Happy Poetry Friday! I’m back with another why-ku–I’ve shared a few of these pairs over the past week, and it’s fun to look at them and remember just how much fun I had writing them! These are from my latest 30 Painless Classroom Poems book,?Why-ku: Poems of Wonder About the World. Here’s the final one I’m sharing.
![Why Can't I Feel the Earth Spin? [why-ku]](https://i0.wp.com/laurasalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/spin-500x7501.jpg?resize=500%2C750&ssl=1)
A Note from the Poet: [White]
It makes me feel a little dizzy when I stop and think that Earth (and all of us on it) are spinning around at more than 1,000 miles per hour! So I wanted the haiku to look all spinny and out of place, too.
A Note from the Poet: [It’s]
This answer was, I think, the most surprising answer in the whole collection. Really? It’s just because the Earth’s rotation is so smooth and constant that we don’t feel it? That just doesn’t seem possible. But it’s true.
Also here are samples of Mary Lee Hahn’s activities from the classroom activity guide. The first relates to a pair of why-ku I shared last week.
WHY CAN?T I FLY?
Give your students time to investigate the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website. They can learn how to identify birds by sight and sound, watch live streaming bird cams, and find out how to attract more birds to their backyard. After they’ve had time to explore, have each student choose a favorite bird and create a digital or paper/marker poster about that bird.
This one is one her whole book activities:
To build a classroom culture of questioning and wondering, save one bulletin board for a ?Wonder Wall? where you and your students post questions and wonders. You might have each student start a Wonder Jar or Wonder Box as a place to collect all of the interesting treasures (leaves, feathers, shells, rocks, magazine clippings, words, quotes from books, etc.) that they find.
Aren’t those wonderful?
Here I am reading this pair of why-ku.
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My friend Linda Baie at Teacher Dance has the Poetry Friday Roundup today. Enjoy!
30 Responses
I now have your book on my Kindle, Laura. Am starting a poetry group soon, will use them! And, a colleague of mine used to have his students do what they called ‘wonder’ notebooks, a ‘wonder’ each week, & a quick product. I know he would have loved your Why-Ku’s! When I was little, I used to think that when people got dizzy, it was because something happened to cause them to feel the earth rotating. Hm‑m, now I know that’s not correct, but it seems right, doesn’t it?
So creative you are!
It totally seems right. Instead of it being something to do with fluid and inner ears and vision! Wonder notebooks are fabulous. Honored that you’ll be sharing my why-ku with your poetry group. Thanks, Linda!
I now have your book on my Kindle, Laura. Am starting a poetry group soon, will use them! And, a colleague of mine used to have his students do what they called ‘wonder’ notebooks, a ‘wonder’ each week, & a quick product. I know he would have loved your Why-Ku’s! When I was little, I used to think that when people got dizzy, it was because something happened to cause them to feel the earth rotating. Hm‑m, now I know that’s not correct, but it seems right, doesn’t it?
So creative you are!
It totally seems right. Instead of it being something to do with fluid and inner ears and vision! Wonder notebooks are fabulous. Honored that you’ll be sharing my why-ku with your poetry group. Thanks, Linda!
this are wonderful do these book come as a set or can you get them separately I’m hoping to get a few of the books from this series
Supposedly, bookstores can order them now, but they’re all separate. In the future, I’d like to do an omnibus where I put all 6 collections into one book. Not sure when that might happen, though. The formatting and tech stuff takes a long time.
this are wonderful do these book come as a set or can you get them separately I’m hoping to get a few of the books from this series
Supposedly, bookstores can order them now, but they’re all separate. In the future, I’d like to do an omnibus where I put all 6 collections into one book. Not sure when that might happen, though. The formatting and tech stuff takes a long time.
As soon as it warms up enough for us to go back to school, and as soon as the tech crew changes the bulb in my projector, I am going to start sharing these with my students, a pair-a-day!
Hehehe:>)
As soon as it warms up enough for us to go back to school, and as soon as the tech crew changes the bulb in my projector, I am going to start sharing these with my students, a pair-a-day!
Hehehe:>)
Smoothest ride ever–a classic line and ride!
Think of Earth as a classic car:>)
Smoothest ride ever–a classic line and ride!
Think of Earth as a classic car:>)
I just recently taught this concept to a second grader. It is really hard to fathom even as an adult. I do love this project of wonder and why.
Thanks, Margaret. The airplane explanation (see my reply to Catherine) is the comparison that helps me kind of accept this…see it on a smaller scale:>)
I just recently taught this concept to a second grader. It is really hard to fathom even as an adult. I do love this project of wonder and why.
Thanks, Margaret. The airplane explanation (see my reply to Catherine) is the comparison that helps me kind of accept this…see it on a smaller scale:>)
Prolific does not even begin to touch it–both you and Mary Lee. So now I noodle: will I sacrifice the Word Wall for a Wonder Wall? Kindergarteners need both.…and there’s only so many minutes in the week!
I hear you, Heidi. I adore Wonder Walls. But, I know you are giving your students the gift of wondering in so many other ways, too.
Prolific does not even begin to touch it–both you and Mary Lee. So now I noodle: will I sacrifice the Word Wall for a Wonder Wall? Kindergarteners need both.…and there’s only so many minutes in the week!
I hear you, Heidi. I adore Wonder Walls. But, I know you are giving your students the gift of wondering in so many other ways, too.
I’m with you, Laura. It doesn’t seem possible that we can’t feel the movement of the earth. I guess we should be thankful for that smooth ride, though. Mary Lee’s ideas are terrific. Thanks for sharing!
Isn’t it odd? I guess it’s the same as how you feel the speed of an airplane when it is taking off or landing, because the speed is changing. But mid-flight, you don’t feel any forward movement at all. Bizarre and fabulous! Mary Lee did a great job–I was very lucky with my collaborators:>)
I’m with you, Laura. It doesn’t seem possible that we can’t feel the movement of the earth. I guess we should be thankful for that smooth ride, though. Mary Lee’s ideas are terrific. Thanks for sharing!
Isn’t it odd? I guess it’s the same as how you feel the speed of an airplane when it is taking off or landing, because the speed is changing. But mid-flight, you don’t feel any forward movement at all. Bizarre and fabulous! Mary Lee did a great job–I was very lucky with my collaborators:>)