“Boa Constrictor” appears in “Where the Sidewalk Ends” but was written in 1964. It was also recorded as a song that is age-appropriate for kindergarten and first-graders. You can teach students the song by singing it and pointing to the body parts as they get "eaten," like toe, middle and head, having the children say those parts. Questions for follow-up could ask which body part rhymes with “no” and which one with “fiddle.” According to BusSongs.com, the song is longer than the original poem. Another follow-up activity would be to compare the text of the song with the text of the poem.
“Rock ‘N’ Roll Band” was published in “A Light in the Attic” and features Silverstein’s illustration of seven children playing with imaginary instruments. An activity geared toward second- and third-graders is to read the poem, point out the pictures and help them find the child with the tennis-racket guitar, the hairbrush microphone and the potato chip-can drum. These are "found" instruments. Assign students to either locate found or make homemade instruments to create their own bands. Homemade instruments involve modifying everyday objects to turn them into musical instruments. An example is to turn a coffee can into a shaker by filling it with dried beans. Follow-up questions include asking the students about musician, audience and fan activities in the poem.
Silverstein describes in disgusting detail the consequences of a child who refuses to take out the garbage in “Sarah Silvia Cynthia Stout” from “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” While reading the poem, the teacher can point out Silverstein’s gross details, like “green baloney” and “rubbery blubbery macaroni.” An activity geared toward fourth- to sixth-graders is yucky writing, which can be a composition focusing on disgusting details of an approved subject, like cat food or vomit, or for a further challenge, yucky poetry. Techniques that can be shared for inspiration are Silverstein’s uses of alliteration, sound and poetic rhythm.
Silverstein’s “Sick” was also published in “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” It is written from the point of view of a child who expresses a series of symptoms in rhymed couplets to avoid going to school. An activity that is geared to fourth- to sixth-graders includes dividing the poem into couplets and assigning groups to draw one or two pictures that represent the poem. At the end of the project, the pictures can be placed in order on a wall or each group can get in line and recite their couplets, showing their pictures. You can follow the activity by having students map out rhyme endings, like “mumps” and “bumps,” asking where the pattern falls apart, and by looking for internal rhymes like “a gash, a rash” in the poem.