Poetry Friday

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Poetry Friday: Long Lost Treasures

Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading has all the poetry goodness of the world. This week many in the Poetry Friday Literasphere are celebrating our new Young People’s Poet Laureate, Naomi Shihab Nye.

Today you can read about Naomi Shihab Nye at Deowriter.

I’ve been organizing my writing room and that means finding some long lost treasures from former students.


Well, you can see how long ago this poem is, look at that printing! Lauren was either in 5th or 6th grade.

Ocean

People fly kites across
the sand
Kids play,
Shells wash up on the beach,
the blue and green water makes
crashing waves!
Sometimes things
get eaten and are never found,
fish jump with the whales
Under
The
Summer
Sun.

Lauren M, 5th or 6th grade

Land of the Elephants

Upon my bed, I dream of 8,000 pound elephants looking at me,
motioning me to follow them.
We walk for hours.
I rest curled up beside them all
under the starry night.
Wakening from deep sleep, I find myself on an elephant’s back.
We get to the edge of Africa.
everyone is as still as night,
The elephants blow their outstanding trunks;
I listen to its sweetness.
Magically a cloud falls from the heavenly sky.
My elephant puts me on this fluffy cloud
the cloud whips me through the air with ease
I find myself at a golden gate with elephants this land full of animals
they changed my clothes into a white gown
I lay on a bed of clouds looking Dow to my city.
Then I found myself on my bed surrounded by elephants.

Tanisha M, 5th grade

Back during this time, when testing wasn’t a priority and there weren’t blogs for posting student work, I coordinated a monthly First Friday for students to read a page from their stories or poems. We had such great fun.

I am lucky to have had these two wonderful girls who have grown into fabulous adults with careers and families.

WINNER, WINNER…

Dani at Doing the Work That Matters won a copy of A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED AND MORE. Email me at macrush53 at yahoo dot com so I can get your address.

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Poetry Friday: Food Poems Inspired by A SUITCASE OF SEAWEED AND MORE by Janet Wong

Thanks to Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche for gathering all the Poetry Friday goodness this week.

Have you read this book?

If not, you need to buy it now or find it at your local library. It’s a great mentor text for getting students to think about their cultural background. Janet Wong published this book twenty-three years ago and just recently added back stories to the poems. More about that next week when Janet shares the answers to some questions I recently asked her.

I was back in the library this week. I had the opportunity to work with fourth and fifth graders. This book provided excellent food poems as mentors. I decided given the time allotment of thirty minutes over class, the SKINNY poem would be a good form for students to use to write a poem about a food for which they had strong emotions (good or bad).

When I take poetry workshops from Paulann Petersen, she often has words lists available for participants. I decided that given the 30 minute time linit, having a word list for describing food would be helpful. I provided this for students:

Today I have poems from fifth graders. I’m sharing poems all next week until our next Poetry Friday.

Arroz con Leche

By Jackeline C.

Mi favorito (my favorite)

Arroz con leche

Caliente (hot)

Sagroso (yummy)

Frio (cold)

Arroz con leche

Blanco (white)

Vapor (vape, steam)

Asucar (sugar)

Arroz con leche

Mi favorito

(I just love that she asked to write it in Spanish)

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Sushi

By Viktoria O

Fresh sushi on the table, yes! Tempting.

Spicy

Fresh

Delightful

Bite

Spicy

Scrumptious

Treat

Meal

Spicy

I’m eating the sushi on the table. Tempting.

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Quesadillas

By Gabriela A

Nice and hot

Quesadillas

Delicious

Cheesy

Goodness

Quesadillas

Soft

Tasty

Meal

Quesadillas

Nice and hot

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Sushi

By Hunter J.

Sushi, we bite into the rice

Sushi

Savory

Delicious

Tender

Sushi

Salty

Tasty

Fresh

Sushi

We bite into the rice

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Chicken Wings

By Angel F.

Chicken wings are fiery

Chicken!!

Spicy

Hot

Delicious

Chicken!!

Mouth-watering

Burning

Rich

Chicken!!

Chicken wings are fiery

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Pizza

By Osiris D.

Pizza is good

Pizza

Chewy

Delicious

Divine

Pizza

Dip

Soft

Cheesy

Pizza

Pizza is good

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Caramel

By Dominik

Out of the package

Caramel

Oh

So

Good

Want

Some

More

Caramel

Out of the package

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Watermelon

By Sophie E

I wait for my mom to slice it up

Watermelon

Savory

Sweet

Bite

Watermelon

Yum

Drip

Juicy

Watermelon

I wait for my mom to slice it up

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Poetry Friday: A Response Poem

Thanks to Liz at Elizabeth Steinglass for hosting Poetry Friday

Back in April, during National Poetry Month, I had the opportunity to sub in a fourth grade class. I read the book CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR?: POEMS of RACE, MISTAKES, and FRIENDSHIP by Irene Latham, Charles Waters. This was a 2018 CYBILS Poetry finalist.

As the students listened, I had them write down words and reactions to the book. Afterward we made a list of phrases. It doesn’t always work to finish the poem when I’m one day in a class and then gone for awhile as was the case with this sub job. But I know when I returned to the class we’d finish what we started.

This past Wednesday was that day. I prepared the strips and shared them. We read them aloud and determined that since we had some one that began, “Each night…” they would serve as the beginning of a new stanza. As I was writing, I noticed this line: “Fists clicked-Chains Cracked” and felt it would be a good repeating line. The first line and the end were givens.

Then each student placed their strip where they thought it might go best. We reread the poem, took away a couple lines, and came up with this response to Irene Latham’s and Charles Waters’ brilliant book:

Each Night

Each night we talked at the table
We didn’t know how
to explain the curse they gave
Some whites ashamed
about how they treated blacks
Fists clicked-Chains Cracked

Each night we plopped chains
classmates crumbled in shame
Classmates black and white
Some kids sat in shame
Fists clicked-Chains Cracked

Each night we gave forgiveness
We didn’t know how
to explain the forgiveness they didn’t give
Black and white forgiveness
Fists clicked-Chains Cracked

Each night we forgave classmates
with an apology
Classmates black and white apologized
Thunder cracked
Chains cracked
We forgave them
Shame hit
We cracked
In the end, we became friends.

© Mrs. Brown’s Fourth Grade Class

Today (as I’m writing this on TH) went into the class and we looked it over. We discussed tightening the poem and removing words. I explained how Stephen Kind reduces his drafts by 10% and Richard Peck tries to fine ten words per page to remove, I gave each student a draft and asked them to select at least five words that could be removed.
 

After the discussion, our poem looked like this:

This is the final copy:

It was a fun lesson to do with this class. I feel so lucky to be able to work with students on these mini-lessons.

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Poetry Friday: The Color of May

Thanks to Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup for hosting all the Poetry Friday goodness today.

I returned to a kinder class a few weeks ago for a day of subbing. Since we had written animal sounds poems, I decided to use Joyce Sidman’s book, RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS, A YEAR IN COLORS. My example poem is at Deowriter.

Today and tomorrow, please enjoy these kinder poems.

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Poetry Friday: Student Poetry Month

Thanks to Irene at Live Your Poem for hosting Poetry Friday this week

I interviewed Laura Purdie Salas about her new book IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT in March. That interview is HERE.


Then I had an opportunity to work with a fourth grade class. We made a list of classroom inanimate objects. I am featuring their poems all week.

Messy whiteboards
we get scribbled on all day
messy scribbles, writing
People write on me all day
boards you write on forever

~Allison S

Jumping water bottle
bouncing as a chair
I am as running as a lion
keep you hydrated
healthy

~Taryn

The restless recorder
I am as cheesy as a chisel
definitely delicate
sweet, sour, smart,
silent restless recorder

~Macy

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Poetry Friday: Working with Third Graders On Animal Sound Poems

Welcome to Poetry Friday. Thank you goes to Rebecca at Sloth Read for hosting everyone.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to sub in Mrs. Martin’s room. I shared the “I Come From” poems in January.

I love teaching poetry when I sub. The tricky part is being able to get it down in the amount of time I’m given. Yesterday I had an hour which I could work with the class.

Georgia Heard’s book BOOM! BELLOW! BLEAT! has been a great mentor text.

We discussed some of the poems in the book. I really like “Rattlesnake Warning” and “You Can’t See Us, But You Can Hear. Us” for whole group participation. Then I shared my poem and asked what they noticed.

This lead to a discussion about

Here’s a sneak peak of the third grade poems. What I notice with third grade is their variety of animal choices: cockatiel, blue whale, chinchilla, canines, pandas, and a giraffe to name a few. We talked about being more specific that just “dog” or “bird”.

I will be publishing them during April’s National Poetry Month. And in the near future, I will have an interview with Georgia Heard.

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Poetry Friday: Two Verse Novels You Should Read and Announcements

Hooray it’s Poetry Friday. I’m a bit late today. But super excited to head over to to Linda at TeacherDance. Thanks, Linda.

On February 14, 2019, the CYBILS Awards announced Jason Reynolds’ LONG WAY DOWN as the poetry winner. I had the pleasure of sitting on the Poetry Round Two, something I haven’t done in a long time. The seven finalists were spectacular and it was difficult to select the winner.

If you have read the CYBILS Poetry winner and need a new read, please consider the two other verse novels which were finalists.

THE POET X
by Elizabeth Acevedo
HarperTeen; 1st Edition edition
March 6, 2018
978-0062662804

I had the pleasure to listen to the audio book.  The narrator pulled me into Xiomara’s life from the very first track.  Xiomara’s teenage life with strict parents and her coming of age made me reflect on my own teen years.  Her poetry book, her brother, and her life in the Bronx is vivid and rich. You can’t help but to fall in love with this book.  There were times when I sat in my car in the garage to hear how the chapter was going to end. Yay for poetry and the power it has on lives.

MARY’s MONSTER: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein
by Lita Judge
Roaring Brook Press
January 30, 2018
978-1626725003

I have a confession.  I think the only Frankenstein book I’ve read was one adapted for early readers.  I think this is the year to correct that after reading Mary’s Monster. Lita

Judge created an amazing Gothic story about the creator/writer of this British classic.  I was drawn into the story of Mary’s life and so unaware of her hard life. The art in the book was incredible.  The darkness of the content is sure to give teens a book that they can’t put down. I read it in one sitting, or rather staying up way beyond my bedtime to finish.

I also really enjoyed the back matter that Judge put in the end of the book.

Announcement Time

March is an exciting month with a fantastic blog tour featuring Laura Purdie Salas’ new book, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.

Return on Thursday, March 14 for an early Poetry Friday and an interview with Laura.

 

3/11               Mile High Reading

3/12               Reflections on the Teche

3/13               A Year of Reading

3/14               Check It Out

3/15               Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

3/17               Great Kid Books

3/18               Simply 7 Interview

3/19               My Juicy Little Universe

3/20               Live Your Poem

3/21               Reading to the Core

3/22               KidLit Frenzy

                        Beyond LiteracyLink

And on the heels of Laura’s new book, I can announce that GAIL ALDOUS won the copy of

Gail, please email me your snail mail address book.

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Poetry Friday: A Poem From a Former Student

There’s a lot of poetry goodness happening today. It can be found at Writing the World for Kids. Thank you, Laura.

Last week, I heard from a mom how her daughter missed Poetry Rocks and was still writing poems. I sent a post card to the daughter and asked about her poems. Last night this appeared on my Facebook page.

Puppies Are So Cute

They are cuddly, too.

They like to play a lot

They like to run a lot too.

They are also a good pet

and sometimes they get a little
sleepy and they go to bed

And then in the morning they play,

play all day long.

©Rylee, 2nd grade

I love how much she knows about puppies. I believe she has a puppy at home.

She has an idea about line breaks. And the word sleepy and the repetition of play, play so fun.

Thank you, Rylee!

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Hope to see you all next week. The post will be available early. I will be revealing the CYBILS Poetry Winner for 2018. I’ve been working with some fabulous judges to decide. The finalists are giving us a run for our money.

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Poetry Friday: RIP, Mary Oliver


Thank you to Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect for hosting Poetry Friday this week.

I don’t know about you, but my heart was saddened to hear the news of Mary Oliver’s passing today.

One of my treasured gifts last June was FELICITY by Mary Oliver. A recorded interview about the book can be founded HERE.

Besides the natural world that she has explored so often, in FELICITY Oliver explores the mysteries of the heart.

There are so many lines to consider in this book:

“I have refused to live
locked in the orderly house of
reasons and proofs.” (The World I Live In)

“All the important ideas must include the trees,
the mountains, and the rivers.

To understand many things you must reach out
of your condition.” (Leaves and Blossoms Along the Way)

“Do you bow your head when you pray or do you look
up at the blue space?

…Rumi said, “There is no proof of the soul.
But isn’t the return of spring and how it
springs up in our hearts a pretty good hint?” (Whistling Swans)

And finally this:

Humility

Poems arrive ready to begin.
Poets are only the transportation.

Thank you, Mary Oliver, for transporting poems to the world all these years. You will be missed. Your voice will remain.