Celebrate Poetry All Month Long with Read, Discuss, Do

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  Happy National Poetry Month! We are celebrating National Poetry Month with a weekly poetry challenge all month long. To follow along, subscribe to our newsletter or check back here every Monday and Friday throughout the month of April for updates.  Kickoff: Books and resources for National Poetry Month   Week one: Read and write haiku  Article: A Brief History of Poetry by Marci Whitehurst Week two: Read and write odes Article: Eight Creative Ways to Explore Poetry All Year Long by Rebecca J. Gomez Week three: Read and write riddle poems   Week four: Poet's choice! If you and/or your children/students participate in any of our challenges this month, we'd love to hear from you.  You can  email  us or  tag us  on Instagram (use the hashtag #RDDPoetryChallenge or #RDDPoetryMonth). We will be sharing some readers’ poems in a round-up post at the end of the month, so if you’d like your poems to be considered, please let us know when you s...
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Reading Road Trip: A Visit to a Museum

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If you’ve been traveling along with us this summer, we’ve arrived at STOP SIX of our Read, Discuss, Do! Summer Reader Road Trip. It’s a museum adventure!

If this is your first week with us, you can still grab our map and join us for an epic summer reading adventure. You can find other printable resources here. For this week’s theme, the focus is on books that include a museum as a backdrop or any nonfiction and/or other educational book that catch’s your child’s interest. Art, science, math, history…you name it!

What museums are in your area? If possible, take your children to visit a local museum and learn something new. If not, use the library as your museum and look up facts about topics of interest.

READ: Any books that features a museum, or any nonfiction or educational book.

Featured Book: Dakota Crumb Tiny Treasure Hunter by Jamie Michalak and illustrated by Kelly Murphy. This is a picture book about a tiny mouse that hunts for treasure at night in a huge museum. With the treasure she collects, she uses in for display in her own miniature museum that is situated under the big people’s museum. The back matter of this book gives items that you and your child can hunt for in the illustrations of the book. 



DISCUSS:

  1. Have you ever been to a museum? What was it like? If not, what museum would you like to visit?

  2. What were some of the interesting things Dakota found in the museum?

  3. What did she do with the treasure she collected?

  4. Do you have an interesting collection? If so, what do you collect? If not, what would you like to collect?

DO:

Idea One: Go to a museum in your area with your family.

Idea Two: Make your own “mouse-sized” museum with items from around your house. Use the illustrations in the picture book for ideas of what to include in your museum.

Idea Three: Set up a treasure hunt for your kids around your house or at a local park. Make a list of items that they have to find.

VARIATIONS:

  • Alphabet--they have to find something that represents each letter of the alphabet

  • Rainbow—they have to find something for each color of the rainbow.

  • Numbers—they have to fine one of something, two of something, three of something etc.

  • Sizes—they have to find items that can fit in certain size box or bag.

  • For larger families or families with a wide age range of children--form teams and make it a race.

You can also download this week’s coloring page!

Museum Book List

Maisy Goes to the Museum by Lucy Cousins. This is a first experiences book with bright and bold illustrations for the youngest reader.

Sleepover at the Museum by Karen LeFrak, illustrated by David Bucs. Mason is celebrating his birthday with a museum sleepover as the Museum of Natural History. The kids participate in a scavenger hunt and also try to find the best place to sleep! Where will they end up?

How the Sphinx Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland. This is a fascinating non-fiction  picture book of how the sphinx of Hatshepsut came to be housed in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Cornbread & Poppy at the Museum by Matthew Cordell is an easy reader about two very different friends who go to a museum to see a new exhibit and the happenings of their adventurous day!

These next three aren't "museum" books, but they are good examples of educational books:

Seven and a Half Tons of Steel by Janet Nolan, illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez. A fascinating book about the USS New York, a Navy ship built partially with steel from the World Trade Center.

The Secret Garden of George Washington Carver by Gene Barretta, illustrated by Frank Morrison. This is a story about the life of George Washington Carver, and how his love of nature led to a remarkable life, beginning with his “secret garden.”

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Mass, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. A zippy read-aloud full of fun sounds that teach the reader about the instruments in an orchestra.

Middle grade:

From the Mixed up Files of of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. This award winning middle grade novel has stood the test of time. It is about a girl named Claudia who runs away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and her ensuing adventure.

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