One Book: The Tree that Time Built: a celebration of nature, science and imagination – a beautiful new collection of poems selected by Mary Ann Hoberman (U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate) and Linda Winston.

Three Poems:

**One Old Elm: I began a mini-unit this week on poet, Kristine O’Connell George.  Her poem, “Old Elm Speaks,” was not only *in* the book, The Tree that Time Built, but was one of the poems included on the audio track. Before her reading, Kris shared a bit about how, even as a 5 year-old, staring out the window of her kindergarten classroom, she was in love with trees.  Writing the poems for her book, Old Elm Speaks, gave her an excuse to visit tree nurseries and arboretums, where she spent hours under the leafy branches of her favorite trees. It was a great way for my students to hear a poet read and talk about her work.

**Old Bones: Another of the poems included in this collection (and on the audio!) is “Dinosaur Bone,” by Alice Schertle.  There’s something wonderful about hearing Alice read all those long “o” words – bones, old as stone, alone, alone…

**A Question: Yesterday, at the end of the day, I took my class outside.  We weren’t there long, but for a short short while, we sat under the trees, closed our eyes, and listened. The cool wind blew across our faces. The sun warmed our backs.  We listened.  We waited.  We were “wide-awake.” Attentive. In our own small way, we were trying to follow the advice Eve Merriam offers in her poem (another from Hoberman’s delightful anthology,) “Reply to the Question: “How Can you Become a Poet?”