Eraser Dust, Poetry Art, and Chalking!

Learning
by Amy LV

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

Students - Today's poem comes from a childhood memory of a young second grade friend who used to collect eraser dust.  I've written David's pencil shaving collection before, yet this idea of collecting small bits of others' trash is still fascinating to me.  Just imagine if eraser dust could talk...what we would learn!

Today I am tickled to welcome teacher Jennifer Beach and her third grade students from Glenwood Elementary School in West Plains, Missouri. Earlier this week, Jennifer sent me an e-mail with photographs of her students' beautiful poetry art.  I asked her if she would be willing to share her class's process for their foil art, and lucky for us....she was willing!  I turn you over into the artistic and thoughtful hands of Jennifer Beach.  Please click to enlarge any of these wonderful images.

Photo by Jennifer Beach

While looking for ideas for National Poetry Month this last April I came across Find a Roll of Foil and knew I had to use it in my class in some way.  

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Long story short, my class and I read this poem and talked about it. We studied all the normal things that you do with poems and then we decided to find a roll of foil for ourselves!  What wonderful imaginations the kids have. 

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Our art teachers at Glenwood have made a similar project with their students before and helped me to figure what glue to use and I also found this art teacher's blog when I searched for foil scratch art that was really helpful.  

We have many times made line drawings and decorated them with markers so this was a natural progression from that.  We brainstormed with partners all of the things you could make from foil, and we made two lists: things we've made from foil and things we'd like to make from foil.  (After the project we also made a list of recycled items that could be used to make art like bottle caps, paper tubes, tin cans, etc., and I challenged them to create something new over the summer using some of these items to share with me in August!) We decided instead of making a foil sculpture we wanted to make pictures to hang on the wall.  The kids used their ideas to help them draw pictures.  

We looked at Mexican folk art and abstract art to get ideas for Kalina's cat, and as you can see, she took the ideas and ran with them.  It was a great learning experience for all the kids since we did a lot of this kind of research for all their ideas.

Cat by Kalina

Photo by Jennifer Beach

The pictures were drawn by the third graders onto a piece of plain paper in order to plan their artwork. I asked them to stick with a simple outline that had one large main figure in the middle.  We then drew the outlines onto pieces of tag board.  We used Elmer's Glue All to trace the outline and all major lines and set it aside to dry overnight. 

The next day we covered each entire piece of tag board with Elmer's Glue stick (the purple kind that dries clear is really the best because they could see where they had already spread glue) and placed a piece of foil on the top.  We used cotton balls to press and smooth the foil down and then Q-tips to fine press around the glue lines.  Once that was done, we used the handle end of a paint brush or a dull pencil to etch the designs in the figures.  Many of the kids wanted to see examples of different line designs so we looked up artwork by famous artists that incorporated lines into their art.  

After they finished their lines, we covered the entire pieces in black liquid shoe polish, let them dry for a few seconds, then rubbed them off with paper towels.  The other third grade class used the solid shoe polish and instead of wiping it off just left it on.  Theirs turned out a darker almost blue look, like old silver. Emilie's ladybug from that class is an example, and they were just as pretty.  Both classes had just exceptional work.  

Ladybug by Emilie

Photo by Jennifer Beach

The kids were so excited and just loved it, but it was a time consuming project.  I was really impressed that my 9-year-olds finished such fine pieces of artwork, and we had a lot of fun reading the poem and looking at The Poem Farm.  They have been so excited with our poetry month.  We also made: poetry paper bag kites, spinner poems, hand print poems, and poetry mobiles.

Poetry Paper Bag Kites

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Poetry Kite by Hayden

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Poetry Art

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Spinner Poems by Ethon and JD

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Hand Print Poem by Adrianne

Photo by Jennifer Beach

Poetry Mobile by Katie

Photo by Jennifer Beach

We had a blast, and I enjoyed seeing the kids so engaged.  The last week of school we made summer journals to take home with them and they all signed each other's journals and wrote messages to each other.  

What a very fortunate class to have made these works or art and these memories together. Thank you, Jennifer and students, for sharing with us here today.  I am truly grateful.

Today, Betsy is hosting both Poetry Friday and Chalk-a-Bration over at Teaching Young Writers.  Head on over to find links to other chalk-y poems and all manner of poem-love. Here is the haiku that folks will be reading on our front step today...

Poem Rock

Photo by Amy LV

Poppy View

Photo by Amy LV

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!

Love Letters and Chalk Poems

Writer Tree

by Amy LV

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

Students - Today's poem is about the season we are in right now.  Spring.  When this time of year rolls around in Western New York, we are always very ready for it; winter is long here.  And it always feels like there is one magical day when all of the trees mail their leaves to the sky.  I notice it every year, and every year I marvel.

Today's poem relies heavily on a technique you may have heard of -- personification.  In this verse, I make the trees like people, writing.  We know that trees do not write, but in this poem they do. In this poem, they are like people who feel hope and relief and even joy.

The first two stanzas each have an ABCBDB pattern (every other line has the same end rhyme), but the third stanza is shorter.  To me, this makes it feel more finished, breaking the pattern and all.

There's a bit of alliteration (same beginning letter repeating) too.  Can you find it?

It is an honor today to welcome kindergarten teacher Betsy Hubbard and her kindergarten poets from Fern Parsons Elementary School in Olivet, Michigan.  Many of you know Betsy from her warm, rich blog, Teaching Young Writers, and her students' families also know her through her classroom blog, Hubbard's Headlines.  Some of you might even remember when Betsy and her students visited The Poem Farm last June with their book, RHYME SCHOOL.  Today they share their chalk-a-bration poem, written at the end of April, National Poetry Month.  What a fantastic idea!  I welcome Betsy and her students....

Photo by Betsy Hubbard

Chalkery

It doesn't take long,

not hard to find a space.

Go get some chalk

and poetry the place!

~Betsy Hubbard

Back in March of 2012 my husband was outside with our children doing chalk on the driveway. He got the idea to write some song lyrics. This idea of writing words on our driveway spread. I started writing poems on our driveway, then my husband started writing poems too. 

I began thinking, what if others shared writing underfoot? What if someone, somewhere wrote their favorite poem or an original poem and someone else stumbled upon it? I felt a rush of excitement at the idea of someone’s day getting a smile from shared words. Chalk-A-Bration was born! 

Throughout last year, poets, students and my family shared poems and illustrations during the summer months. This year I decided to share the idea with my students again, and we got to work. We went outside with our writer’s notebooks and scoured for ideas. We illustrated our topics and lines as a planning tool and together wrote a shared poem. In partners, students illustrated each line of the poem in chalk outside. We put it all together and had our poem in pictures for everyone to see. It was a great way to celebrate the end of poetry month with kindergartners.  Here is our poem in pictures and in words:

Senses Outside

by Mrs. Hubbard’s Kindergarten Class

Smelling flowers that smell like lemonade

a red bike

a can

a spiky ball

green tree

green grass that grows

hearing owl -- whoo, whoo

a yellow dandelion

a stick shaped like a Y

and those were our senses outside.

About chalk-a-bration, Saige says, "I like doing it (chalk-a-bration) because it is so beautiful, and I like doing the poetry because I get to make my own stories and pictures." 

Sophia says, "I like poetry because its fun writing and drawing pictures to go with your writing." 

Reagan says, "I like to draw with chalk, it is fun to do things like this with my friends. I love all the colors of things."

Chalk-a-bration is on May 31st, and I am also hosting Poetry Friday that day at Teaching Young Writers! I would invite any and all chalk holders to join in the chalketry celebration. It can be an original poem, a personal favorite, or an illustration to a poem. Anything poemy will do.  When you're done getting dusty, post a photo on your blog and link it to teachingyoungwriters.blogspot.com on celebration day! You will be in good company. And, you can even come back on June 30th, July 31st or August 31st to do it again! 

Don't you just want to get out and chalk?  I do!  Remember....May 31 at Betsy's place. Thank you so much to Betsy and these young poets for filling The Poem Farm with joy today.

Today I am guest blogging over at Kirby Larson's blog, Kirby's Lane, a wee bit about writing and the two selves I must be to do so.

Ed DeCaria is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Think Kid, Think! Stop by and check out the menu of poetry fun all around the Kidlitosphere this week.

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!