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Here’s what’s in this month’s newsletter (click a chapter title to go straight to that chapter):
Congratulations! Two Contest Winners!
Animal Poetry
April Contest: Armadillo vs. Eagle!
Play Pumps: 100 Pumps in 100 Days Challenge
Summer Camp Registration is Open!
NEW! Songwriting for Kids Shop NEW! Songwriting for Animals: Monkeys Can Register in April! Get Quoted on SFK.COM! Quote of the Month CONGRATULATIONS! TWO CONTEST WINNERS!
1. I Wrote a Hit Song! Contest Winner: Congratulations to McKenzie from Prestonsburg, Kentucky! McKenzie wrote a hit song! It’s called “Flaming Hills” and you can view the lyrics here. You can also read what others have to say about this song, and leave your own comment. For submitting “Flaming Hills,” McKenzie won a Songwriting for Kids baseball jersey.Did you write a hit song? Be sure to enter the I Wrote a Hit Song! contest. A new winner is picked every other month. Click here to find out how to enter.2. The Luck o’The Irish: Congratulations to Anji from Orrs Island, Maine who won last month’s random-draw contest. Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page to view Anji’s story about her good-luck. Anji won a free CD!
Want to win a free CD? Be sure to enter this month’s random-draw contest: Armadillo vs. Eagle!
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ANIMAL POETRYSongs are a lot like poetry with music, don’t you think? Well, April is National Poetry Month, so I thought I’d share two of my favorite poems with you. It’s really fun to hear poems read out loud, so you might want to ask an adult to read these to you while you close your eyes and imagine you are right there in the poem. The link to “The Armadillo” by Elizabeth Bishop actually has a recording of the poem...so you can listen to the whole poem read by Elizabeth herself!
Before you listen, here are some things you’ll find in poetry that can you can use to make your songs even better:
- 1. Rhythm. (See if you can find the beat in these poems)
- 2. Rhyme. (Not all poetry or all songs rhyme, but these ones do...how many rhymes do you hear?)
- 3. Imagery. (If you close your eyes, can you see what is going on? Images are like a painting with words. What are some of your favorite images or pictures that are painted in these poems?)
SPECIAL CHALLENGE:
Both of the poems I chose this month are poems about animals.
Could you write a song about an animal using Rhythm, Rhyme, and Imagery?
Try it!
Then enter your song in the I Wrote a Hit Song! contest and your song could be published on the web! Don't forget to click here to view last month’s winning song, “Flaming Hills.”
Both of the poems I chose this month are poems about animals.
Could you write a song about an animal using Rhythm, Rhyme, and Imagery?
Try it!
Then enter your song in the I Wrote a Hit Song! contest and your song could be published on the web! Don't forget to click here to view last month’s winning song, “Flaming Hills.”
Poem #1: “The Armadillo” by Elizabeth Bishop
The poet Elizabeth Bishop lived part of her life in Brazil. Every year, the people there would celebrate St. John’s Day, a holiday to honor one of their favorite saints. Elizabeth watched people participate in one of their favorite customs. They would make paper “fire balloons” and float hundreds of them into the night sky. Here is a picture of some fire balloons floating.
Aren’t they beautiful? Unfortunately, the fire balloons would sometimes land and start dangerous fires, so the custom was outlawed (this is why Elizabeth calls them “illegal”). But as you can see from the poem, some people continued to make them anyway. Click here to read the poem (or listen to Elizabeth read it out loud) and find out what happens.
Poem #2: “The Eagle” by Alfred Lord Tennyson
This one is short, so I’ll print the whole thing here.
A crag is a rough, broken piece of rock that sticks out from a mountain or a canyon.
Azure is a particular kind of blue—the color the sky is when there are no clouds at all.
The Eagle
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
Eagle photo by Bob Jones.
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APRIL CONTEST: ARMADILLO VS. EAGLE!
Thanks to Sara and Anji for entering last month’s random-draw Luck o’the Irish contest. Here's how a random-draw contest works: I put both of their names in a hat, and Kevin pulled one out...Anji won a free CD!
YOU could win a free CD in this month's contest, and here’s all you have to do:
- 1. Click here to post a comment
- 2. Write in the comment which poem you liked better: “The Armadillo” or “The Eagle”
- 3. Write in the comment WHY you picked that poem
- 4. That’s it!
Good luck! I hope you'll win, and if not, there will always be a new random-draw contest next month!
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PLAY PUMPS: 100 PUMPS IN 100 DAYS CHALLENGEOk, here's something that a friend of mine told me about that I think is really cool!
Have you ever thought about how lucky you are to have good, clean water to drink? Water might not seem like much to you and me because we drink it all the time. But imagine if you didn't have anything at all to drink except dirty, brown water that has germs and bacteria in it. You'd get really really sick, and maybe even die, and that's what happens to kids in Africa every day.
Well, one man, Trevor Field, decided to do something about it.
He invented this:
Looks like fun, right?But how can a merry-go-round help people drink clean water?
It's a merry-go-round, that's true. But underneath the ground it is attached to a pump, so every time the merry-go-round turns, clean water is getting pumped from deep down underground. Instead of walking miles to get heavy buckets of dirty water, kids can simply play and the whole town can have healthy water to drink.
So here's the challenge: in the next 100 days between now and June, Mr. Fields wants to try to get people to donate enough money to build 100 pumps all over Africa. I'm asking as many people as I can to help out. If you have been saving your allowance money and would like to give some back to help others, you can donate to Play Pumps! You'll need an adult to help you, and maybe you can ask them for a match: if you give $5, they could give $5 too. That doubles the difference you can make!
If you'd like to help, ask an adult to sit down with you and visit my blog at Please Come Flying and scroll down to the donation banner on the right hand side. You'll be able check back as often as you like and see how much money we've raised for clean, healthy water!
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SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION IS OPENI can't wait for Summer...I hope you'll be able to join me at one of my Songwriting for Kids or Fiction Writing for Kids Summer Camps!
Click here to view the 2007 Summer Camp Brochure or visit the Songwriting for Kids website for more information.
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NEW! SONGWRITING FOR KIDS SHOP
If you've been wanting your own Songwriting for Kids t-shirt or bookbag, today's your lucky day! There is a brand new Songwriting for Kids shop online! You can visit it here.
Is there anything that's not in the shop that you would like to see? Just send me an email and I'll see if I can create it for you!
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NEW! SONGWRITING FOR ANIMALS: MONKEYS CAN REGISTER IN APRIL
Just a little April Fools!
Back to top GET QUOTED ON SONGWRITINGFORKIDS.COMIf you are a kid and have ever attended a Songwriting for Kids workshop at your school or summer camp, or if you’re a parent or teacher who enjoyed sending your kid(s) to a SFK workshop, I’d love to quote you on SongwritingForKids.com. Simply send me an email and tell me what you (or your child) liked about the workshop. Please include your name, age, and where & when you attended Songwriting for Kids. If your quote gets picked, I’ll publish it on the website, AND send you a special prize in the mail! Visit Songwriting for Kids to see what some parents & kids already had to say!
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QUOTE OF THE MONTHAll The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' In The Sun,
Talkin' 'Bout The Things
They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done...
But All Those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All Ran Away And Hid
From One Little Did.
by Shel Silverstein
Visit the Shel Silverstein website for more fun with poetry this month!
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Well, I hope you had fun with the SFK Club this month.
See you in May!
Always leave ‘em singing,
Josephine
