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In, Beyond, one of the poetry recommendations is to cut apart the poem and have one's child put it back together. I was wondering how folks do this. Do you cut it apart line by line or stanza by stanza? Also, should the child be putting the poem back in order by memory, or by looking at the original and matching it. The first time I tried, I cut it line by line and had my ds do it by memory. It was tough for him and he needed a lot of assistance. TIA for any thoughts!

we aren't doing that part. my son doesn't care for it and some of those poems i don't know how easily i could put together. we mainly enjoy reading them and talking about what they mean and he loves the day that we get to draw a picture about the poem.
Jenn D.

Good question! The skill being taught within this activity is for children to be able to sequence sentences using a model for guidance. I cut apart by lines first and let him look at the model to put it back together. Later, I cut it apart more, like down the middle vertically to divide individual lines of poetry in half, and then horizontally to divide them a bit further. This makes the skill more difficult as dc have to sequence not only line by line, but within lines. Still, a model should be provided, as the purpose is not memorization but sequencing, so dc should be able to look at the poem in the guide for assistance. Sequencing is an important skill for this age, and this is an easy way to go about teaching it. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:Good question! The skill being taught within this activity is for children to be able to sequence sentences using a model for guidance. I cut apart by lines first and let him look at the model to put it back together. Later, I cut it apart more, like down the middle vertically to divide individual lines of poetry in half, and then horizontally to divide them a bit further. This makes the skill more difficult as dc have to sequence not only line by line, but within lines. Still, a model should be provided, as the purpose is not memorization but sequencing, so dc should be able to look at the poem in the guide for assistance. Sequencing is an important skill for this age, and this is an easy way to go about teaching it. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

That makes sense! Thanks, Julie. One more question - When you say you cut it apart horizontally, do you mean that you cut actual lines in half, where the letters are cut in half, or did you mean you start with a new sheet and first cut it vertically and then line by line? Sorry I'm so slow on this!

I'm just explaining this badly! I never cut right through the middle of a word - either horizontally or vertically. You are doing this right already! The idea is just to make it a puzzle type project to put back together using a model to sequence it properly. I sometimes cut vertically through the spaces between words with some horizontal cuts too, and sometimes not. Sometime I just cut between lines across. Sometimes my "puzzle" looks like strips of lines, and sometimes it looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes I made it hard, and sometimes it pretty easy. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

my3sons wrote:I'm just explaining this badly! I never cut right through the middle of a word - either horizontally or vertically. You are doing this right already! The idea is just to make it a puzzle type project to put back together using a model to sequence it properly. I sometimes cut vertically through the spaces between words with some horizontal cuts too, and sometimes not. Sometime I just cut between lines across. Sometimes my "puzzle" looks like strips of lines, and sometimes it looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes I made it hard, and sometimes it pretty easy. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Now I get it! Knowing my ds, he's going to have a bunch of fun doing this.

Thank you for taking the time to explain!