An Object Passed On and On...

(Almost....)

Inscription from My Grandmother to My Mother

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is just a little bit of free verse about an object - a poem book that lives in my family. Yesterday my friend Brett Vogelsinger shared this photo and question on Twitter.

Well, I DID remember! My mother had this book when I was a child, and I remember reading it over and over again, just loving the images and words. As it happens, last night I visited my mom and found the copy. 

A Family Favorite

(The spots on on the cover were likely made by me!)

Photo by Amy LV

My mom's mom (my grandmother) had given the book to my own mother as a gift, and she had made notes on the pages of some of her favorite poems. My grandma and mom were both teachers, and this was a teacher-to-teacher present given early in my mom's teaching career. Below you can see my grandma as a young woman. She always loved poetry, and both she and her father - my great grandfather John Conolly - wrote poems.

Florence (Dorrie) Conolly Dreyer as a Young Woman

Notes from Grandma

Photo by Amy LV

I feel lucky that my grandmother wrote in this book and lucky that my mom has kept it. Even though Grandma has been gone from a long time, through these notes and favorite poems, she speaks to us again. 

Do you have an object in your home that brings to mind someone important to you? While one person might look at a particular object and not see anything special, objects do hold and hide stories and connections. Sometimes we just need to sit with something, hold it, think about it, and listen. Writing can be slow that way. Slow is good.

I have happy news! After a long hiatus, there is a post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. Stephanie Affinito has shared her wonderful 'One Little Thing' notebook which has already inspired me to begin one of my own. Visit the post and comment by February 2 for a chance to win a copy of Ralph Fletcher's A WRITER'S NOTEBOOK.

Kathryn is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup...all the way from Australia...at Kathryn Apel. Visit her post for a couple of poems and a short clip describing one of her author visits to the US. We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

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.

Old Jottings + Old Photos + Old Jewelry = New Poem

Edythe Toebe, My Great Aunt

Photo by ?

Students - This poem is about my wonderful Great Aunt Tom.  Her real name was Edythe, but she went by the name Tom.  With sparkly blue eyes and a thousand artistic hobbies, she was a blast, and I miss her.  Many years ago, I even wrote an essay about her for our local npr station.  You can read it HERE if you wish.

Life gets busy, and I had not thought about my Aunt Tom in a while.  But then, it came time to write, and once again I didn't know what to write about, I opened a few old notebooks and began to paw through them, looking for a spark.  And happily, I found this, a notebook entry with some picture book ideas, an entry from 1999 (older than many of you!)

1999 Notebook Entry Sparks New Poem

Photo by Amy LV

Just as the book IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Laura Numeroff, one thing led to another, and reading this entry made me want to find Aunt Tom's old costume jewelry box.  I remember our oldest daughter playing with these sparkles shortly after Aunt Tom died.  When you open the box today, almost twenty years after Aunt Tom's death, you can still smell her perfume.

Aunt Tom's Pretty Jewelry

Photo by Amy LV

When I opened the box and smelled my Aunt's perfume again, writing the words did not feel difficult.  It was as if my aunt was right there with me.

What do you notice about the rhyme and meter in this poem?  

Many of you know that I love keeping notebooks, recommend that everyone keep a notebook, and even blog about notebooks at Sharing Our Notebooks, a site I've dedicated to just that.  Keeping a notebook, as the wise Shelley Harwayne once said, is like giving a present to your future self.  If I had not jotted in my notebook seventeen years ago, I would not have thought about my dear Aunt Tom this week.  One never knows when old jottings will come in handy...keep a notebook.

Today I am very happy to welcome fifth grade teacher Tracy Minton and her poets from the Douglas J. Regan Intermediate School in the Starpoint Central School District in Lockport, NY.  They have very generously offered to share some of their poems with us, and I've put them on a Padlet below teacher Tracy Minton's words.

Before really beginning our unit on poetry, I gave the students various books and poems to explore. They often read in pairs or small groups. We also read some poems whole group, talking about meaning and various techniques authors used. We learned some types of figurative language that might be found in poetry, and when reading various poems, we identified the figurative language used and discussed the meaning. Students explored writing poems using similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia and hyperbole.

I also taught the students some elements of poetry such as: verse, stanza, meter, rhyme and rhythm. We read poems and highlighted the elements used. We also explored writing free verse poems. In mini-lessons we learned how to gather ideas, make lists, use emotions and put our hearts and souls into our poems. Many of my conferences involved helping the kids with line breaks and focusing on the real meaning that they wanted to give their audiences. 

For the easiest view of these students' poems, click to the Padlet HERE. 

(Read the instructions atop the page to see how to open each poem individually)

I am so pleased with the poems that my students wrote. They worked so hard for weeks, stretching their ideas and really pushing themselves to go out of their comfort zones.  They have truly amazed me as authors and poets!

Thank you very much to Tracy and her students for joining us today...I feel thankful to have the opportunity to share young poets' work in this space.

Over at Sharing Our Notebooks, you can see the winner of our latest giveaway and anticipate next week's new post.  Yay for notebooking!

This Poetry Friday, find the roundup celebrating a beautiful new picture book over at Irene's place, Live Your Poem.  While you're there, be sure to wish Irene a happy birthday week for FRESH DELICIOUS, her newest book of poems.  I'll have her visiting this space with more on that book next Monday.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Scrapbooks, Stories, & Buttons!

Florence Ethel Conolly Dreyer

from John Conolly's Album

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

Students - Happy New Year!  I am excited to begin this new year by looking back in time as well as forward.  Recently my mother gave me a scrapbook made by her grandfather, and the pictures feel like magic to me.  Simply by turning the pages, I am in a new place, meeting new people who are very much part of me.

To begin this new year, I am working on my family tree, asking lots of questions about the people who came before, trying to let these questions lead to answers about me and our family and children.  Why are we like we are? Who do we come from?

My grandmother Florence (I never knew she was called Dorrie) loved the color purple and loved writing poetry.  In this poem, I imagine what she might say to me.  Of course I never knew her at this young age, so it is very mysterious and wonderful to have silent conversations wtih her in this way today.

Do you have any old photographs or objects from long ago in your home or in a relative's home?  If you do, you might find these are full of stories and questions and writing food.

And now, for a new project...

Button Joy

Photo by Amy LV

Here in 2014, I am beginning a button string, much like the charm strings of Victorian times. I will collect stories (when possible) along with humble buttons. I do not plan to buy buttons for this string, but rather hope to trade and/or receive buttons from friends and family. If you would like to share a button (and a story if you have one), I would be most grateful. If you wish, you can mail a button (and maybe story) to me at 7571 Raiber Road Holland, NY 14080.  I am not exactly sure what else will come of this button string, but from the stories I have already heard, I cannot wait to find out!

In happy news to start the year, I am grateful to announce that FOREST HAS A SONG has been selected as a 2013 CYBILS finalist.  I am among wonderful company and tickled to see my book sitting among ones I so admire.

Betsy is hosting today's Poetry Friday New Year party at I Think in Poems.  Give yourself a little trip to Michigan by visiting her place, and while you're there, find out what's happening on this first Poetry Friday of 2014.

It is great to be back.  Happy New Year to all!

Please share a comment below if you wish.