Author: Shel Silverstein Animation: Laura McCracken Eight Balloons Author: Shel Silverstein Animation: Laura McCracken

Eight balloons no one was buyin’ All broke loose one afternoon. Eight balloons with strings a flyin’ Free to do what they wanted to.

One flew up to touch the sun – POP!

One thought highways might be fun – POP!

One took a nap in a cactus pile – POP!

One played with a careless child – POP!

One tried to taste some bacon fryin’ – POP!

One fell in love with a porcupine – POP!

One looked close in a crocodile’s mouth – POP!

One sat until his air ran out – WHOOSH!

Eight balloons no one was buyin’ – They broke loose and away the flew, Free to float and free to fly And free to pop where they wanted to.

References Silverstein, Shel (1981). The Light in the Attic. New York, NY: Evil Eye Music, Inc.. p 58

Brief Discussion For this project, I animated the poem Eight Balloons by Shel Silverstein. In my Reading and Learning to Read class with Dr. Anne Hall, we have been learning about not only teaching our students to read, but also to comprehend what they are reading. One way to help students to comprehend what they are reading is through Visual Imagery. By picturing what is going on in a poem/book the students are able to relate to what is happening and therefore further their comprehension. At the Emergent Literacy Stage in reading (usually around preschool-kindergarten) the students are usually in Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage and often have trouble creating clear pictures in their heads. By have the pictures/ animations/ sounds there for them they are able to see how the text relates to what they are seeing through concrete examples.