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Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars
By: Douglas Florian
Publisher: Harcourt Books
Copyright: 2007
Genre: Poetry, Outer Space
Grade Level: 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th
Brief Synopsis: The author takes us through a journey in space. Each planet in the Solar System has a poem to describe it. Each poem in unique in its own way, and there are even poems to describe space outside of the solar system. Each page in this book leads into the next page.
About the Author:
Douglas Florian- he was born and raised in New York City, and educated at Queens College and the School of Visual Art. Florian was a cartoonist for the New Yorker before a chance encounter with William Cole’s anthology of children’s verse, Oh, That’s Ridiculous (1977), inspired him to try his hand at the art. Florian’s illustrated poetry books for children often incorporate elements of collage, watercolor, and gouache on a surface of primed paper bags. He frequently takes the natural world as his subject, using wordplay, neologisms, rhyme, and humor to engage young readers. Florian lives in New York City with his family.Themes: - Exploration of Space
- Variety in Forms of Poetry
- Creating Descriptions for things around you
Pre-Reading Activities:
- Teach or review the planets in the Solar System. Students can work with a partner to draw out the order of the planets and other parts of the Solar System.
-Begin the poetry unit in class. Go over the different types of poems a day or two at a time. Don't overwhelm the students with all of the poem types at once. Give students a chance to practice on sample poems and have them describe th structuring of the poem.
Post Reading Activities:
- After viewing these Solar System poems written by Douglas Florian have students choose one part of space to write their own poem about. Have students stick to one Poem type to focus on, so that they all get practice on the same structuring. They will also be able to see the same type of poem in many different ways because of the different space topics they are writing about.
- Have students continue with the Solar System subject, and do their own project based on whatever portion of outer space they are most interested in. They will also be graded on presenting the project as well.
- After much practice with the Solar System, check students understanding by doing this fun activity. Fill a Garbage bag with different sized balloons that represent the different parts of our solar system, each labeled. After explaining the rules to the class and safety rules, throw the balloons in the air. Each student will grab the closest balloon and put themselves in order without talking. The goal is to work together and get the fastest time. This can be practiced many times, and it is a quick and efficient evaluation of understanding the order of the planets and parts of the solar system.
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Reflection: This story is very visually stimulating for any reader. Each page offers an illustration to capture the students' attention, and also adds to the description given in its poem. I also really liked the cutouts in each page that give a sneek peek to what the next page will contain. This lends itself to discuss foreshadowing in a story or illustrations and also doing a book walk before beginning to read the book to get student predictions. This subject specific book makes it perfect to introduce or review the topic of outer space to the class.
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