continued
Introduction: Ask your students what it takes to be a friend. Allow some time for discussion. Read the following poems (without mentioning the authors), and ask them if they can tell which poem was written in more recent times.
A Time to Talk by Robert Frost Friends by Elton John
When a friend calls to me from the road I hope the day will be a brighter highway
And slows his horse to a meaning walk, For friends are found on every road;
I don't stand still and look around Can you think of any better way
On all the hills I haven't hoed, For the lost and weary travelers to go.
And shout from where I am, "What is it?"
No, not as there is a time to talk. Making friends for the world to see,
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground, Let the people know you got what you need;
Blade-end up and five feet tall, With a friend in hand, you will see the light,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall If your friends are there, everything's all right.
For a friendly visit.
It seems to me a crime that we should age
Extension: Ask the students if they could tell These fragile times should never slip us by;
which poem was written many years ago and A time you never can or shall erase
which poem was written more recently. As friends together watch their childhood fly.
Poem I Have Written Myself
Introduction: Use this poem to introduce a lesson on seeds and germination. For a week prior to this lesson, plant a bean seed each day in marked cups (by date).
Propagation by Donna Van Cleve
It's there...
waiting patiently through the drought
buried, unseen
'neath the hard-packed ground...
silent, trapped...
waiting patiently for the key
to freedom, to life...
Drip...
what's that?
drop...
something in the keyhole?
splatter, spill, pour
AWAKEN!
soak, steam, swell
BURST!
S-t-r-e-t-c-h...
and open the door
arise
and reach for the light
breathe, feed, grow
BUZZ!
sprout, bud, blossom
BEAUTY!
Heat...
enough is enough
Wind...
it's passed too quickly!
thirst, shrink, shrivel
SNAP!
shudder, fall, scatter,
STOMP!
They're there...
waiting patiently through the drought
buried, unseen
'neath the hard-packed ground...
silent, trapped...
waiting patiently for the key...
Extension: Ask the students what the keys are that
unlock life in a seed. Then examine the bean sprouts,
beginning with the most recent planting to the week old
bean, showing how a little soil, moisture, and sunlight can
take a lifeless-looking bean and create life in a very short
period of time.
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