Series

Kids' Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen

50 episodes

Michael Rosen performing his own poems straight to camera, most of them one to three minutes. The everyday ones catch a small moment and blow it up, whether that is raiding the fridge, biting food that is far too hot, or the pile-up of things grown-ups tell you not to do. Chocolate Cake, at eight minutes, is a masterclass in comic timing and using your voice to build suspense. There are Rhyme Time sessions with actions for the youngest, and Hairy Tales, which scramble nursery rhymes and fairy tales for a laugh. Good for performance poetry, listening comprehension, or a two-minute reset.

what this series covers

What Kids' Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen covers

50 episodes in the library, tagged for Pre-K–6th. Heaviest coverage: Reading & Writing (ELA), Brain Breaks and Social-Emotional Learning. Between them they line up with 16 distinct standards across 2 frameworks.

Episodes per grade

Pre-K: 11
K: 31
1st: 44
2nd: 47
3rd: 39
4th: 31
5th: 16
6th: 2

Episodes per subject

Reading & Writing (ELA): 50
Brain Breaks: 5
Social-Emotional Learning: 2

Common Core — ELA 14

RL.2.4Describe how words and phrases supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
RL.1.4Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
RL.3.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
RL.4.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including those that allude to significant characters found in mythology.
RL.K.5Recognize common types of texts (e.g., storybooks, poems).
RL.2.2Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.

+ 8 more

RL.4.5Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.
RF.1.4Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
RF.2.4Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
RF.3.4Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
RF.K.4Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.
RL.2.1Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
RL.5.4Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes.
RL.5.5Explain how a series of chapters, scenes, or stanzas fits together to provide the overall structure of a particular story, drama, or poem.