Many Colors in One

 

Gray Boy Tuck

Photo by Amy LV

Students - One thing that's true about color is that there is not just ONE red or ONE yellow or ONE gray...there are many. And this is true of our cat Tuck. He is every gray of the gray rainbow, and in today's poem, I try to list a few of those grays. 

A color can be an emotion or a sound or a feeling or a sight, and I know that I can think of many more grays for Tuck. When I do, I might come back and revise this poem. I do plan to keep listing more grays in my notebook. I think I will take myself on a gray treasure hunt through my life this week.

Endings are interesting for writers. At first this poem just ended with "rainstorm in May," but I wanted to add a touch of surprise, a touch of humor...and truth. Tuck has some gorgeous green eyes nestled in all of his gray fur.

I encourage you to try this exploration of color in writing. Choose one color and list as many KINDS of that color as you can stretch yourself to think of. You may come up with some expected ones (green as grass) but try to come up with some that maybe no one has thought of before. Then, see if you are interested in using your list...or even one kind of color from your list and grow a writing idea or piece of art from it.

Here is my favorite book about particular colors. It is out of print now, but if you can find it at the library, do!

And here are a few more photographs of this very snuggly boy. I wish that you could reach through your computer screen to pet him. (And so does he!)

Tuck at Work

Photo by Amy LV

Sleeping Stripes

Photo by Amy LV

Baby Tuck

Photo by Hope or Amy LV?

Linda is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at TeacherDance with the delights of Halloween and a poem about a carved pumpkin I would like to meet...Jill O'Lantern! Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish. 

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Poetry Friday & More Than a Number

Welcome!

Poetry Friday is here today!

Painting by Georgia VanDerwater 

(2005)

Click on the orange arrow button to hear Barry sing!
(If you cannot see this graphic for any reason, just click here for the song.)

Sometimes a poem wants to be written.  That is how I feel about this one.  A couple of weeks ago, my friend Barry Lane (who wrote the only professional book I own that has lost its cover from use) and I began writing a couple of songs together via e-mail, SoundCloud, and iPhones.  It has been a true joy.

There are many tests and graphs and numbers flying around education-land these days, but we believe that the minds and souls of children rise above all numbers.  Children always have, are now, and always will be more than data.

Students - Write what you believe!  Write about what you know matters.  Write the song that keeps on singing in your heart.  If you don't, who will?

Teachers and Parents and other Grownups - If you like our song, we would be very grateful for you to share and encourage your friends and colleagues to do so on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.  Feel free to link here or to the SoundCloud site, and please stay tuned for our forthcoming YouTube slideshow.

For the YouTube slideshow of MORE THAN A NUMBER, Barry Lane and I seek donations of joyful photos of children engaged in play, creation, exploration, joy, learning - immersion in activities of the child's own initiative... We need about 50 photos, and the slideshow will be a multicultural mix of beautiful children in love with life. If you are willing to share (only) one beautiful photo (landscape or easily croppable to landscape) of your child, please send it to me at amy at amylv dot com with a note of permission that we may use it in a YouTube slideshow of this song. Once we receive photos, we will choose which ones to use based on the mix of activities and children. Thank you so much for considering this request.


News as of Saturday:  I have a new post up at Sharing Our Notebooks.  Fourth Grader Grace McCormick shares her notebooks this week, and I am offering a giveaway of Ralph Fletcher's A WRITER'S NOTEBOOK for commenters.  Thank you!

Today's Poetry Friday Menu! 
If there seems to be a lag in posting during the day, please know it is because it is raining in Holland NY and this interferes with our internet service.  I will catch up between the raindrops!

Over at Crackles of Speech, Steven Withrow shares his original poem titled Once You've Wandered from Under Your Yellow Cabana, so perfect for this very hot week in Western New York.

At TeacherDance, Linda introduces us to Miss Beatrice Blossom and also to the child who still lives inside of Linda.  Warning: you will wish to have hollyhocks!

Charles Ghigna has two new poems to share this week.  At Bald Ego, you can read his serious poem inspired by his son's forest fire painting.  And at Snickers, Charles has posted a lighter poem inspired by one of his son's carvings.

Renee LaTulippe is in at No Water River with one of her famous poetry videos and snickerviews - this time with guest poet Joe Mohr and his poem "Flybrows."

It's good to have Ed DeCaria back at Think Kid, Think! with his original poem about that ol' summertime warning.  I, too, remember hearing all moms say,"Wait 30 minutes after eating before you swim!"

At The Drift Record, Julie Larios has "a link to a poem about a great, wide, beautiful wonderful something, plus a little commentary about getting to know it."  Such an important reminder!

Jama Rattigan has a rap by our own Father Goose, Charles Ghigna over at Alphabet Soup.  Or is it a wrap?  Stop on by for lunch, and you will find out!

Visit Robyn Hood Black at Read, Write, Howl for warm and beautiful Wordsworth "wren-dition" along with a related haiku, photograph, and artwork. Happy 28th anniversary to Robyn and her man-wren!

At Writing the World for Kids, Laura Purdie Salas has two posts for us today.  She, too, is sharing More Than a Number (thank you, Laura!) and for 15 Words or Less Thursday, her regular generous offering and comments includes a so-summertime photograph.

Liz Steinglass treats us to summer haiku and a reminder of the power of imagery in few syllables over at Growing Wild.

Over at The Opposite of Indifference, Tabatha has doctors on her mind as she heads off to Johns Hopkins for a post-op visit with her son.  This post is going straight to my doctor sister, and I send good thoughts to Tabatha and family.

Kerry Aradhya shares Kenn Nesbitt's funny poem about dancing Daniel at Picture Books and Pirouettes.

At Live, Love, Laugh, Irene Latham has posted an Elizabeth Bishop poem about "the state with the prettiest name" along with some of her own Florida memories. And off she goes now - safe travels, Irene!

Find Marjorie Evasco's lovely poem comparing writing poetry to folding origami at The Write Sisters.

Doraine Bennett shares two duck poems - one funny and one serious - along with two duck videos, over at Dori Reads. Quack!

At Paper Tigers, Marjorie tells about Wendy Morton and The Elder Project, someone and something so very beautiful that I cannot wait to read more about.

Over at My Juicy Little Universe, Heidi Mordhorst shares 9-year-old Duncan's true haiku, "Jack Frost's Reign" along with the rubric was used to score it.  Duncan - Have you ever been to the Buffalo, NY area?  Ol' Jack reigns here for months, just the way you write it!

Violet Nesdoly shares a texture-and-fabric-rich personal poem about changing her wardrobe to get ready for summer.  So true!

At Teaching Authors, April Halprin Wayland interviews poet David L. Harrison (who shares a writing exercise!) and offers a chance to win an autographed copy of his book COWBOYS.

Jone offers a refreshing list poem about summer break at Check It Out.

Joining us from this week's All Write Conference in Warsaw, Indiana, Mary Lee Hahn, from A Year of Reading, shares an original poem with a structure inspired by one of Ralph Fletcher's poems.

Over at the Florian Cafe, Douglas Florian offers a blues poem about the recession, and the one good thing that is remains.

Elaine Magliaro joyfully cools us all down at Wild Rose Reader with her poem Cool Pool.

At GottaBook, Greg Pincus shares an original poem today.  No whining!

Like Mary Lee, Maria at Teaching in the 21st Century also shares a "Good Old Days" poem, inspired by Ralph Fletcher's session at All Write.

Janet Squires highlights J.Patrick Lewis's book EDGAR ALLAN POE'S PIE: MATH PUZZLERS IN CLASSIC POEMS over at All About the Books.

Over at Mainely Write, Donna shares an original poem inspired by some recent conversations she has had about life's blessings.

Fats Suela offers two poems about the immigrant experience, one by Margaret Atwood, and one by Daljit Nagra, over at Gathering Books.

Diane Mayr has three poetry posts up today!  At Random Noodling, she shares two poems with an interesting use of space.  At Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet, she shares a summer poem for June 21.  And over at Kurious K's Kwotes, she offers a quote about writing by Pamela Ross.

Betsy Hubbard from Teaching Young Writers was at the All Write conference in Indiana this week too, and her poems for today were inspired by that time...even a poem about the "Good Old Days!"

At On Point, Lorie Ann Grover shares an original haiku and photograph, and at readertotz, she has posted a favorite Lewis Carroll poem.  Soup's on!

If you have a poetry dish to share today, please just leave a note in the comments, and I will check in throughout the day to add your delicious link!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Big Cat & Kindergarten RHYME SCHOOL

Oscar & Houdini (Both Need Homes!)

Photo by Hope LV

 

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

Students - Whenever these last days of school come around, I find myself thinking about changes.  How have my children grown and changed?  How have students I know grown and changed?  How have I grown and changed? Because we have kittens in the house right now, I am also watching them change day-by-day.  All of this rolled together into today's poem.

You will notice that "Big Cat" begins with the speaker comparing him/herself to a kitten.  I wanted to keep this same comparison through my whole poem, and you can see this in stanza two, especially in the verbs playing, pouncing, and pawing.  In the third stanza, the speaker is a grown up cat...a year has gone by.

It's neat to do this, keep one comparison throughout a poem.  Pay attention to your writing - if you discover that you have a strong metaphor in one line, ask yourself, "Hmmm....might I carry this through more than one stanza?"

Today I am thrilled to welcome kindergarten teacher Betsy Hubbard and her students from Fern Persons Elementary School in Olivet, Michigan, on one of their very last days of school.  It is a treat to host a writing party for them here at The Poem Farm!  

Teacher Betsy Hubbard

Photo by Shawn Hubbard

This school year has been a huge one in terms of my growth as a teacher. I have stepped out of many boxes this year and almost everything I did here with students was a first for me and a great experience.

My kindergarten students love reading and listening to poetry all year long. However, in April they enjoyed new adventures in poetry; writing their own! To find inspiration, the students first explored walking trails, creatures under logs and leaves, and a floral garden. With their writer's notebooks students made lists of observations, listened to quiet sounds and drew pictures of what they saw. Each student wrote poems about their outdoor adventures and drew matching illustrations with everything from watercolors to chalk.

Tyler and Lane Peek Under the Leaves
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

Zoe...
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

...Peter...
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

...and Kden Record Observations in Their Notebooks
Photo by Betsy Hubbard

We explored all kinds of poetry written by all kinds of poets, and we even listened to several poems from Amy here at the Poem Farm and peeked into other classroom poetry journeys.  From all this exposure, students began to learn about what makes poetry so interesting. VARIETY! Onomatopoeia, rhyme, and alliteration make poems appealing to the ear, while free verse can have a sound and meaning all its own. My kindergarten students learned from each other and shared their poetry with classmates, teachers, and third grade buddies who commented on their hard work.

Comment Compliments

Photo by Betsy Hubbard

Each student made a book of poems to treasure, and we taped comments to the back. This positive feedback was both a motivator and confidence builder. Students then had the task of choosing a favorite poem from their personal collection, and we created a classroom poetry anthology to collect all of their poetic memories!

I gave each of my students their personal copies of the anthology yesterday and told them they were each published authors. One young poet came up to me and said, "My mom is going to be so proud of me!"

I send many many thanks to teacher Betsy and all of her poet students for joining us today and for sharing their warm words and joy-filled illustrations. Congratulations, poets, on your class poetry anthology! I know that you will keep this book, Mrs. Hubbard, and each other in your hearts forever.
For more inspiration, you can follow Betsy Hubbard's blog at Teaching Young Writers.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Strawberries & Free Verse

 

Georgia's Birthday Snack

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Happy Poetry Friday!  Today I am thinking about food, especially strawberries, because we just dipped about 75 strawberries in chocolate for Georgia's 12th birthday tomorrow.  Here in Western New York, we are looking forward to picking strawberries in about one month, and at that time we will make all kinds of strawberry goodies.

In today's poem, I fulfill last Friday's promise to write two free verse poems this week.  Earlier this week, I wrote Always, about the kittens.  You may notice that the structure of today's poem is simply a list, list of ways that strawberries are happy.  The poem turns on a question and a promise.  I am thinking that I might try this again sometime: a list, a question, a promise.  If you give it a whirl, I would love to read your poem!

If you would like to make some chocolate covered strawberries of your own, it is so easy.  Here is a recipe for you.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

     1. Get some berries and chocolate. This time we used the melty wafers, but sometimes we use chocolate chips. If you would like to drizzle them afterward, you may wish to get two types of chips.

     2. Wash and dry your berries.

     3.  Cover a tray with wax paper or foil.

     4. Melt your chocolate carefully in the microwave.  We used half power for 30-60 seconds at a time, stirring in between, 

     5. Holding each berry by the stem, dip it into the chocolate.  It looks good if you leave a bit of red showing, and it won't make you as messy either.

     6.  Place each berry on the tray to dry.

     7.  If you want to drizzle them, simply melt more chocolate and use a fork or skewer dipped in chocolate to spatter them.  Be a strawberry artist!

     8.  Keep cool in your refrigerator until you're ready to eat.

     9.  Don't forget to lick the bowl!

Yesterday, Hope said, "Wow.  These are so pretty.  It's so cool you can just make them on your own!  When you see them all professionally made, you'd think there's a machine or something. But they're easy!"

In the next few weeks, I am so excited to share several classroom poetry peeks with you.  From kindergartners to third graders...get ready!

Linda at TeacherDance is hosting today's Poetry Friday feast. If you're feeling hungry for words and love, stop on by her place and dig in.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Tiny Tubas & A Classroom Peek!

Georgia Makes Music!

Photo by Amy LV

 

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you 

(and to hear Georgia play a blade of grass!)

Students - I had no idea what to write about for today's poem.  I was sitting outside at our picnic table, just looking around at the pretty day, when I saw some thick grass.  I picked a piece and tried to make some music the way I tried to do in the 1970s. I placed the fat grass between my two thumbs and blew into it. Georgia came out and said, "That's not how I do it."  And then she taught me her way.  It was much better, and I could make lots more noise. How to get a poem idea? Just look around!

Today's poem is a how-to poem, a poem that gently teaches someone else how to do something.  You'll see that especially the second stanza gives specific directions.  If you have never tried writing a procedural, or how-to, poem, you might like it.  Do you know what my favorite line is?  The last one!  I love saying these words - tiny tubas!

This is my third recent poem-with-quatrains (Hand Me Downs, A Place To Go). Sometimes it's easy to just fall into a particular rhythm of writing.  Do you know what I do when that happens?  I break it!  So right now I am telling you - none of the next week's poems will be written quatrains.  And you know what else?  Two of next week's poems will be free verse poems.  I just decided.

For this May Poetry Friday feast, I am very very happy to welcome  Stacey Buck, a speech-language pathologist from Chicago and her poet-student Tia. Stacey will tell us about how she uses poetry in her work with young people, and Tia will share a poem along with her draft and process notes.  A very warm welcome to Stacey and Tia!

Stacey Buck, Speech-Language Pathologist:

As a speech-language pathologist, I work primarily with children who have language delays or disorders. Many have been diagnosed a learning disability as well - a language based learning disability. For review, the five areas of language are: semantics (vocabulary, figurative language), morphology (grammar at word level), syntax (grammar of sentence), phonology (sounds, closely related to literacy), and pragmatics (social skills, theory of mind).

I like that poetry is short enough to read and begin work in the course of 30 minutes. Students come to my office for an hour and we have typically other goals to address (think about those 5 areas of language), so I like the flexibility of poetry.

In 2010, when Amy was writing a poem a day, a 2nd grade student of mine loved the riddle poems, so she decided to write her own. This girl did not say complete sentences at age 5 when we met, and struggled to write even 1 sentence on a given topic in 30 minutes by the time she was leaving 1st grade. To see her so enthusiastic to write a riddle poem was amazing!

Since then, I have continued to look at The Poem Farm daily as it is my home page - a nice reminder to use with students and a more positive way to start the day than a news website.

This school year, I have used poems from the online books, Poetry Tag Time and P-Tag with students from 4th-8th grade.  To give some specific ideas of how I use poetry, the following are two examples using poems from The Poem Farm posted during National Poetry Month 2012.

1. Tia, a 3rd grader, wrote a story poem (included in this post) inspired by Amy LV's Draw. In my office, she has worked to include more details in her sentences (ex: using prepositions, complex sentence structure), and sequence her ideas for narratives (personal, expository, or fictional).  The structure of a story poem encouraged her to work on sequencing narratives in a different way, while reading Amy’s thoughts on the writing process encouraged her to use more details to share her own process for her poem.  It has been exciting to watch Tia be so motivated that even when she’s rubbing her eyes due to fatigue, she doesn’t give up.

2. A 5th grade girl worked with Amy LV’s Prescribe.  In my office, she has worked on not skipping over unknown vocabulary, ‘figuring out’ figurative language and using ‘thinking verbs‘ orally and in her writing.  I chose this poem for its multiple meanings - ‘guide’ and ‘tear.‘  Interestingly, this girl knew those meanings and was able to explain which meaning was used in the poem. However, the overall meaning of the poem still escaped her since ‘heart’ ended up being the tricky word.  She could only come up with one meaning - “the muscle that pumps blood in your body.” Once she realized that ‘heart’ had to do with “love” and “interests,” she was able to explain the overall meaning of the poem as well as share what it meant in her own life. What success!

Here are a couple of tips for parents, other SLPs, or teachers whose students may struggle with aspects of language:

* Use your problem solving skills. Some poems are fairly straightforward, and are easy to understand. You might choose this type of poem when you want to have a student’s work focus on writing (maybe it’s sequencing ideas or using temporal terms; maybe it’s a certain kind of sentence structure like relative or adjective clauses). Some poems have multiple meanings and/or figurative language. You might choose a poem containing these if you want to focus the work on vocabulary and comprehension. Of course, you can do writing, too, with this second example, but rarely do I ask children to synthesize all of these pieces if they are each areas of need for the student.

* Pay attention to the little pieces. When a student gets confused in a conversation, for example, think about why she did. Was it a word meaning? Was it the long sentence with passive voice and negation? Was it that she missed a plural marker you said? Similarly, when a student ‘gets’ something you weren’t expecting her to ‘get’, think about what was different this time. Has she had lots of personal experience with the topic? Does she love idioms? (I know a student like this. I was lumping all figurative language together until I realized this area was a strength for her.) These are then your keys to strengths to play to and areas of need to work on
with the children in your life.

And now I welcome Tia! Please enjoy learning about her process, reading her final story poem, and then studying her rough draft.

Tia:

Tia's Process Notes

Tia's Final Poem

Tia's Rough Draft

Thank you very much to Stacey and to Tia for joining us today.  It is a privilege to have these peeks into the classrooms and conversations and thoughts of students and their teachers.

And this week is a joyful one indeed.  For this week I got to see the beautiful watercolors for my first book, FOREST HAS A SONG (Clarion, 2013). Artist Robbin Gourley made each poem sing with her whimsical and gorgeous paintings, and I feel like the luckiest-first-book-author-in-the-world!

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over at Write. Sketch. Repeat. with Katya. Swing on by for a menu full of poetic treats.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Z is for ZAIRE

Z is for ZAIRE

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

ZAIRE is the first word in the Z section of my children's dictionary.

Students - Well, when I opened my dictionary to another geographical location...I was surprised.  This has happened two other times, with J is for JAMAICA and N is for NORTHERN IRELAND.  Each time I got a little worried.  "What would I write?"  But then I read...and then I learned...and then I wrote.

For today's poem, I began reading and learned that Zaire had been called the Congo and was only known as Zaire from 1971 - 1997 when it again became the Congo. Reading Wikipedia, I learned that the name Zaire comes from the Portuguese word Zaire which comes from the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, which means "the river that swallows all rivers."  Isn't that gorgeous?

When I told Mark this name story, he said, "You should write about the river!" And so I did.

Reading along, I was reminded that Langston Hughes mentions the Congo River in his most beautiful of river poems, The Negro Speaks of Rivers.  If you click on the title, you can read the poem and hear him read it over at Poets.org. 

I did a little bit of math with this poem too.  The Congo River is the world's deepest river at over 220 meters (220 feet), and I imagined four-foot-tall first graders standing on top of each other's shoulders.  With all of the calf/head overlap, it would take more than 200 to reach the bottom of the Congo River. Wow.

So, there you have it.  I pointed to a word, read some research, talked with my husband, listened to a classic poem, did some math, and wrote.

That last sentence sums up my past month.  For this Z poem is the final poem of my April 2012 Dictionary Hike.  This month I met and wrote with Lisa, Christophe, and Georgia, enjoyed a V is for VULTURE poem by Michele, and learned about children opening their own dictionaries and making word baskets.  It was a zesty month, and I feel grateful to everybody who stopped by. Tomorrow, April 30, I will list out all 26 alphabet poems.

Today I welcome actor and poet Charles Waters!

On April 12 (K is for KNICKKNACK), I wrote about wonderful words and shared Wilfred J. Funk's list of most beautiful words.

Charles left this post in the comments:

Well, last night he wrote to me with the poem!

Luminous Lullaby

Children listen, hush, hear that

Golden melody that chimes at dawn?

This luminous lullaby loves

murmuring through mist

Sending tranquil thoughts your way

Every day.

© Charles Waters

On the April 12, 2012 entry of The Poem Farm, Amy posted (among other neat things) the 10 most beautiful words according to Wilfred J. Funk, and it inspired me to attempt to write a children's poem using  those ten words: dawn, hush, lullaby, murmuring, tranquil, mist, luminous, chimes, golden, and melody.  My aim was to use them in a way where it flowed into the poem so well that you wouldn't have thought I wrote it as a challenge to myself but instead as a moment of thankfulness to the blessings of nature.

Thank you, Charles, for sharing this poem full of beautiful words here today.  

Tomorrow is the first chalking celebration over at Teaching Young Writers. Join organizer-Betsy, Linda from TeacherDance, many others, and me as we chalk, photograph, and share poems. 

Over at The Poem Farm's sister blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, there are two new peekable notebooks. So if you are a notebook-keeper, a notebook-keeper-hopeful, or a teacher who uses notebooks in your classroom, please don't miss Suz Blackaby's post about her process and word tickets or Allan Wolf's post about wall writing and butt books.  The drawing for Allan's ZANE'S TRACE will take place on Monday evening.

Tomorrow, April 30, you can find the whole April 2012 Dictionary Hike here.  And I will be somewhere else. Two other places actually.  I will be at Author Amok with Laura Shovan as a part of her series of 30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets sharing a bit about my revision process.  And I will be in a secret place. Really, they told me that I must not tell!  So please come back tomorrow, and I will tell you.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!