Poems Are More Than Sight Words - #222

Sight Words

Listed by Amy LV

Students - I wrote this poem to have a little bit of fun with sight words, words that we learn early on how to "spell in a snap" (Calkins).   I took the above list of twenty-five sight words and played around, trying to fit them all into my poem, kind of like those "hidden pictures" games from HIGHLIGHTS magazine.  Sometimes poems take on a lot of word play, inviting the readers to play along.  Concrete poems, like Thursday's "Milkweed", are like this too, wearing interesting shapes and inviting the reader to ask, "How should I read this poem?"  Jan Brett likes to hide little illustration hints in her books.  I hid some sight words here.  What might you hide in a poem?

Teachers and parents - the idea for this poem actually came from something that has been troubling me.  In workshops lately, many people have told me that they do share poetry with their children, but only for sight word and phonics practice.  I worry about this because it is much like saying nighttime prayers only to practice correcting a speech impediment or hugging babies, but only for the physical exercise it provides our arms.

Our days are full, and time is short.  Still, poems offer us so much more than sight word practice.  First poems give us laughter, love, beauty, nature appreciation, memories, healing, humanity.  Occasionally we might let poems do a little dirty work, just as we have to wash dishes and clothes.  But oh!  Each of us is so much more than a dish-doer or clothes-washer.  We are thinkers, dreamers, criers, gigglers, memory-holders...and poems give us ourselves in all of these shapes.  Reading and writing poems makes us more human, and this is reason enough to read and write poetry in school, at home, anywhere!

In the words of Emily Dickinson, "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry."

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My Friend - My Poem Writing Year #120

Mark

Photo by Elizabeth Pellette

In one of his online newsletters, Eric Carle explains why he writes about small animals in so many of his books.  When I was a small boy, my father would take me on walks across meadows and through woods.  We would lift a stone or peel back the bark of a tree and show me the living things that scurried about.  He'd tell me about the life cycles of this or that small creature and then he would carefully put the little creature back into its home.  I think in my books I honor my father by writing about small living things.

Similarly, today's poem is in honor of my husband Mark, who has taught our family and so many others (see yesterday's blog post from Sprucelands Summer Camp) about nature.  Happy 15th anniversary, honey!

Jane Yolen's delightful and fun-to-read book, MY FATHER KNOWS THE NAMES OF THINGS, celebrates her late husband, a man who knew names of everything and shared this love and knowledge with his family.

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Students - writing is a way to honor someone you love.  Words last, and words help us figure out what we think about our lives.  You might want to try this sometime.  Think of a person you would like to hold up with your words.  And then write.  Just like these three examples, you don't even have to name the person in your piece.  (It can be a secret!)

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Day 2 of Free Verse Week - Seeing (#102)

Queen Anne's Lace

Photo by Amy LV

Author Eric Carle tells why he writes about small living things on his website, "When I was a small boy my father would take me on walks across meadows and through woods...I think in my books I honor my father by writing about small living things."

Married to a science teacher, I have come to appreciate the beauty of all plants, even those that some people don't like.  So in this poem I try to honor my husband's spirit which has taught all of us so much.

Students - who is someone you look up to or learn from?  You can write a poem highlighting that feeling without even mentioning the person's name.

You really can drink juice from purple clover if you pull out the little petals and suck the white ends.  Our son Henry loves to do this, and last week my sister-in-law told me that our four-year-old niece Libby does too!

 

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