Joyce Sidman is a poet who can’t help but share her love for nature with readers. Her attention to detail and connection to the natural world will captivate any child. Her poems can be picked up by almost any student and read with ease. Sidman has published several books of poetry whose themes include animals, outdoor settings, the natural world, and insects. She is a perfect fit for any student who loves being outdoors or adventure. Her poems could be paired nicely with various elementary science lessons.
I really enjoyed your author presentation and found Joyce Sidman very interesting. I think it’s really cool she earned her Bachelor’s degree in German because that isn’t something I have seen very often. You did a great job giving us important facts about Joyce. Knowing that she spent a lot of time as a child in the Poconos deer watching and picking blueberries explains her theme of the outdoor setting and the natural world. I think in addition to your own activity, what about relating science and English in a thematic way? You could have the kids study a certain animal or plant and its characteristics while also creating a poem in the shape of that animal to mimic Joyce? I think this would be a great way to incorporate both subjects with this one author connection.
When I saw that someone had researched Joyce Sidman I was very excited to learn more about her! I actually read her book the Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night for my children’s literature class. I think it is interesting that she writes the majority of her books from the point of view from an animal or historical figure. And while I was reading the Dark Emperor, I was wondering if all of her work had themes relating to nature and outdoors, so its nice to know that if I wanted to use this for a lesson, I could look for her books.