Module 1

                                                                      

                                                                    School Poetry

Bibliography

Dakos, Kalli. 1999. THE BUG IN TEACHER’S COFFEE AND OTHER SCHOOL POEMS. Ill. by Mike Reed. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060279400

Summary

The Bug in the Teacher’s Coffee is a variety of 23 poems composed by Kalli Dakos that humorously bring to life inanimate objects in a school setting. Subjects include a pencil taken hostage, a sneezing front school door, a gym floor with an aching headache, and a bug in the teacher’s coffee caught off guard to an inevitable (GULP) demise. This I Can Read Book will capture the attention and hearts of primary grade students with its easy to read text and playful illustrations.

Quality and Appeal

The Bug in Teacher’s Coffee is an easy to read book of poetry that is suitable to a young reader. The layout of the book begins with a table of contents for the reader to choose which poem they wish to select first. Each poem is no more than two pages in length, one side offers appropriate font size for young readers and the other page captures the poem’s topic with an amusing illustrations. The overall mood of the poems is comical and will delight its audience with plausibility of such happenings occurring within a school. The poems offer an extensive introduction into various elements of poetry. Repetition and rhyme, which give the poems a musical quality, can be heard throughout the book. Examples include the poem, "Good Morning," in which the title is repeated all through the poem and rhyming words new, too, and you, which lend themselves to the rhythm. Another repetition is in the poem, "Flying Around the Classroom." This poem has speaking parts for Fly 1,2, 3, and 4. Each fly tells another fly of a kid in the class who eats flies. Repeating lines are “A kid in here eats flies. Pass it on. Oh my!” These lines also add to the rhythm of the poem.

The poems, "Front Door," "Bee," "Slide," and "Gym," introduce figurative language with onomatopoeia. These sound words include achoo, buzz, whee, and bong. In the poem, "The Class Goldfish," which is repeated three times in the book, the author plays with the letters in the words fast and slow. With the words he italicized fast to give the impression of quickness, while he chose to space the letters of the word slow far apart. This play of words lends credibility to the subject of the poem swimming in its fishbowl. This play on words can also be seen in the poem, "Gym," with the word bong bouncing all over the page and the poem, "Slide" where the word whee is exaggerated with additional “e”s going down the page just like a slide.

Illustrator Mike Reed has done a noteworthy job of applying humor with the pictures to coordinate with the text. In the poem, Math Test, the numbers 1+ 1 look on fearfully at number 3, who has a fierce, angry scowl. The poem, Jack’s Pencil, has the pencil surrounded by a darkened background to represent the inside of a desk with ghoulish eyeballs staring him down. The book will appeal to lower grade levels for the easy text recognition, including many sight words. The poems are short in length and will hold the attention of youngsters. The subject matter is engaging and is a good introduction to poetry. 

Spotlight Poem

 Front Door

Keep me shut,

I have the flu,

A

   c

      h

         o

            o         

               ooOO!       

                              

                 hooooOOO!

        A   c

A

   c

      h

         o

            o         

               ooOO!      

       

                hooooOOO!

        A  c

Keep me shut,

I have the flu.

I chose this poem because it exhibits the quality of a sound poem that shows onomatopoeia. This poem is a good example of how to have fun with words and introduce an element of poetry that children will find entertaining. The poem also has rhyme and repetition with give it a nice rhythm. The poem’s format is not laid out in a typical lined poem, which will show young readers that you can write poetry suitable to the subject and can also offer more of a visual appeal.

I also chose this poem as a way to highlight the importance of hygiene. We all know that some students think a Kleenex is their hand or are oblivious to the notion of washing their hands to fight the spread of germs. This poem would be a fun way to show the effects of spreading germs.

Connections

1. Use the book as an introduction to poetry. Choose a particular skill to focus on, such as onomatopoeia. Spotlight "Front Door" with examples of the skill. Have students write their own poem with examples of onomatopoeia.

2. Students can select other areas of the school and write a poem, choosing words that reflect the poetic element of onomatopoeia for that particular area.