Climbing the Poet-Tree

Climbing the Poet-Tree Club

The Climbing the Poet-Tree Club is a place for students and teachers to share with others their poetic creations. Here you'll see and hear from individuals or classes as they perform their poetry on video!

We have big plans for the Poet-Tree Club - to create a multimedia forum where students and teachers can interact with each other as well as submit recorded poem performances for judging in our future Poet-Tree Club Awards Program.

Special thanks to the Cummer Family Foundation, located in Boston, for generous gifts in support of poetry clubs in Jacksonville, Florida:

Brentwood Elementary School of the Arts
West Jacksonville Elementary School

To start off our Poet-Tree Club, here are a few video clips of poetry performers from Jacksonville, Florida area schools below. If you would like to Join the Poet-Tree Club by submitting your own video-taped poem performance, contact Nile Crocodile for details.

Click on the links below to access the poetry video clips. Clips are show in
RealPlayer video format.
Note: These clips use the RealPlayer Plugin. If your browser does not have the RealPlayer 8 plug-in, you can download a free version from Real.com.

Poet-Tree Club Poetry Performances

Power of Reading
Performed by the Poetry Stars of Brentwood Elementary School of the Arts, Jacksonville, Florida

The Power of Reading
by Mrs. Royal's Class
Sallye B. Mathus Elementary, Jacksonville, Florida

Reading gives you power, reading gives you knowledge.
Knowing how to read prepares you for college.

The more you read the more you learn.
This has an effect on what you earn.

Amazing Grace - the Book.
You need to take another look.

That I can be anything I want to be.
And there's no end to my possibility!

The power of reading feeds your brain.
And that's one thing you can explain.

So read! read! read!

This is the Way
Performed by the Poetry Stars of Brentwood Elementary School of the Arts, Jacksonville, Florida

This is the Way
by Lindamichellebaron http://www.lindamichellebaron.com/

This is the way ... hey!
We start the day ... hey!

We get the knowledge ... hey!
To go to college ... hey!

We won't stop there ... hey!
Go anywhere ... hey!

We work and smile ... hey!
Cause that’s our style .... hey!

We love each other ... hey!
Help one another ... hey!

There’s nothing to it ... hey!
Just have to do it .... hey!

This is the way ... hey!
We start the day ... hey!

Cause we "don’t play" ... hey!
Now, what you say ... hey!

Send Me Cindy
Performed by the PALS (Poetry Accelerates Literacy Students) of University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida

Send Me Cindy (a limerick)
by Karen Alexander http://www.abcpoet-tree.com/

There was a city slicker named Cindy
Who thrived on looking glamorous and trendy.

She swooned over the mirror each day
And to her double she would say.

Oh, Cindy, sassy Cindy, you send me!

If I were Music
Performed by Vanessa Jackson, 4th grade student at
Lake Forest Elementary
59KB (lo-res for slower connections)
904KB (hi-res for faster connections)

If I Were Music
by Lindamichellebaron

If I were music
I'd be jazz
So real you'd feel my pure pizzaz!

Snazzy, jazzy...boiling ice
I'd never play the same way twice

When He made me
God closed his eyes
Heard the music
And improvised!!!

from The Sun is on

Storytellers
Joshua Rogers, Jason Rogers
and Katrina Rogers
Performed at Sallye B. Mathis Elementary
31.3KB (lo-res for slower connections)
507KB (hi-res for faster connections)

Appearances to the Contrary, by Sara Holbrook

Version 1: http://stream.unf.edu:8080/ramgen/nstanley/appearances.rv
Version 2: http://stream.unf.edu:8080/ramgen/nstanley/appearances_2.rv

I gripped my fists
And ran in place,
stuck out my tongue
and squinched my face.

Made boo-boo lip
and slammed the door,
crossed my arms
and stomped the floor.

You tried to talk,
I ran and hid.
Why do you
treat me like a kid?

"Appearances to the Contrary" from Wham! It's a Poetry Jam by Sara Holbrook (Wordsong, an imprint of Boyds Mills Press, 2002). Reprinted with the permission of Boyds Mills Press, Inc. Text copyright (c) 2002 by Sara Holbrook. http://www.saraholbrook.com/

Weather by Anonymous

http://stream.unf.edu:8080/ramgen/nstanley/weather.rv

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.