Shel Silverstein - Centro De Recursos Marista

1 Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out 287 shel SilversteinIf young people do not act responsibly toward the environment, wild or crazy things might happen or so this poet claims. Whatcould those wild and crazy things be? Get ready to find out as youread Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out and Turning Off the Faucet. ReadingStandard howtone ormeaning isconveyed inpoetry throughword choice,figurativelanguage,sentencestruct ure, linelength,punctuation,rhythm,repetition , Cynthia Sylvia StoutWould not take the garbage out!She d scour the pots and scrape the pans,Candy the yams and spice the hams,And though her daddy would scream and shout,She simply would not take the garbage so it piled up to the ceilings:Coffee grounds, potato peelings,Brown bananas, rotten peas,Chunks of sour cottage filled the can, it covered the floor,It cracked the window and blocked the doorWith bacon rinds and chicken bones,Drippy ends of ice cream cones,510In lines 1 10 circle thealliteration repetition ofthe same beginning conso-nant sound.

2 What effectdoes the use of alliterationhave on you, the reader? Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out from Where the Sidewalk Endsby ShelSilverstein. Copyright 1974 by Evil Eye Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out from Where the Sidewalk Endsby ShelSilverstein. Copyright 1974 by Evil Eye Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, SE_6-7_Final Confirming2 9/24/01 10:45 PM Page 287288 Rhyme and ReasonChapter 7 Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,Pizza crusts and withered greens,Soggy beans and tangerines,Crusts of black burned butter toast,Gristly bits of beefy roasts.

3 The garbage rolled on down the hall,It raised the roof, it broke the wall ..Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,Globs of gooey bubble gum,Cellophane from green baloney,Rubbery blubbery macaroni,Peanut butter, caked and dry,Curdled milk and crusts of pie,Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,Cold french fries and rancid meat,Yellow lumps of Cream of last the garbage reached so highThat finally it touched the all the neighbors moved away,And none of her friends would come to finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said, OK, I ll take the garbage out! But then, of course, it was too late.

4 The garbage reached across the state,From New York to the Golden there, in the garbage she did hate,Poor Sarah met an awful fate,That I cannot right now relateBecause the hour is much too children, remember Sarah StoutAnd always take the garbage out!15202530354045 What do you think happenedto Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout(line 43)?Underline the adjectives inlines 16 33 that describe thegarbage. What effect dothese words have on you?Access SE_6-7_Final Confirming2 9/24/01 10:45 PM Page 288 Turning Off the Faucet 289If you don t turn the faucet off tightWhen you re done in the bathroom,You ll be wasting , the sink might fill upAnd overflow and flood the bathroom,And then the bathroom would fill upAnd overflow and flood the bedroom,And all your clothes would get soaking wet,And when you wore them, you d catch a horrible coldAnd have to stay home from schoolAnd you couldn t learn anythingOr see your after you d missed school long enough,All your friends would forget youAnd you would be so sad and wetYou d probably just stay in bedWearing your sad.

5 Wet clothesWith your sad, wet headOn your sad, wet pillowUntil you just shriveled up and wasted nobody would your parentsAnd they d be all sad and wetAnd shriveling and wasting away, too,Because you didn t turn the faucet MossThis poem is a series ofcomical causes and first event, the originalcause, is cited in line 1. Thefinal event occurs in line all the events thathappen in between. Youshould be able to find tenevents. Notes Turning Off the Faucet from The Butterfly Jar: Poemsby Jeff Moss. Copyright 1989 by Jeff by permission of Bantam Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

6 Electronic format by permissionof International Creative Management, SE_6-7_2nd Printing_F 12/14/01 12:50 PM Page 289290 Rhyme and ReasonChapter 7 Tone and MeaningFill in the Tone Cards on the following page toanalyze the tone of each poem. Share your completed cards with apartner, noting similarities and differences in your one of these poems for reading aloud. The Silversteinpoem is longer and more difficult. You might want to present thatpoem in a group reading. If you select a group reading, you will have to determine which lines will be spoken by which reader. Inyour reading, focus on pronunciation and fluency, but you will also have to think about tone.

7 What tone do you want to convey in your poem?Personal Word ListRecord the words you learned from the poems inyour Personal Word Reading LogRecord these poems in your Personal ReadingLog. Write a few sentences telling how the poems might be thesubject of a poster you find in a hallway or classroom of your yourself 1 point on the Reading for Standards MasteryEach time you read, you learnmore. Check your progress in mastering the standards using theChecklist for Standards SE_6-7_Final Confirming2 9/24/01 10:45 PM Page 290 Graphic Organizer 291 Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out; Turning Off the FaucetInteractive Reading,page 287 Interact with Literary TextsTone CardsUse the following cards to analyze the poems youhave just read.

8 When you finish, write a brief description of the tone of each :Word Choice:Rhythm:Description of Tone: Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out Rhyme and Other Sound Effects:Title:Word Choice:Rhythm:Description of Tone: Turning Off the Faucet Rhyme and Other Sound Effects:Access SE_6-7_Final Confirming2 9/24/01 10:45 PM Page 291 Chapter 7 91 DIFFERENTIATINGINSTRUCTIONS arah Cynthia Sylvia StoutWould Not Take the Garbage Out; Turning Off the Faucet Learners Having DifficultyIt might be helpful for stu-dents to hear these poemsread aloud, line by line, asthey sit back with closed eyesand visualize what is takingplace in each.

9 Benchmark StudentsChallenge students to createcomic books for one of thepoems. Make sure each comicbook includes the title of thepoem and accurately presentsthe character and events inthe selection. The completedcomic books may be used byother students as a reader sguide to these poems. Advanced StudentsHave stu-dent groups discuss other top-ics of personal or socialimportance, such as eatingnutritious foods or conservingenergy. Ask students todevelop a fact sheet to supporttheir cause, and then havethem find or write a poemthat encourages their readersto take their message seri-ously. Students can presenttheir research findings andpoems to each other or toother TOTEACHERBoth of the poems in this selec-tion lend themselves to part-nered or group reading in whichtwo or more students take turnsreading a line from a poem andexplaining in prose (that is,reformulating) the meaning and tone expressed in the linethrough the poetic elements ofrhyme, repetition, rhythm, wordchoice, sentence structure, punc-tuation, or figurative Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Takethe Garbage Out.

10 Turning Off the FaucetShel Silverstein /Jeff Moss page 287 Tell students that these poems teach students lessons about life andresponsibility as they entertain them simultaneously with vividimages and humor. Ask students if they are familiar with either ofthe poets. If so, have them share their opinions of other poems bythe poet they have read. Have students locate and read the first note, Word Knowledge,dealing with alliteration. Read aloud to students the first six linesof the poem, placing deliberate emphasis on the s sound. Pointout to students that the alliteration in the rest of the poem maynot be so heavily based on a single consonant sound, but that theyshould be able to find many other examples of the technique inalmost every line of the poem.