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Learn All Year Long

Kids and teens should read and write even when they are out of school. Why is this so important?
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ReadWriteThink has a variety of resources for out-of-school use. Visit our Parent & Afterschool Resources section to learn more.

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Tip
Why Use This Tip

Why Use This Tip
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Children recognize the power of poetry—its ability to inspire emotions and the special pleasure you can get from memorizing a favorite poem or reading it again and again. But children may not know where to start in writing their own poems. And they may not realize that poems come in a wide variety of flavors—from succinct haikus, to ones that follow conventions of word choice and line length, to the-sky-is-the-limit free verse.

Help a child recognize the elements of a poem and explore different ways of writing one, and you'll also enable the child to become more familiar with the meaning of words and sentences, sentence structure, rhymes, and vocabulary. Plus, in writing poetry, a child will discover a new, limitless world of expression that's just as fun to share with others as it is to create.
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What To Do

1. Choose some books of poetry (see Additional Poetry Resources for some suggestions). Read some poems aloud with the child. Talk about where each line of the poem ends and how it creates rhythm, affects the meaning of the poem, and might even make the poem look a particular way.

2. Sing a favorite song together and write down the lyrics. Then ask the child to write a poem that he or she could sing to the melody of the song. Use the structure of the original lyrics as a guide.

3. Go on a neighborhood poetry walk. Stop at various points—the park, the street corner, the newsstand—and ask the child to write a sentence or two that describes what he or she sees. Back at home, the child can revise and shorten those sentences and turn them into a poem.

4. Show the child how to write an acrostic poem, in which the first letter of each line spells out his or her name, when read top to bottom. Once the child writes a poem based on his or her own name, the child can write about family members, friends, or pets.

5. Make a slideshow poem. Have the child photograph a series of five to ten pictures (based on a common theme or during a trip). Import the photos into a multimedia software program such as PowerPoint, iPhoto, or Photo Story and ask the child to write a poem by posting a word or two with each image. Add special effects, transitions, or music to enhance the slideshow.

6. Show an older child how to write a "found" poem, using the Found Poem Instructions. Found poems take existing text (e.g., from a passage in a book, a magazine article, a sign, a letter) and condense and reorder the words to form a new poem. Help the child select a paragraph or two from a favorite book and turn it into a found poem.

7. Introduce the rhyming dictionary at Poetry4Kids.com and a thesaurus as helpful tools for writing poetry.

8. Explore different types and even shapes of poems. For younger children, the three-line haiku (five words/seven words/five words) is a fun way to start. Older children may want to experiment with formats like the diamante, a seven-line poem that is shaped like a diamond (see Related Resources for an online Diamante Poems tool).

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Help a Child Write a Poem - ReadWriteThink

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Kids and teens should read and write even when they are out of school. Why is this so important? Download the flyer (PDF) ReadWriteThink has a variety of resources for out-of-school use. Visit our Parent & Afterschool Resources section to learn more.

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The firefly is actually a beetle and not a fly at all. Fireflies can grow to 9 centimeters in length and are easily identified by their flat bodies, blackish backs, large eyes, and short antennae. Of course, fireflies are most readily identified by their bioluminescent abdominal region. Both adults and larva are capable of glowing. Even firefly eggs glow! HABITAT AND RANGE There are over 2,000 species of firefly inhabiting the temperate and tropical regions of the earth. Fireflies are found in a variety of habitats, especially forest edges, wooded backyards, and areas near streams or ponds. Some firefly species, however, are found in desert regions. Fireflies are most common in warm, humid areas of the world. South and central America and southern Asia support the greatest diversity of firefly species. In North America, fireflies that glow are typically found only east of the Great Plains. DIET Firefly larva are predators and feed on earthworms, snails, and slugs. Larva can detect the slime from a slug and follow the trail to its prey. Scientists believe that adult fireflies feed mostly on flower nectar. BIOLUMINESCENCE Fireflies produce light by initiating a chemical reaction of Luciferin, Luciferase and Oxygen. Amazingly enough, the firefly "light" is extremely efficient - about ten times more energy efficient than a light bulb. Most scientists believe fireflies light up to advertise to predators that they taste bad. When fireflies are disturbed, the frequency and intensity of their glow increases. Fireflies also glow as a means of communication between males and females. Scientists believe that certain aspects of a male's flashing pattern (such as frequency of flashing) are more attractive to female fireflies and increase his chance of mating.

Firefly Display

Play Firefly Nights - a super fun, firefly-themed game in which players create a firefly flash pattern, and then identify it in increasing groups of fireflies with different flash patterns!

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The firefly is actually a beetle and not a fly at all. Fireflies can grow to 9 centimeters in length and are easily identified by their flat bodies, blackish backs, large eyes, and short antennae. Of course, fireflies are most readily identified by their bioluminescent abdominal region.

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Do you study fireflies? I think you'll enjoy the following activities!

Click on the link to view/download the entire or click on the separate links below.

Almost every night that my husband Daniel and I are out walking with our puppy, Chloe, we are amazed at the "dance of the fireflies".

As a child I enjoyed catching "lightning" in a jar and then letting these amazing insects go before they died. I was simply fascinated at their ability to illuminate.

1. Print off my "You light up my life with LOVE." bookmark, color it and leave it in a special place for that special someone to find. Click on the link to view/print the firefly bookmark.

2. Run off copies of my wax paper winged firefly. Students cut out their brown firefly and glue a yellow "glow" tip to the end. Add wiggle eyes with glue dots. Cut a black pipe cleaner in 1/2. Make it into a V. Scotch tape the V to the back of the firefly. Curl each end around a pen to make antennae. Accordion fold an 11x5 sheet of wax paper, round the edges, fold in the middle and staple to the center of the firefly. Cute as is, or hot glue to a clothespin.

Click on the link to view/print wax paper-winged firefly.

3. Buy a package of Popsicle sticks that look like ice cream spoons. Paint the rounded side with neon yellow paint and then a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint. Paint the upper part light brown.

Add wiggle eyes and tissue paper wings. If you twist a ½ piece of pipe cleaner around the middle and make it into a ring, you've just made yourself a finger puppet; or hot glue a clothespin to the back, add a magnet and hang on your refrigerator to leave love notes to light up someone's life!

4. Print off my template and make a firefly keepsake jar by dipping your index finger in bright yellow paint, and then making firefly bodies by pressing your fingerprint all over your bug jar.

Let the prints dry and then brush on glow-in-the-dark paint with a Q-tip. Add wings with a white pencil or crayon. Put an aluminum foil lid on the top and you have "lightning in a jar!"

Click on the link to view/print the templates.

This is a great activity to do after reading 10 Flashing Fireflies. I only put 7 fireflies in this blue Ball Jar, but if you do this as a follow up to that story, have children do 10 fingerprint fireflies.

5. Cut 5x7 rectangles of yellow construction paper. Cut out the template of my firefly out of cardstock and trace around it with a yellow crayon on the yellow construction paper. Place a Dixie cup of diluted black tempera paint in the middle of the table. You should have enough tempera so that the paper will get covered, but enough water so that the water-paint mixture will bead up on the waxed crayon and reveal the firefly and not paint opaquely over it.

Have children "wash" paint over their entire middle of their paper.

I do this activity after I read Eric Carles' book The Very Lonely Firefly. I tell my students: "OK let's go find some more firefly friends for this firefly." I ask them: "When do fireflies come out?" They respond: "At night." So I tell them: "The sun is shining on this paper. It is bright yellow. You have to make night come by painting it black, so that the fireflies will come out."

They are amazed to see their firefly appear!

6. For an adorable firefly bulletin board done with Christmas lights click on the link.

Firefly Language Arts Activities:

Firefly Bibliography: "What do we see in the summer night? Ten flashing fireflies burning bright!" Click on the link to view/print other firefly books that I recommend. I've highlighted in yellow my favorites. Click on the link to view/print a copy of my firefly bibliography.

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123 Count Fireflies With Me: Read, trace, write, count, and then cut and glue the group of fireflies to the matching numbered boxes. Have students use a yellow bingo dot marker to fill in the appropriate amount of dots in the squares.

For an easy reader counting booklet click on the link. Firefly counting booklet.

Don't be "bugged" by the -ight words! Get a jump-start for fall and study them with my cute lightning bug flashcards. Click on the link to view/print them. Make the cards even more fun, by painting the letters with glow-in-the-dark paint! Firefly flashcards

Click on the link to view/print a firefly fan bookof trace and write the firefly vocabulary words & a firefly life cycle fan book. Firefly Fan Books

Cut out the strips, punch a hole in the middle of the bottom. Put the pages together with a brass brad so they unfold like a fan and you have a cute way to review words and science!

Click on the link to TRACE and put the -ight words in ABC order. Firefly skill sheet.

Print off my lightning bug silly story poem, hang it in your room, turn off the lights and pretend you're a lightning bug and read it in the dark by pointing at each word with a flashlight. Firefly story poem + notes home.

Click on the link to make a firefly class book.

Click on the link for my firefly prose poem. For another cute lightning bug poem click on the link.

If you're teaching summer school and doing fireflies with your students, or home schooling, clink on the link to view/print a firefly graph.

123-Count fireflies with meskill sheet. Click on the link to view/print firefly counting skillsheets + an addition subtraction skill sheet.

For a fact sheet on fireflies and a firefly to label and color, click on the link.

For some awesome firefly photographs of real fireflies, click on the link.

I hope you enjoy these fun firefly activities, and I hope you get to see some real fireflies this summer!

As always, if you have a firefly activity you do with your children, I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com

Feel free to PIN anything you feel might help or interest others.

Until next time try saying this tongue twister: Fifty-four fireflies friskily flitted frantically from the frog's ferocious feast!

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Do you study fireflies? I think you'll enjoy the following activities! Click on the link to view/download the entire or click on the separate links below. Almost every night that my husband Daniel and I are out walking with our puppy, Chloe, we are amazed at the "dance of the fireflies".

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Museum of Science Firefly Watch | Programs And Festivals

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Firefly programs and festivals are becoming popular among nature centers and environmental organizations. Firefly Watch would like to be the place to find out about these programs. If your organization is planning a firefly event, or if you know of an organization that is planning an event, please let us know and we will add you to the list.

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The brilliance of bioluminescence - Leslie Kenna

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TeachingBooks.net | Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems

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Meet-the-Author Book Reading with Melissa Sweet Featured title: Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems Created by TeachingBooks.net

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Kids Crafts - Holiday, Seasonal, Learning, Animal and More Crafts for Kids | All Kids Network

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Kids crafts for toddlers, preschoolers and kids of all ages. Check out all of our ideas for crafts for kids at All Kids Network. We have holiday crafts, seasonal crafts, learning crafts and more!

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