Thursday, June 20, 2013

Elf Owl and Second Grade Gifts

Happy greetings from All Write!!! Summer Institute 2013.  It has been wonderful to be in Warsaw, Indiana, celebrating reading and writing with so many new and old friends.  I was so excited to be here that I got my days confused and actually posted early, by accident! Happy Poetry Every Day!


Elf Owl
by Amy LV


Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Elf owls are very small birds, about the size of sparrows.  They are desert birds who live in saguaro cacti in the southwestern parts of the United States and in Mexico.  For today's poem, I pretended to be an elf owl and to speak as an elf owl.  Learning new facts and spinning them into poems is one of the most joyful parts of my life.  You will easily find the repeating line...and maybe you will notice what is perhaps my most-proud-rhyme ever!

This spring, I had the good fortune to Skype with Barbara Lehn's second grade class from Willard Elementary in Concord, Massachusetts.  After we talked poetry and visited (even some pets) through our computers, the students burst into a flurry of writing their own poems.  I was very lucky to receive a whole envelope full of notes and poems which I am pleased to share with you for today's Poetry Peek.  Simply click the poems to enlarge them.

by Anna













I would like to say many thank you hugs to Barbara Lehn and her class full of poets and readers.  I very much enjoyed my first-ever-Skype ever with them, and one of these young poets, Matilda, expresses my gratitude best -

by Matilda

May you all enjoy the many gifts of poetry all summer long...and throughout your lives.

It's still not too late to register for Kate Messner's Teachers Write! free online summer writing camp.  I'll be visiting for a session, as will many other authors, and it's a wonderful way to get back writing in community and in your own home at the same time.  Kate Messner offers many gifts to the Kidlitosphere, and it was her Kid-Lit Cares: Superstorm Sandy Relief Effort that connected Barbara Lehn's class and me through educator, author, and mother Linda Booth Sweeney. Linda bid on my books and Skype visit, and I'm so glad she did.  Thank you!

This week at Sharing Our Notebooks, I am so happy to have my friend Emily Krempholtz generously offering a look into many of her notebooks, past and present.  This blot has been a bit fallow of late, and I could not be more grateful than to have Emily bring it back to life. Please stop by and get re-notebook-inspired and enter Emily's giveaway too!

If you happened to miss Monday's post, please visit it if you'd like to learn about Professor Cathryn Smith's poetry pole, a wonderful thing indeed!

Today Carol is hosting Poetry Friday today at Carol's Corner.  Visit to discover a variety of poetic picture books and find a multitude of links to all poetry goodness in the Kidlitosphere today.  Next week, I will host the festivities here and hope to see you back.

In the meantime, here is a writing technique for you to try, from second grader Caroline!

by Caroline

Please share a comment below if you wish.
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9 comments:

  1. Fun post, Amy. I love the second grade poems and am in awe at all of the ways people connect through blogging. Enjoy your time in Indiana.

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  2. How did you come to find the rhymes for 'saguaro?' I would think that took some time! Love the intimacy of your poem - as well as those 2nd-graders' poems!

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  3. Love your little elf owl. Last week in writing camp we talked about making up words using the hyphen. Wish I had had your sunshine-snooze then. Aren't saguaro cacti cool things indeed!
    Also enjoyed the student poetry and Caroline's technique. Looks like it was a fun Skype visit. I can't wait for Teachers Write Camp. See you there!

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  4. What beautiful second grade work. Loved reading and seeing all those works of art.
    Um, and sunshine-snooze is brilliant.

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  5. Amy, I'm hoping that you and Betsy got to meet at All Write! I'm sad not to be there this year!

    Love you as an elf owl -- I had no idea you were that small!

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  6. Amy,
    I enjoyed the way you placed yourself right in that cactus --- a bully to poor moths passing through. The repetition at the beginning and end really holds the poem tightly together and makes me feel as if I am seeing you (elf owl) right near me.

    Always love the student work!

    Cathy

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  7. Amy,

    Such talented young poets. Enjoyed them all. I also loved learning about the snuggled high, moth killing elf owl. Non-fiction poetry was a favorite in 4th grade! Thank you.

    ~ Theresa

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  8. I learned, and saw, elf owls on trips to Mexico with students. The saguaros were a study of an amazing habitat, Amy. And I love that you found such rhymes for them! Those 2nd graders really did good word work too-love the "S Poem".

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  9. very nice, Amy! i'd love to take a sunshine-snooze, perhaps not in a saguaro, however.:)

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