Today we are going to honor National Poetry Month by taking a look at poetry books with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math themes. Because STEM poetry books are usually shelved together with other poetry books over in language arts, they have the potential to be neglected in science class. Let’s pull STEM poetry books off the shelf and shine a spotlight on them.
Why STEM poetry? What a fantastic opportunity to introduce the poetry fans to STEM and the STEM fans to poetry. It’s win-win!
STEM Poetry Books:
Up first this morning is Forest Has a Song, illustrated by Robbin Gourley, at Sally’s Bookshelf. Sue has a revealing interview with author Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, as well as suggestions for related activities. VanDerwater notes the science underpinnings to the book are provided by her biology teacher husband.
Over at Archimedes Notebook, Sue has Nest Building is For the Birds – but you can help. If you would like to accompany the project with reading from a poetry book about birds, try The Cuckoo’s Haiku: and Other Birding Poems, written by Michael J. Rosen and illustrated by Stan Fellows. See Tricia’s Thematic Book List – For the Love of Birds for more suggestions.
Today at Growing With Science we are soaring with a collection of STEM poetry books about space. For example, have you seen Out of This World: Poems and Facts about Space by Amy Sklansky and illustrated by Stacey Schuett? It combines inspiring, intriguing poems with supporting facts in a sidebar on the same page. This book really does live up to its name.
Doing a unit on insects? Earlier in the week we featured Science Poetry Books About Bugs at Growing With Science, including a new book by Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis called Face Bug.
Anastasia shared UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian, a collection of poems about honey bees at Booktalking last week.
Books that just might inspire poetry:
Jeff at NC Teacher Stuff has a review of Flowers by Number by David Shapiro and illustrated by Hayley Vair. It encourages children to look closely at flowers and to learn their numbers. Seems like a lot of potential for poetry here.
Jeff did use Picture a Tree by Barbara Reid as an inspiration to write his own tree-related haiku.
At Booktalking, Anastasia is featuring A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano and illustrated by Michael Carroll, which is sure to inspire some poetry about space.
Related activity:
Anastasia has suggestions for writing STEM-based haiku. Be sure to visit to see what others are sharing and perhaps share yours as well.
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STEM Friday 
April 12, 2013 at 8:23 am
I’m celebrating STEM-y poetry over at Sally’s Bookshelf with a review of “Forest Has a Song” – plus an interview with awesome poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. http://sallysbookshelf.blogspot.com/2013/04/forest-has-song.html
April 12, 2013 at 9:11 am
What a fabulous interview, Sue! It was interesting that you picked up on the change through the seasons, which was suggested by the editor. It is always fascinating to hear how a book comes together.
April 12, 2013 at 8:31 am
No poetry at Archimedes Notebook – just some tips on how to help nest-building birds…
http://archimedesnotebook.blogspot.com/2013/04/nest-building-is-for-birds-but-you-can.html
April 12, 2013 at 9:26 am
Sue,
Great project!
I hope you don’t mind, but I added some suggestions for poetry books about birds, as well.
April 12, 2013 at 9:58 am
These poetry books look terrific. No poetry today 😦 at NC Teacher Stuff , but I am featuring a counting book with flowers. Check out the haikus from last week as well!
http://ncteacherstuff.blogspot.com/2013/04/stem-friday-flowers-by-number.html
April 12, 2013 at 11:22 am
I think your flower counting book encourages children to observe closely, which is an important skill for writing poetry.
Kudos on the haiku 🙂
April 12, 2013 at 11:45 am
I had a STEM poetry book *last* week: UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Paintings by Douglas Florian (Author, Illustrator) http://asuen.com/blog/unbeelievables-honeybee-poems-and-paintings/
April 12, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Anastasia,
UnBEElievables is a great choice for a poetry book. I’ll add it to our list.