How Long? A Reading A–Z Poetry Book Word Count: 616 POETRY How Long? Written by Dina Anastasio • Illustrated by Cende Hill Visit www.readinga-z.com for thousands of books and materials www.readinga-z.com How Long? Written by Dina Anastasio Illustrated by Cende Hill Photo Credits: Back cover, 10 (top two), 11 (top two): © ArtToday; page 7: © Nick Clements/ Getty Images; pages 10 (clock), 11 (clock): © Hemera Technologies; page 12: © ProQuest Information and Learning Company How Long? A Reading A–Z Poetry Book © 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Written by Dina Anastasio Illustrated by Cende Hill All rights reserved www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com How Many Sides? Table of Contents How Many Sides? How Long? Is It Time Yet? Another Zero Think of a square There are equal sides When you think of a triangle, Let sides be your guide A rectangle has short sides And long But it’s easy to picture All those other shapes wrong A pentagon has sides An octagon A hexagon has sides Careful! Keep them straight But there’s one easy shape That you’ll always remember A circle goes round Like December to December What Is an Hour? 10 What Is a Minute? 11 What Is a Second? 12 Is It Time Yet? How Long? I think I’d better watch my watch The race begins at The big hand ticks past and I walk up to the line It must take an inchworm quite a long time to go, For an inchworm is short It’s a slowpoke you know An inchworm’s inch, not 8, 6, or But working together 12 inchworms can be As long as a foot That’s 12 inches in all A foot is 12 inches whether spread out or tall So if 12 inch-long inchworms stretched out side by side, Would they be a foot? That’s for you to decide The little hand is creeping It’s moving way too slow I wait for it to reach the At it’s “Ready? GO!” The big hand ticks past now It moves past 8, 9, 10 10 minutes left till o’clock I watch my watch again The little hand creeps toward the The big hand’s on 11 The other runners join me now I count them There are The man shouts, “Are you ready?” My watch goes tick, tick, tock The man shouts, “GO!” The race begins It must be o’clock 8:25 8:55 Another Zero 8:35 When I’m in line and have to wait, I think of numbers standing straight Each number is my special friend They form a line from start to end First number stands on her own Then comes 1’s not alone Together they make number 10 And then a comes again The line is longer, 100 now Here comes another Wow! Look! Now 1000 form the line Each one says she’s a friend of mine 9:00 What Is an Hour? What is an Hour? It’s a very long bath It’s a rather long stroll down a rather long path It’s two half-hour shows, or a long lazy meal It’s 360 quick barks from a loud hungry seal It takes one full hour, no less and no more, For the small hand to go from the to the That’s because all small hands move slowly round clocks And while yours is moving you can build with your blocks If you try not to hurry and create a huge tower, It will probably take 60 minutes, or one hour 10 What Is a Second? What Is a Minute? What is a minute? It’s the time it will take To slather blue frosting on a chocolate cupcake It’s a short little message, or a handshake or two It takes just a minute to buckle your shoe It’s 60 short seconds It’s a nice gentle hug It’s how long to count spots on a 60-spot bug It’s the length of an ad in your favorite show, And the time it will take to spell MUSTARD real slow It takes one full minute for the big hand to click Around all the numbers That’s 60 quick ticks What is a second? It’s a wink or a click, A snap of your fingers, a tock or a tick It takes one second to jump up high It takes one second to slap your thigh In one split second you can slam the door, Turn off the light or snore one snore You can blink blink, or clap clap You can count to 1, or tap tap snap clap 11 12 ... Hill All rights reserved www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com How Many Sides? Table of Contents How Many Sides? How Long? Is It Time Yet? ... (clock): © Hemera Technologies; page 12: © ProQuest Information and Learning Company How Long? A Reading A–Z Poetry Book © 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Written by Dina Anastasio... 12 Is It Time Yet? How Long? I think I’d better watch my watch The race begins at The big hand ticks past and I walk up to the line It must take an inchworm quite a long time to go, For an