Introduction: Ask the children to listen for the different things mentioned in the poem the trait that that the poet hopes to gain from each.
Hope
by Janet S. Wong
In my own mother
I can see
I will need the strength of a bear,
strength to threaten those who would hurt my child--
Give me this strength.
I will need the softenss of a deer,
to nudge my child down the right path--
Give me this softness.
I will need the courage of a fox
to leave my child behind, drawing harm my way--
Give me this courage.
I will need the calm of a tree,
knowing fires will happen,
And I will need to keep the hope I hold inside myself,
knowing that after the fires,
Things grow again.
From Janet Wong's The Rainbow Hand: Poems About Mothers and Children, Margaret K. McElderry Books, 1998.
Extension: After reading the poem several times, ask the children what the fire might represent in our lives. Reiterate the hope that follows difficult times.
Born 1962
Los Angeles, California
Introduction: Show pictures of a cradleboard and how it is worn by Native American women.
Atikinaagan (Cradleboard)
by Rainbird Winters (Lac Courte
Oreillas Ojibwe)
A cradleboard is used to hold a small baby
to let him fall asleep
It's like a mother hugs to hold him tight
to help him stop his weeping
He is observing everthing around
both big and small
from the tiny little squirrel
to a tall oak tree
Eventually the baby will grow
too big to fit
but still the mother's love
will never end.
This cradleboard is sacred
used all the time
He feels so safe
And his heart beats with a lovely rhyme.
From When the Rain Sings-- Poems by Young Native Americans, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, 1999.
Extension: Ask the children what the advantages of using a cradleboard are; disadvantages?
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