawn by Mr.

Then the smiles as he pieces together the humor. First, the slow work of slogging through new text. (Sometimes it takes two weeks.) He loves it. Each Monday, my youngest has to pick a new poem, learn it, and perform it for me on Friday. Shell Silverstein’s silly poems are THE PERFECT subject matter. Basically, a child reads a selected text out loud over and over until they can read it with ease and expression. Well, it just so happens that one of the exercises recommended by reading experts to improve fluency is called “performance reading”. Most of you know I homeschool some low readers. The traffic light simply would not turn greenĪs the traffic rolled and the wind blew cold I may have been known to quote parts of it to my children when the “prune pits, peach pits, orange peel…” and “gloppy bits of cold oatmeal” begin to pile up in our kitchen due to their negligence.Īnother one we like to quote (in the car, because this always happens, though we’ve never waited weeks and then months) is Traffic Light: That’s the first line and the title of this kid-pleasing tale of laziness and its too-silly cost.

Even forty years later, they’re still extremely kid-relatable. They’re exactly what a kid would say and think and laugh about. But her reaction is funny, and so, so what a kid would do. Ring a bell? After the whole ridiculous rhyming retinue of ailments, Peggy Ann learns…well, if you haven’t read Sick, I’m not going to tell you. I’ve never been a fan of poetry, but some of these really tickled my funny bone when I was a child. I’m here to put it in front of a new generation of kids as well as remind parents, teachers, and homeschoolers who may have loved it long ago and forgotten all about it. Published in 1974, this longtime favorite has fallen in popularity as it’s aged.

Where the sidewalk ends sick