Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real ~ A Poetry Tea

We had our second quarter poetry tea this week. My kids love having tea and using special tableware.  They are not always thrilled with poetry. However, poetry is always fun with tea, cakes, tea cups and a fancy tablecloth.

PRETTY ~ We enjoyed this poetry tea during lunch time. We had bacon, cheese, celery, carrots, apples, french fries, grain-free Blondies, chocolate chips and gluten-free vanilla wafers. We also had three kinds of tea! We used tiny tea cups so the kids could have many cups of tea.


HAPPY ~ What a happy time we had together sharing tea, conversation and poems.



FUNNY ~ My funny boy loved performing for us. He is such a funny character.


REAL ~ I love filling my children with a "moral diet". I try to do this in every activity I do with them.  A poetry tea is a perfect time to read them lovely little moral poems. This year I am using an Anthology of poems published by Child Craft in 1949. I love the illustrations and messages in the poems.


WHEN YOUNG MELISSA SWEEPS
an excerpt by Nancy Byrd


When young Melissa sweeps a room
I vow she dances with the broom!

She curtsies in a corner brightly
And leads her partner forth politely.

Then up and down in jigs and reels
With gold dust flying at their heels,

They caper. With a whirl or two
They make the wainscot shine like new!


 THE UMBRELLA BRIGADE 
an excerpt by Laura E. Richard

Such a plashing! Such a dashing!
Will it e'er be dry again?
Down the gutter rolls a flood,
And the crossings deep in mud;
And the puddles! oh, the puddles
Are a sight to stir one's blood!

Blessings, Dawn

7 comments:

  1. I have been wanting to start doing an afternoon tea again too. We used to do poetry then too! I have such lovely memories of that. Maybe (if I can get it together, lol) we will start again today!

    God bless~

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  2. What a great idea! Mine have lost interest in poetry recently, but this could help. I love the poems, too :)

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  3. Oh! I have that poetry book from Childcraft. It was my moms and I inherited it and I love it! I showed pictures of it about a year ago I think for a post on how we use IEW's poetry memorization CD.
    Have you all ever acted out poetry? Or done Haiku? They can quietly act out Haiku and perform it. It's quite moving that way. Then for the follow-up art project take some black ink and puddle it in the bottom center of the paper (for the base of a trunk) and blow it up to create a tree. Then take sponges and create leaves and do this for each of the seasons. For this project I had Haiku about trees and the seasons. I had that idea published in an English journal years ago!
    Laurie

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  4. That looks like a fun afternoon. A great way to make something that isn't their favorite much more appealing! Great job!

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  5. What a fun tea! Thanks for joining!

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  6. Wow! S-O-G-G-Y! We haven't had a Poetry Tea since last year. ::sigh:: The kids have asked though. You've reminded me that I should really plan another! They really do enjoy choosing a special poem or three and sharing them over tea/cocoa and special finger foods.

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  7. I found you on the TGIF Linky. I love this idea. My children are still toddlers, but I will definitely file this idea away for when they are a little older.

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