I Am America (All Grades)

• Create a poem describing yourself by repeating the phrase “I Am...”

Let’s Play Baseball & Let’s Play Basketball (Grades K-2)

• Pick a ball in any sport. Pretend you are the ball and write down or share what you’d like to do in a day.

Diamond Life (Grades 3+)

• Listen to a segment of music that has no words and write down words to describe the sounds. The words can be made up.

IF (Grades 3+)

• Choose one photograph in the book and write as if you are the person (or one of the people) in the photo

Rimshots (Grades 3+)

• Write a list of excuses for not doing your homework.

Hoop Kings & Hoop Queens (Grades 4+)

• Pick a player in either book. Write down all the verbs in the poem. Use those verbs to create your own poem.

Short Takes (Grades 4+)

• Compile a collection of haiku’s written by the students.

Twelve Rounds to Glory (Grades 4+)

• Have students talk to a parent or adult and have them tell the student their life story. Once they have their story, have them pick out the interesting parts and create a poem in a style similar to the book.