Inspirational Poet of the Year 2007

And the Kidsfreesouls Poet of Year 2007 is Josie Whitehead - a Yorkshire Teacher who influences children with her Poems on the web. She has embraced the latest technology and meets kids on Skype to read out her poem and interact with classrooms. Here's Kidsfreesouls Poet of Year 2007 - Inspirational Poet Page. Enjoy!

Poets often use the sounds of words to create effects in their poems with the most common method, using words that rhyme. The English Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins used a rhyme scheme in 'Pied Beauty' which goes abcabc dbcdc - a representing the first rhyme sound, b the second and c the third and so on.

We also often have the imagery style which refer to the sensations that language creates in the mind. Sensations of images - appealing to our sense of touch, hearing and visualizing. An American Poet Wallace Stevens has an Imaginery visuals in the stanzas of 'The Snow Man' which refer as 'Crusted with snow', 'shagged with ice', 'rough in the distant glitter' - all make sense the texture of things. 'Sound of winds', 'sound of few leaves' creates images of things heard.

And there is the most common means of creating poetry form is rhyme. Some are standard verse forms and one such form is the Sonnet. The Italian sonnet or the Petrarchan Sonnet. Josie Whitehead has experimented this form in some of her poems and has made use of the Petrarchan Sonnet. This consist of more rhymed lines than any other Sonnet. The Petrarchan Sonnet consist of an octave eight line stanza followed by a six line stanza. The rhyme scheme of the Octave is abbaabba. The sestet (six line stanza) rhyme scheme varies but often is cdecde or abcdcd. This style is influenced by Petrarch, a great Italian poet who had an unparalleled influence on world Literature who wrote more than 400 poems in Italian. Josie also is keen to use the Blank verse consisting of unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter to teach the children. Paradise Lost by John Milton is one example of a Blank Verse.

Well, I guess, children when asked to begin writing a poem, they always are first non responsive but later, make it a free verse - no rhyme scheme, no metre. Firstly, it is important to build a Vocabulary and if this is enhanced, Poetry can be a window to the Student Soul. Find more on Poetry and How to write a Poetry in the Poetry pages. Enjoy.

Btw, here's on Scrabulous - the Online Scrabble game craze leaving Game sellers at loss of word - in NYT.

- ilaxi patel
Ed, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids with Resources for Parents and Teachers

Footprints on the sands of time

These are the famous lines of an American poet who wrote about the hopes and tragedies of life in a simplistic style with technical expertise.

Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime,And, departing, leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of time....

Born on February 27, the Poet is none other than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Here is the Profile in Literature Pages. However, here's an interesting site for all Teachers as the Poet's Life is still offering lessons in the Classroom and the Teacher has an innovative way to teach History as well as make the students learn English Literature.

You can also find an interesting Picture Gallery of the House where Longfellow lived. Enjoy!

Btw, Let me guide you to the newly re-done page. I had noticed a shabby download on my iphone and so maybe here's a small change for quick access of this Ed Desk-main.htm page. Sometimes, too many cooks spoil the broth but it also happens that a single person with a simple brain can be Jack of all trades but master of none - That's exactly what I have experienced as I write, design, upload, manage, maintain, host and market Kidsfreesouls. Do send me your feedback or any columns you'd like to see more. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.

- ilaxi patel
Ed, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids with resources for parents and teachers

Ban Plastics, Save Environment

Some time back, Kidsfreesouls had focused on the Ban of Plastics in Manali. Invention of Plastic dates back to 1860. A British scientist named Alexander Parks who called his invention ‘Parkesine’ discovered the Plastic in about 1860 when he was looking for a substitute for horns that were obtained from animals. He made it from cellulose and camphor which are natural materials obtained from plants. John Hyatt, an inventor from United States also discovered the same Plastic in 1868 when he was looking for substitute for ivory. Bakelite was the first plastic that was made from chemicals. It was invented by a Belgian chemist named Leo Backeland in the year 1907. This was the first artificial Plastic. Since years, Plastic has thus, become a major use.

You can find more on this topic Here on the Kidsfreesouls Search.

Well, we have a very concerned Question in our Earth Talk Q & A column.

Everybody says stop using plastic bags, but what about all the plastic, cellophane, cardboard and other materials used for packaging the food itself? What can we do to reduce how much of this unnecessary stuff comes wrapped around our food?
- Sunil Sreedharan, Mumbai, India

Read the answer in English and Spanish here on the Environment Pages. Yes, as Ed Doug Moss says, "Individuals have the power of their voices to pressure food makers to cut back on packaging. You can also try to persuade your elected officials to look into the feasibility of enacting “producer pays” laws in your community, city or state. And you can talk to co-workers, friends, relatives and others about the importance of buying in bulk and reducing waste." This reminds us of our social responsibilities and Citizen rights. It's time we adopt the Manali Hill Station Attitute to be eco-friendly, all states should go for a 'fine' for using or throwing Plastics. What's your say? Email us and email your concerned Questions too.

ilaxi patel
Ed, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for Kids with Resources for Parents and Teachers

Literature Profile

W.H. Auden, an English born poet was born in York, England, in 1907 on 20th Feb. He made a remarkable contribution and best known for variety of his works W.H. Auden has written the best ballads, blues, limericks, sonnets, nonsense verse, oratorios, free verse, librettos (words) for operas and dramas.

Here's the Profile for adding to the Literature Scrap Book. Also find, selected poems of W H Auden on Google Search above. And find Quotes of Auden in Quotes Pages.

Well, the last year batch of my Students made a Literature Project. They selected their Literature Characters as John Keats, Robert Browning, William Wordsworth, Lord Alfred Tennyson and Percy B Shelley. It was a difficult Project for them, nevertheless, they collected all the information from the Library Books and added to their Project file. They got to know all the terms used in Poetry - the kinds of Poetry and How to make a Poem too. Here's the Poetry Learning Page and you can Bookmark to find more here in the Kidsfreesouls Poetry Section.

Btw, if you want to make Students to do a Literature Project online, here's My Hero where you can Participate. Guide the children to gather contents and add to My Hero. Well, Find My Hero - Robert Burns here and you can take a Printer Friendly Version to add to your Literature Profiles Scrap Book.

Freak in more to find more poetry and stories on Kidsfreesouls - coming soon! Enjoy!

- ilaxi patel
Ed, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids with Resources for Parents and Teachers

Sidney Sheldon

Born on 17th February 1917, Sidney Sheldon left this world last year on 30th January, leaving a huge fan flow behind him. A crazy fan of Sid books, I have a collection of all his Books and even re-read when I am in a pensive mood.

Sidney Sheldon's first Book, The Naked Face was turned down by five different Publishers but finally, sold to William Morrow Company and it became a critical success which earned him Edgar Allan Poe Award! However, it was The Other Side of Midnight that made him a Best Selling Author. Sidney Sheldon's Novels are published in 51 languages in 180 countries. He always referred, "I try to write my books in such a way so the reader can't put them down" He use to dictate 50 pages a day, corrected next day and continued till he churned out a story with 1200-1500 pages with several re-writes.

Sands of Time is ever my fav read. However, here's some reviews on the Author Profile page.
Btw, you can find Guardian of Angels articles Translated to Romanian Language on the World of Parents 'scoalaparintilor.ro - Romanian site. The links on kidsfreesouls main. For the English versions, you can find the same there. Enjoy.

- ilaxi patel
Ed, www.kidsfreesouls.com
Newspaper for kids with Resources for Parents and Teachers

Android & Apple's iphone

Google recently provided internal data to New York Times mentioning that Traffic poured in to Google more through Apple's iphone. Google shares a lot of love for the new age phone as even Google Founder Sergey Brin mentioned of using iphone for his personal use. The Google Maps on the iphone and the You Tube are the two best features with the mobi domains coming up to cash in more to Google adsense mobile ads. But than, the Google's own Android is much awaited to offer more features I hear and even Microsoft acquires Danger Inc. which offer handsets and best mobile experience.

Well, when I got to use the iphone, it's been a happy surfing Google which provide great search as well as checking on websites at leisure. I guess, this can be a best gift for a Valentine if your partner is a tech user and of coz, the iphone codes can now be cracked over here with the Apple's exclusive store offering all it's products including even the savvy mobile covers. But, ask me and I would look forward to get an Android - ahead to be with times as you can watch the video on You Tube on Kidsfreesouls.

Btw, here's MSN Contribute where you can log in to write and even blog the posts. You can find my article 'Emotional Switchboard which I posted last year.

- ilaxi patel

Ed, http://www.kidsfreesouls.com/
Newspaper for Kids with Resources for Parents & Teachers