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. Tomorrow I will have her interview.
Today, please enjoy the fourth grade food poems. For details on the HOW-TO of this lesson, visit this POST. I love how students made the assignment their own.
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). And while the directions for the SKINNY poem are specific, I love how some students make it their own and use the template as a guide.
When I take poetry workshops from Paulann Petersen, she often has words lists available for participants. I decided that given the 30 minute time limit, having a word list for describing food would be helpful. I provided this for students:
Adobo
By Kai
A traditional Filipino dish
Adobo
Wet
Dry
Flavorful
Adobo
Soupy
Chewy
Mouthwatering
Adobo
A traditional Filipino dish
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Mushrooms
By Avery
Time for soup I guess. So much like snakes
Mushrooms
Slimy
Gray
Bitter
Mushrooms
Yuck
Like a slug
They make you throw up
Mushrooms
They stink! So much like snakes
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Rice
By Sadie
Time for rice
Rice
Sticky
Tempting
Wet
Rice
Flavorful
Heavenly
Mouthwatering
Rice
Time for rice
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Noodles
By Miciah
Time for
Noodles
Buttery
Slimy
Slippery
Noodles
Crumbly
Yummy
Hot
Noodles
Time for noodles
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Pizza
By Connor
Hot, hot, hot
Pizza
Burning
Sizzling
Yummy
Pizza
Tasty
Savory
Mouthwatering
Pizza
Hot, hot, hot
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Tamales
By Hughito
Time for my tamales
Tamales
Delicious
Yummy
Delightful
Tamales
Delectable
Chewy
Delicacy
Tamales
Time for my tamales
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Orange Chicken
By Jordan
Ow, ya!
Orange chicken
Delicious
Mouth
Watering
Orange chicken
Sauce
All
Over
Orange chicken
Ow, ya!
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Strawberries
By Spencer
Yum strawberries
Strawberries
Liquidity
Chewy
Red
Strawberries
Green
Food
Yummy
Strawberries
Yum Strawberries
This week, I’m sharing the work from the room I subbed in last week.
This is a 3rd through 5th grade classroom.
I read Georgia Heard’s BOOM! BELLOW! BLEAT!
And on Friday, I will have an interview with Georgia Heard.
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
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.
It’s Friday and that means Poetry Friday. Thank you to Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge for hosting.
I was very excited to get this SNOWMAN – COLD = PUDDLE . In fact, I was so excited for the book I accidentally bought two. So guess what, I will be selecting a lucky person for my extra copy. Just comment below.
Last week, I had the opportunity to sub at my former school. The teachers were gracious enough to make space in the day for me to teach Equation Poems based
Laura Purdie Salas’s new title.
It’s never enough time to fully polish and revise the poems. After reading the book and talking about the idea on a one line poem, the students dove in. I worked with second and third graders. Some second graders were able to create the illustrations.
One second grader took the paper home to finish.
Here are more examples:
The above are my second graders who had more time to work.
Process: We read the book. Made a few group ones. I created a list of possibilities for the sum or difference. (=family, =heaven, = honesty {one of their life skills they are working on} )I had a sheet with the format and asked the students to write three. They then selected their favorite to illustrate.
Here are some that were written but not illustrated:
Blanket + Cat = Nap
~Liana, 2nd grade
Winter + Waves = Storm
~Elisha, 2nd grade
Horses + Saddle = Heaven
~Beatrix, 3rd Grade
Me + Family = Love
~ Vicka, 3rd grade
Me + Sick = Chicken Noodle Soup
~ Jayden, 3rd grade
Me + Homework = No, No, No
~ Daniel, 3rd grade
Sad + Cry = Puddle
~ Ricky, 3rd grade
Person + Forever Sleep = Heaven
~Naomi, 3rd grade
Triangle + Ingredients = Pizza
Moon + Stick = Lollipop
Stick + Stone = Hammer of Thor
~John W, 3rd grade
Max + Daniel = Honesty
~ Elvira, 3rd grade
Sister + Doom = Sadness
~ Malachi, 2nd grade
Book + Learning = Smart
~Samantha, 2nd grade
Have a poetic week. Over at Deowriter, I’m remembering Paul Janeczko.
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.
Thanks to Sylvia at Poetry for Children who is hosting today. She has a teacher rarified Sneak Peek of the 2019 poetry titles.
DISCLAIMER: I usually am teaching poetry lessons with a limited time amount. It may be thirty minutes or forty-five minutes. And as when I was in the library, I had to do over several weeks. If I were teaching in a regular classroom, I would probably teach in a different way.
I’ve been thinking about my process for working with students with creating poetry. A lot of times, I’m a “pantser” (versus being a planner). So last month I had an opportunity to work with two third grade classes on a more complicated version of the “I Come From” poems that George Ella Lyons has offered to the world. If you search on the Internet, you will find a variety of templates to use.
I decided to adapt a template into a format that I have used with students for a several poetry forms.
The first week I subbed in December, I used this form after sharing a lot of examples (particularly ones that I’ve shared in earlier blog posts).
At the end of writing time, I gathered them up so that I could type their drafts (if I were in a classroom full time, I would probably have them type them).
When I returned the second week, I handed out the drafts. I shared from my own experience in submitting poems that I get to look at the draft and the “editor” suggestions. I had them reread and make changes.
I met with these two boys and they shared what they wanted. Students got to choose which lines they wanted to use.
On this second class, I offered this for those who wanted to write their poem.
Nathan reread his draft and decided that he wanted to revise in a big way by using the above format.
He was so pleased with the outcome.
To showcase the class poems, I’m in the process of creating a Padlet for their work.
Thank you to Laura at Writing the World for Kids for hosting Poetry Friday this week.
This is the second of three Poetry Fridays featuring a second grade class and their “I Come From” poems inspired from the work of George Ella Lyon.
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Thank you, Matt, at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, for hosting Poetry Friday. And happy almost book birthday to FLASHLIGHT NIGHT.
One of the nicest things waiting for me at school in August was a galley proof of Matt’s book. Besides getting a sneak peek, I love that I can show students as part of the book making and publishing process.
Today, I shared with Mrs. L’s second-grade class. There were lots of “oohs” and “aahs” over the words and illustrations. Here are some comments:
‘The fence looks like the zombie apocalypse.” ~ Carter
“The cat is also the tiger.” ~ Amy
“It looks like a haunted house with the crooked fence.” ~Chase
“You can imagine things that aren’t real.” ~Lani
The author wants you to imagine”. ~Naomi
“I like to play hand puppets with a flashlight.” ~Morgan
I can’t wait to get the finished copy when it arrives on the shelves. I absolutely love the work play and rhymes.
And Fred Koehler’s muted tones of the book makes you want to pour over the drawings for awhile.
Congratulations, Matt, for a stunning first book. It’s going to be fun to compare the galley proof with the actual book.
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