Based on My Parents Think I'm Sleeping
by Jack Prelutsky
Grades: K-2

About the book
This beginning reader book offers young children the chance to explore poetry through Jack Prelutsky's humorous verse. Each poem in this collection explores the topic of bedtime and night time rituals through the eyes of a child. Prelutsky's poems about 'spooky shadows on the wall' and 'sneaky flashlight reading' are just a few that will thrill children and remind them that all of us have checked under our beds at least once before drifting off to sleep. My Parents Think I'm Sleeping is a great spring board into a classroom poetry unit.

Related Activities
To extend students' enjoyment of the book, try these:

Riddle Rhymes: Students can create I Spy riddle poems using the Writing with Writers section on Scholastic.com. It is a step-by-step guide for students to create and publish their own poetry.

Class Book of Poems: Have students create their own poems including an illustration. Bind all the poems into a class book that can be displayed on parent's night or have students check it out to take home to read with parents.

Cloud Watching: Reread the poem titled "The Clouds I Watched This Afternoon" to students. Take students outside on a field study of the cloudy sky to see what shapes they can spy. Have students take a notebook to record their findings. When you return to class have students pick one cloud shape they saw to write a poem about.

Traveling Poem: Students will collaborate as a group to write a poem. Divide the class into small groups and have each group select one topic for their poem. Number each person in the group and have the first person write the first line of the poem. The paper travels to the next person to add the second line and so on until the poem travels completely through the group. Now as a group students can come up with a title for their poem and share it with the class.

Poetry Writing with Jack Prelutsky: Students are taken step-by-step through the process of writing poetry with renowned Children's Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky. They can even publish their finished poem online.