Feeling Spooky?

Halloween is a long-standing tradition. And it's more than treat-or-treats or putting on a mask. Here are some fun activities to share around this holiday -- and some broader insights about this holiday.

CONNECT:
- So where did Halloween begin? Read about its history at http://www.halloweenhistory.org and the History Channel: http://www.history.com/topics/halloween
- Have Halloween fun thanks to Ben & Jerry's:  http://www.benjerry.com/halloween/
- What is the meaning of Halloween symbols? Wikipedia has a good article on that, with several links to specific items: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween
- How is Halloween celebrated around the world? Check out traditions at http://www.jackolanterns.net/traditions.htm
- Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in many parts of the Western Hemisphere. Here is a good site from Arizona about Day of the Dead: http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/
- How about reading poetry about Halloween? A good collection is found at http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/417

CREATE:
- Here are some fun recipes for the season. You might even consider giving them as Halloween treats. http://recipes.kaboose.com/holidays/halloween-recipes/halloween-recipes.html and http://allrecipes.com/recipes/holidays-and-events/halloween/
- What's Halloween in the U.S. without pumpkins? Here is a site all about pumpkins, including growing your own: http://www.pumpkin-patch.com/. You can also learn how to carve a pumpkin by exploring http://www.pumpkin-carving.com/
- Why spend money on costumes when you can be creative with items around the home? http://www.robinsfyi.com/holidays/halloween/costumes.htm and http://www.familycorner.com/dir/Family/Holidays/Halloween/Costume_Ideas/
- How about putting on a Halloween party? It's safer than roaming the neighborhood. You can find ideas about planning and games at http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/kids-halloween-party-ideas.htm

CARE:
- Unfortunately, Halloween can led to more tricks than treats. Here are some ways to stay safe at Halloween -- and care for youngsters during this holiday.
http://www.cdc.gov/family/halloween/
http://www.halloween-safety.com/http://www.halloweenmagazine.com/play.html
- UNICEF has been involved in Halloween since 1950 in helping children in need. Here is some background about their efforts, and how you can participate. Even if you don't want to collect for UNICEF, you kids can design a Halloween character for UNICEF. Check out the details at http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/
- Here's an original way to combine Halloween and the election season: carve political pumpkins! Here are some patterns to inspire you: http://www.spookmaster.com/pumpkin-carving-patterns-browse-political.htm
- It can be hard to talk about death and dying. Here is some good advice: http://www.hospicenet.org/html/talking.html

CAREERS:
Really? Halloween careers? Well, there's Halloween themes at theme parks, costume designer, make-up artist, chef. There's a whole Halloween industry: http://www.ehow.com/how_6310803_job-halloween-industry.html 
You can brainstorm others too. Check out some of the possibilities:
http://www.theartcareerproject.com/get-behind-the-scenes-with-a-costume-design-career/349/
http://education-portal.com/career_information_on_chef.html
http://education-portal.com/articles/How_to_Become_a_Party_Planner_Education_and_Career_Roadmap.html
http://www.careerinfonet.org/occ_rep.asp?id=&level=&optstatus=111111111&nodeid=2&soccode=395091&stfips=12
And based on the tradition of All Hallows Evening, there are religious vocations too. Here are a couple of websites for teens:
http://www.ou.edu/religiousstudies/Careers/Careerspage.htm
http://www.religiousministries.com/editorial/index.asp


To Parents:
This set of activities tries to explore a variety of cultural traditions related to Halloween rather than focusing on commercial or occult practices. As your children explore Halloween websites, you should probably do this as a family activity since many different groups will present ideas that may be uncomfortable for your family.

There's No Place Like Home

Ranch houses, apartments, town houses, igloos, tents. They are all houses. Whether you live in a project or housing development or gated community, your home is unique because what is inside: furniture, personal items, AND the people. You can explore your home with new eyes – and improve it.

CONNECT:

Homes come in all shapes and sizes. Explore some of the possibilities below.    

• See how houses reflect people’s culture and geography as shown in these websites: 

http://www.ict.mic.ul.ie/websites/2002/Imelda_Fitzgerald/Homes%20Around%20the%20World-1.htm   http://www.shelterpub.com/_wonderful_houses/wh-toc.html

http://weburbanist.com/2008/09/09/70-amazing-houses-from-around-the-world/

http://www.vikingjorvik.com/

http://www.rom.on.ca/programs/activities/longhouse/longhouse1.php

• Farms are the homes to millions of people around the world. This website presents 150 farm homepages give you a feel for life on the farm in 40 states and 18 countries around the world. http://www.disknet.com/indiana_biolab/farms.htm
• If these walls could talk. 'Within These Walls' is an interactive website that documents the history of a house that has been the home for over five generations to the same family. What is the history of your home? What stories could it tell? You can get some ideas by looking at http://americanhistory.si.edu/house/default.asp
• Furniture helps make a house a home. How has furniture changed over the years – and around the world? Does some piece of furniture in your house look like something in another part of the world or another time? http://www.furniturestyles.net/

• Think small. Imagine living in these small spaces:

http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/tiny_houses.html

 http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

http://www.thetreehouseguide.com/  (Some of these tree houses are not so little…)

CREATE:

Creativity begins at home. There are lots of items around the house that can be used to show your originality.

• Doing family crafts is a great way to spend time together: http://familycrafts.about.com/
• Take a look at some of these home project; hopefully some of them will inspire you to improve your home: http://pinterest.com/kbkphotography/diy-projects-for-the-home-and-kids/
• Try some creative ways to dress up kids’ rooms -- and have fun recycling: http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/10-creative-yet-simple-projects-for-kids-rooms/index.html
• You can be creative and energy efficient at the same time doing these projects: http://www.alliantenergykids.com/FunandGames/CoolProjects/index.htm

CARE:

It takes a lot of work to take care of a home. And home care involves the whole family.

• Home safety is everyone’s business. How safe is your home? Check it out using http://www.safetyathome.com/
• Energy can be costly, and homes can make big carbon footprints. Use a bit of your own energy with  some  of these ideas to save energy. http://www.mortgagecalculator.org/helpful-advice/energy-saving-for-kids.php
• It’s (practically) never too early to learn basic repair skills. Here are five lifelong skills you can gain: http://shine.yahoo.com/five-basic-home-repair-skills-kids-223800824.html
• Kids can help keep the home in great shape. Here are some starting kid-friendly projects: http://www.bobvila.com/blogs/kid-friendly-diy-projects/
• Many people in the United States are homeless or have very poor housing. Here is what the government is doing about it; see how you can help at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp

CAREERS:

Like to hang around the house? Look at all the jobs it takes to build and maintain a home. Take a look at some of the possibilities:

• Architect http://www.kidzworld.com/article/5966-becoming-an-architect
• Building things: http://kids.usa.gov/teens-home/jobs/building-things/index.shtml
• Home economics: http://voices.yahoo.com/is-career-home-economics-right-you-4269545.html
• Home-centric green careers: http://climate.nasa.gov/kids/greenCareers/index.cfm

PARENTS:

Safety is your first concern. These activities can help your children be more aware of safety issues at home. You can remind them that technology requires awareness of safety issues too.

Get the Message?

Mass media is all around us: TV, radio, movies, magazines, newspapers. And much of it SEEMS free, but someone is paying for it, whether through advertisements or people who have an agenda. Remember that all (mass) media try to persuade you: to buy something or to think like they do.  You need to be aware of mass media’s intent in order to understand that information accurately and know how to respond to it.

 
CONNECT:
All media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules. And each person experiences that media in a unique way. When examining media messages, you should consider WHO is making the message, HOW the message is made, WHAT the message is, WHY the message is made. 

• View a television show or a video without the sound. Then listen to a television show without the picture. Can you describe the message? What is the impact of a missing medium? Try replacing a video or television footage original soundtrack with a conflicting/contradictory soundtrack. For example, use ballet music to accompany a football play. How does that impact the message and the experience?
• Examine online magazines and newspapers written in languages that at least part of the family does not know, such as http://www.readwhere.com/category/17/kids.  What information can you figure out – on what basis?
• Research a conglomerate to determine its related corporate entities (such as http://www.timewarner.com/ or http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/). How does their website convey their message or value.
• Locate a historical advertisement from the Library of Congress’s American Memory collections (http://memory.loc.gov/). Try to analyze the advertisement without consulting the bibliographic description. Locate other documents from the same period of time and/or same producer or type of product in order to contextualize the advertisement and gain more information. As another activity, identify advertisements that they think are targeted one group, such as females or children or one ethnic group, explaining the basis for their assessment. Do different members of the family have different opinions?

CREATE:

• You can also develop the skills to produce your own messages to build your own influence.
• Watch this video to see the “language” of camera shots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwr0VQJyYro&feature=related. Then take pictures of your family and neighborhood with the idea of expressing a value, such as the importance of pets.
• You can make MAGIC with UNICEF at http://www.unicef.org/magic/index.html. This website has media activities for and by children.
• Try your hand at creating a commercial. The following activities are geared for the classroom, but can be done by a family group:

1. http://plays.about.com/od/actvities/a/commercial.htm
   http://pbskids.org/dontbuyit/teachersguide/createyourownad.html
   http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/04/lp332-03.shtml 
2. WikiHow has some good tips on creating (and understanding) advertisements: http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Advertisement

CARE:

• It’s important to become politically aware, especially this fall. Common Sense Media has a list of great activity-based websites for different ages that can enlighten the family about media in the political process: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/new/politics-for-kids-get-kid-friendly-ways-to-steer-kids-through-the-political-season.  You can download campaign commercials, and edit them to support one candidate – and then re-edit them to support the opposing candidate. What production techniques did you use to modify the message? Does this activity change the way you think about political messages?
• You be the judge. Using the criteria at http://www.childrennow.org/index.php/learn/judging_educational_tv/, decide the quality of a television program that is targeted to children. If the program does not live up to its expectations, you can contact your local commercial broadcast television station about it (see http://www.childrennow.org/index.php/learn/educational_tv).
• Does your family have a favorite film or television show? Perhaps you know of a new show that you really hope stays on the air. You can submit your recommendations to Kids First (http://www.kidsfirst.org/submit-a-title/), which is a national media endorsement program that is based on community reviews.
• Are you “turned off” by some of the commercials you hear and see, especially those that are shown on children’s shows? What can you do about it? Help the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood at http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/

CAREERS:
The media industry is HUGE! Most companies and organizations use media to communicate, and think of all the entertainment fields! Most media productions require specialized skills of many people and lots of teamwork: performers, accountants, artists, writers, technicians, researchers, historians, scientists, and so on. This website provides links to many different media careers: http://faculty.ccbcmd.edu/~hzlotow1/MCOM_111.pdf
On a more personal note, here are interviews with people who work in children’s media: http://www.wgbh.org/impactcommunity/kids_media_matters.cfm

To Parents:
Even though young people “get” the messages that mass media send, they may be unaware of the underlying agendas. Youth respond to the language that mass media use: arresting images, fast-paced scenes, clever word play. They may get so caught up in the delivery of the message that they may miss the message itself on a conscious level, but may fall prey to that underlying objective, be it to buy a product or support a cause. When those messages encourage children to smoke or to exploit others, then the harm done by ignorance can be significant. For more in-depth information about (mass) media literacy, you can explore http://www.medialiteracy.com/kids_parents_media.htm

Talk to the animals

Animals are all around us. People are animals too. So let’s find out more about our living neighbors. You will find that we can help each other.

Connect:

• Let’s make tracks! BioKids (http://www.biokids.umich.edu/) enables you track animals in their natural evnironments. What kinds of conclusions can you make from the evidence? How do tracks reflect aimal adaptations, such as webbed weet or long claws?
• Animals live in different parts of the world. You can locate the the homes of more than 26,000 species worldwide at http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildfinder/
• Animals interact with their environment or biome. Life on Earth (http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/life/life.htm) enables you to look for biodiversity of animals by species, ecosystem, biome, and even wildlife trade.
• Have you heard about the animal kingdom? It’s classified, much like families. Animal worlds (http://www.animalsworlds.com/classification-of-animals.html) has a clickable classification chart linked to lots of information about animals worldwide.
• What impact has humankind had on animals – and vice versa? Here are some ways that animals help people: http://www.animalhumanwellbeing.com/content.php?PageId=117&PHPSESSID=063e63f7f68b107a229438e733fa5233

Create:

• Do you like to take photos of your pets or other animals? You can deepen that experience by looking at animals with new eyes, such as human-animal interaction or ecological aspects. You can upload them on photo-sharing websites such as Picasa (http://picasa.google.com/), and determine with whom you want to show those images.
• Share your story about your favorite animal; digital storytelling is a fun way to do that. Try http://www.animoto.com or  PhotoStory3 (http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/photostory.html).   http://inhabitat.com/digital-storytelling-101-how-kids-can-use-technology-to-tell-their-story-online/ is a good website for adults about digital storytelling for children. http://www.teachingvillage.org/2010/03/09/moving-your-kindergarten-into-web-2-0-with-5-different-tools-by-ozge-karaoglu/ focuses on young children’s use of digital storytelling, particularly with respect to animals.
• Lots of animals live in the sea and on the seashore. Enchanted Learning (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/beach.shtml) offers many crafts, pictures, to print, and information about these animals.
• Want to raise butterflies? This website helps you get started:  http://www.butterflyfarm.co.cr/

Care:

• What impact has humankind had on animals? Find out at http://www.e-pioneer.com/Animals/Impacts/index.html
• How might you help preserve endangered species? This website suggests several ways for adults and children to help: http://www.endangeredspecie.com/Ways_To_Help.htm
• It’s never too early to think about Mother Earth. The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis collaborates with youth to collect and analyze data for ecology issues. You can join in the effort, and learng more about biomes and consevatio proejcts at their webite: http://nceas.ucsb.edu/nceasweb/kids/.
• What rights do animals have? Do different animals have different rights? What impact do animal rights have on people? Do they differ by locale? People are the ones who can protect animal rights. Check out some of those animal rights organizations from  this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animal_rights_groups. Your family might consider volunteering for a local agency.
• Want some tips about caring for pets? Explore http://www.avma.org/careforanimals/kidscorner/. What would you do if you and your pets were affected by a disaster? FEMA has some important guidelines: http://www.ready.gov/animals

Careers:

• You can read one person’s perspective on animal-related careers at http://www.anapsid.org/resources/jobs.html. Universities such as Cornell provide good sources about animal careers: http://animalcareers.cornell.edu/
• Animal rights organizations also provide guidance on related careers: http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/animal-careers.aspx

Did You Hear That?

Sounds are all around us, and we make a lot of sounds every day. Oral stories predate the written word, and may even outlast it. Think of the power of sound: it can break glass – and eardrums. It can move a nation. What wakes you up in the middle of the night? Often it’s a mysterious sound. And how about the infectious quality of a laugh? Explore the world of sound.

Connect:

• The University of Washington’s web site “Neuroscience for Kids” provides several fun learning activities to help child build aural acuity. The site also has a tour of the ear, appropriate for high school students: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chhearing.html
• This thinkquest by fifth and sixth graders explains each sense: http://library.thinkquest.org/3750/hear/hear.html
• The Soundry, another thinkquest, has several sections covering the process of hearing, the physics of sound, the role of sound in daily life, a timeline about sound-related technology, and an interactive sound “lab”: http://library.thinkquest.org/19537/?tqskip1=1
• This website offers free computer games to build auditory skills: http://www.up-to-date.com/saitwebsite/computergames.html
• Do you think animals sound the same around the world? People in different cultures hear them in different ways: http://bzzzpeek.com/ and http://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/animal.html

Create:

• The Science of Sound for Kids (http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sound.html) offers games and other sound activities.
• Aural Urban Fabric Project provides interactive exploration of spatial narrative through aural perception: http://www.jpda.net/proj_aural.html
• You’ve heard of landscapes; what about soundscapes? You can create a soundscape at http://www.wildmusic.org/soundscapes/buildsoundscapeFamilies have great stories to tell. You can capture them on a computer, and turn them into a podcast. 
• This website discusses podcasting for children, and links to sites to guide children to create and upload podcasts: http://coolpodcasts.wordpress.com/2006/09/09/podcsat-for-children/
• If you have a Mac, explore Garage Band. For PC, try Garage Door and MixCraft. Try telling a story just through music and sound effects.

Care:

• This Light is a radio show featuring young activists for social change: http://soundsforsocialchange.com
• Create a musical or narrated podcast about your favorite social cause. You can also record interviews of social activists, and make podcasts to disseminate their ideas.
• The oral word has special meaning for visually impaired people. This website gives you tips on reading to the blind: http://www.ehow.com/way_5130602_reading-blind-people.html
• Produce a poetry slam for a social cause; go to http://www.poetryslam.com for help.
• Create a soundscape about a social cause.

Careers:
How does a career sound to you? Here are several possibilities: in entertaining, science, engineering, forensics, history, ethnography. Explore these websites:

• http://www.audioproductionschools.org/jobs
• http://audio.tutsplus.com/series/how-to-work-in-audio-careers-in-sound/
• http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul04/articles/alternativecareers.htm
• http://www.bhphotovideo.com/find/newsLetter/Career-in-Audio.jsp

Count on Summer!

Yes, you can count on math to make your summer add up to more fun. No matter the angle, you and your family can figure out how to help those summer days measure up to your expectations – and help you get an edge on fall.

Connect:

+         Amuse yourself with Cool Math! It contains an online theme park of game games and puzzles: http://www.coolmath.com/

+         Which mathematician shares the same birthday as you? Find out at http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/ m which features mathematicians for every day. The site provides biographies, quotes and even posters. You can also find which mathematicians lived in your area of the world.

+         Puzzle it out! Your family can choose from a treasure trove of fun math puzzles at different levels at http://www.mathpuzzle.com/

+         It’s a good idea to exercise your brain as you exercise your body to keep mentally fit. Move your mind with arithmetic arcade and math baseball at  http://www.funbrain.com/brain/MathBrain/MathBrain.html. You can also try your hand at math basketball at http://www.scienceacademy.com/BI/index.html. There’s even a whole math playground to explore at http://www.mathplayground.com/

+         How do you make lemonade without lemons? Online with this virtual lemonade stand at http://www.classbrain.com/cb_games/cb_gms_bag/lemonade.html. See how much money you can make –without squeezing a dime or a lemon. And there’s no clean up either.

+         What do a sunflower, a nautilus shell, and the Greek Pantheon have in common? Fibonacci numbers. They are all around you; explore Fibonacci numbers in nature, art, and the creative arts at http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibInArt.html

Create:

+         Did you know that Walt Disney created a film about mathematics starring Donald Duck? You can join Donald in his adventures at http://www.schooltube.com/video/4330a09d98c125dcaa00/Donald-Duck-in-MathMagicLand. You’ll see some fun visual puns about mathematics (such as square roots) and creative mathematical “expressions” through music and other activities. You might try your hand at creating a geometric image or math-based musical instrument.

+         Some of those great animation effects of movies seem so realistic. You can think math, fractals in particular, for such realistic detail. Explore fractals at http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac/, and try your hand at creating your own fractal images.

+         Have designs on math? You can create grids, polygons and more at http://mathforum.org/~sarah/shapiro/index.html. Or if you just want to create fun images using geometric shapes, you can use the online grid palette at http://ejad.best.vwh.net/java/patterns/patterns_j.shtml. That experience can help you use simple computer drawing and paint tools.

+         Tessellations are any repeating pattern of interlocking shapes. This ThinkQuest, created by students, traces the history of tessellations, focusing on Escher’s contributions, largely through its extensive historical image gallery. The creators explain different types of patterns, and provide templates to enable users to create their own tessellations. http://library.thinkquest.org/16661/

+         Want more money? Want to lose weight? Want to go faster? It’s all in how you calculate it! Instead of having one dollar, you can have 1,562.88 liras for the same cost (You might explore which currency has the least and the most value). Or maybe you don’t want to look greedy; instead of asking for a pint of ice cream you can ask for a mere 0.002 of a hogshead. Would you rather run a mile or 160 934.4 centimeters? How many seconds have your lived? Create your own conversion games and fantasies by using http://www.onlineconversion.com/

 

 

Care:

+         In order to find out the status of world social issues such as hunger and poverty, you need to know the statistics. What are some of the statistics about children’s well-being in today’s world? Find out at http://childstats.gov/.  Maybe you can think of a way to improve those statistics…

+         What’s the fairest way to vote? It’s a more complex issue than you might first think. Figure out what might be the fairest way to elect a president by exploring http://www.ctl.ua.edu/math103/

+         Speaking of great mathematicians, the world needs more females in the field. Here are some famous women mathematicians: http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/women.htm. Find out ways to support girls who like math at http://blog.amigram.com/parenting/how-parents-can-support-their-girls-in-math-and-science/

Careers:

+         Did you enjoy Cool Math? Do you find math to be cool? That site also has information about math-related careers: http://www.coolmath.com/careers.htm

+         Ok, so the sound of math doesn’t excite you. How about money? Space? Interior design? Sports? Forensics? Animation? Ecology? Law? Writing? Photography? There’s a math career associated with each of these; check it out at http://www.toroidalsnark.net/mathcareers.html   and http://www.math.com/students/advice/careers.html

+         STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers are hot these days – and universities are willing to give students scholarships to major in these areas. Explore STEM, and especially math, careers at these websites.

+         http://education.ti.com/studentzone/StudentZoneUS/careers/index.html

For parents:

Are you a bit intimidated by math? By exploring these math activities, hopefully both you and your family can feel more self-confident about math. It’s all around us,  and you can count on it – so enjoy it. Nevertheless, everyone can use a little math help. Here are some math tutoring site. Remember that the more that you and your children engaged in math-related activities that they like, the better they are likely to be in math.

+         http://mathforum.org/

+         http://www.ies.co.jp/math/java/

+         http://school.discovery.com/homeworkhelp/webmath/

+         http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/vandewalle_awl/

+         http://www.homeworkspot.com/middle/math/ 

+        http://www.teachthechildrenwell.com/math.html

Slammin’ Poetry!

Think poetry is all hearts and flowers? Think again! What about song lyrics? Rap? Hip hop? Shakespearean drama? Teen novels in verse are hot too. Out there is a poem for YOU! And it may be inside you, just waiting for you to surface it…

Connect:

Ø      Nursery rhymes are childhood favorites around the world. Sometime nursery rhymes cross cultures. Explore http://itsasmallworld.co.nz/index.php. Do different cultures have different themes? Do you need to know about the culture to enjoy the rhyme? Do the rhyme patterns sound different? What feelings do the rhymes convey?

Ø      Some nursery rhymes change their meaning over time. In fact, some nursery rhymes start out as political statements. Listen to a discussion about their hidden meaning at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4933345. And here are the origins of ten nursery rhymes: http://listverse.com/2009/08/19/10-nursery-rhymes-and-their-origins/
Ø Dig music? You can learn about poetry. Parents, you can try the following ideas with your kids: http://www.corndancer.com/tunes/tunes_lesplan.html
Ø      Yee haw! What do cowboys do all day besides herding? Some of them write poetry. Lasso a few at http://www.westernfolklife.org/site1/

Ø      Find your roots in poetry. Here’s a site of African American poetry: http://www.aalbc.com/authors/poetsinfo.html 

Ø      Poets can start young. Connect with teen Canadian poets at http://www.youngpoets.ca/

Create:

Ø      It’s been said that if you keep a poem in your pocket, you’ll never be alone. Did you know there’s a “Poem in Your Pocket” Day? You can celebrate it with others – and create your own special poetry day. Look for ideas at http://www.youngpoets.ca/. This site also includes a poem-a-day app. It’s still a poem in your pocket!

Ø      What’s a haiku – and how do you create one? Here’s a good place to start: http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/
Ø Get in shape with poetry: try writing concrete poetry -- check it out at http://www.wild-about-woods.org.uk/elearning/concretepoetry/

Ø      Make poetry a creative family habit. The International Reading Association provides simple tips for you parents to help your children create your own family of poetry: http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/tips-howtos/help-child-write-poem-30317.html

Ø      Want your own poetry page? Try Teen Space Poetry, and connect with other teen poets: http://www.ipl.org/div/teenpoet/

Ø      What’s a poetry slam? A chance to share your favorite poetry, including your own. It’s usually in the form of a competition, and you can do it just for fun too. This site -- http://www.poetryslam.com/ -- is a national organization, but you can do this as a family or community activity too. The American Library Association has a great site about poetry slams, and how to celebrate poetry: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/teenreading/trw/wayscelebrate

Care:

Poetry has been used to sooth and to incite. Poems connect the head and the heart, and move others. Here are some ways to use poetry to care for others.

Ø      The first poetry you heard was probably a lullaby. These are usually soothing sounds, although, let’s face it, “When the bough brakes the cradle will fall” doesn’t seem very calming!  Listen and read some lullabies from this collection: http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/lullabies.html. You can share your family lullabies and learn some new ones, and share them with little ones when you’re babysitting.

Ø      Protest poetry has a long tradition. Check out this website, which focuses on the history and impact of African American protest poetry: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1917beyond/essays/aaprotestpoetry.htm  Maybe you can think of something worth protesting about through writing poetry, such as cyberbullying. You can use the Teen Space Wiki to share your care.

Ø      Show you care by giving the gift of poetry. You can create a playlist of your favorite poems and lyrics read aloud by you, including your own writing, as a gift to a friend. You can also illustrate your favorite poems, including your own, as a special card. Or you can create a poetry poster using http://edu.glogster.com/, and post it online. Make sure to credit other people’s poems and images!

Career:

Can you make a living as a poet? It’s more than writing greeting cards! Here is a good starting point about careers in poetry:

http://www.textetc.com/modernist/career-in-poetry.html