Book Spine Poetry

Today Mama Lisa has a fun activity to share with you - book spine poetry!

I have a fun little habit of reading the spines of books and creating fun poems out of them. I'm not sure how my little hobby started, but I remember teaching all if my students how to do it. I confess it was part of my plan to take over the world. Regardless of my ulterior motives, it's a fun quirk that is fun to indulge.

Every summer, our local library system has a summer reading club for children and adults. I always register the spawn and we always have a fun time doing it. This year we went to register early and I struck up a conversation with the librarian about book spine poetry. She confessed that she never felt good enough to take pictures of her poetry but pulled up a site where someone had taken care in choosing and posting pictures of book spine poetry for a National Poetry Month. I think I may have squealed in delight at all the fun poems that were born out of chance(books that were casually thrown on a table in random order), the 2-3 spine poem, and the more involved book spine work.

It was an amazing find that I immediately shared with the spawn! So, in addition to our summer homeschool, our summer library reading program, and general summer fun, we are going to create some book spine poetry and document it. I have a feeling some laughs and lots of fun will be had!

If you've never done it, it is super easy. Grab a couple books from your bookshelf, read their titles and arrange them to say "something", place them in order, check it, take a picture and have fun with it! Mix genres of books to get some off the wall poems, it plan your poem for an involved piece. Roll with it!

For more inspiration, here are some neat examples shared with me by the awesome librarian at our local library:
http://100scopenotes.com/2014/04/01/2014-book-spine-poem-gallery/

Have fun, READ, and share your poems with the MATHs! We'd love to see them!!

What We Learned: December 15th edition

Always learning. Not a bad thing!! Here's what the Mamas have been up to this week:

Lisa:

1. I learned that after years of hoping and praying, the girls are die-hard Tim Burton fans. They were enthralled watching the Corpse Bride. Yesssssss! Apparently, the bride "kicks ass" and Banshee has declared that the notoriously dark music (Danny Elfman) makes her happy. ;)

2. I am feeling a bit of pressure to get well soon from my third C-section, since Sailor goes back to work this week. So, we ran some errands together yesterday and we were able to get Cubby's birth certificate. I felt like I climbed Everest!! One huge tradition here that didn't quite start as a tradition, is I like to get the kids their passports as soon as they're born or early on, as another form of ID. It started because we had to take a trip to the Philippines when Pixy was 6mos old and it remained as a "thing to do" for us. Not a bad thing to do, especially as a military wife. I hate having to carry a letter of permission from Sailor that states he knows I'm taking the kids on a trip without him for the airport staff, honestly. IDs are good!

3. I learned that I must look a sight because the librarian, who'd been hounding me to return a book I had already returned, took pity on me and removed it from my account. I told her I felt horrible because books are sacred to our house and I had ransacked the whole house looking for it....anyway, since my voice isn't quite back to its strong self due to the CSec...I must have sounded pitiful. Haha! I am STILL looking for that book in case, but man...it feels nice to not worry about it. It was a really nice book.

Liz:

1. I was reminded (didn't really learn it this year) that toddlers and Christmas trees are bad news bears. We put up our tree Friday. Silas was SO EXCITED to see a tree when he came home from school. "DADDY LOOK A CHRISTMAS TREE! OH MY GOODNESS! IT'S SO AWESOME!" That made me smile. But then once we started putting ornaments on Sage was taking them off as fast as we were putting them on, and breaking half of them. Gah! Now we have to constantly be on Tree Watch so Sage doesn't steal ornaments and break them.

Sage and Silas' Christmas tree

2. Tomorrow marks my first day of "break" from work (I'm a college professor remember). I always have all these great aspirations for break: read this book, re-prep this class...blah blah blah. This year I'm being realistic. Read (but not finish) my current book. Prepare all my classes (it's pretty easy, usually takes all of five days). Wrap Christmas presents. Enjoy my kids. Cook some yummy dinners. Done.

3. Last week I started getting back into meal planning and I forgot how much fun I used to have during the summer finding new things to make and seeing how they turned out. This week I've got three beef slow cooker recipes going on and two nights of chicken. I'll let you know what turns out the best!

Robyn:

I've learned that while pumping in the car people stare in like I have 3 heads. Then, they have a shocked look on their face when they see a little side boob. Hey, at least the main parts are covered up! 

 I've learned that the jolliest time of year is the biggest time to be an A-hole in traffic. Is this year's theme to have a 'White knuckle Christmas?' Seriously, shoppers. Calm down. 

From a student standpoint, I've learned that the national poison control number is 1-800-222-1222. It's easy to remember and worth keeping in the back of your headin case if emergency. 

Now it's your turn - tell us one thing you learned, recognized, or thought about this week! Let us know in the Comments.