Dream Anthem and A Poet-Tea!

Phoenix
Gouache Painting by Georgia LV

 

Click the arrow to hear Barry sing this song to you.

Today's poem came with a melody first.  Earlier this week, my friend Barry Lane sent me a melody that his guitar wrote.  I received a sound file of the guitar music followed by one with Barry singing "La la la la la...." to the beat of the melody.

My job was to write some words to go with it.  Barry asked for a song for children, something to children or about children...and this is what wanted to be written.

Do you play an instrument or have a friend or family member who does?  If you do, you might want to try writing from a melody first.  If you do not, you can simply use any melody from a song you already know.  For example, if I were to write a poem with the beat to TWINKLE TWINKLE LITTLE STAR, the syllable pattern would begin like this --

La        La     La      La     La     La     La

Twin    kle    Twin    kle    Lit     tle     star...

But of course it's not all about syllables.  It's first about meaning.  And I do believe deeply in listening to dreams.

At the same time Barry and I were playing guitar and writing, Georgia was up painting and painting.  Her phoenix is a beautiful expression of rising, and we are grateful to her for allowing us to use it with this little song.

And now...a very hearty welcome to second grade teacher Barbara Phillips and her young poets for today's summer Poetry Peek!

My name is Barbara Phillips. I teach second grade at Monroe Local Schools in Monroe, Ohio. In addition to teaching, I was chosen as a 2012 Wonder Lead Ambassador for NCFL’s Wonderopolis. Wonderopolis is great website to engage children of all ages in Wonder and expose them to nonfiction on a daily basis. Each day they pose a new Wonder of the Day question. The Wonders are on many different topics, but some that teach children about poetry include:
#169 - What is an Acrostic?
#202 - What is a Sonnet?
#221 - What is a Limerick?
#575 - What is a Poetry Slam? (including Amy's ideas & suggestions)

We spent the year reading and talking about poetry. We learned about different kinds of poems including: mask, list, found, shapes, and pattern. Students learned that poetry is written differently than stories, doesn’t have to rhyme, can have rhythm, sometimes has line breaks and that often times poems have lots of white space. Our year long poetry began on the first day of school when we shared Rebecca Kai Dotlich poem, “Sky Wish” from CLIMB INSIDE A POEM by Georgia Heard and Lester Laminack.  (Thank you to Rebecca for allowing us to post this poem today - Amy.)

Sky Wish

I wrote my wish

upon a kite;

closed my eyes,

grabbed its string --            

through wind

I ran,

let it fly . . .

my wish came true.

It flew into

that wide, wide map

of sky.

by Rebecca Kai Dotlich

from CLIMB INSIDE A POEM

Ccollected by Georgia Heard 

and Lester Laminack 

Available Through Heinemann

Students wrote their wishes for 2nd grade on strips of paper to hang on the tail of our kite hanging in our classroom.

Here is a VoiceThread of my students sharing their own wishes.

During the month of April, National Poetry Month, we spent lots of time writing our own poetry. We used many of the poems we had read during the year as our mentor text. We also enjoyed a Chalk-a-bration. During our unit one activity that we tried from Amy’s website was from the Dictionary Hike. I had each student write the name of an object/topic on a piece of paper. I put all the suggestions in a cup and drew one out each day. The first few days, I modeled writing my own poetry with the object. This was a great way to engage students who were having a hard time thinking of their own topic or just struggling in general.

Here are a few our poems.



Piano

I make noise,
a real good noise!

I am black and shiny.
I play Jaws and nice music
and fancy music.

I play fast music too.
I play jazz

just for you!

A lot of people play me.

by Nolan



I See a Piano

I see a piano playing
smooth in the parlor

I see a piano with
Its keys unlocking
Beautiful sounds

I see a piano with
its notes so high

Can you help me
reach them?

by Sam



Summer

Summer air
Summer flowers
Summer swimming
Summer swinging
Summer water
Summer grass
Summer butterfly
Summer camping
Summer vacation
Summer fun!

by Kayla



Ice Skates

Swishshsh, Glide!
Swishshsh, Glide!
Around the rink
I’m getting dizzy!
I’m getting really hot!
Oh, here we go again!

by Audrey G.


In order to celebrate the WONDERful writing and writers, we decided to invite our mothers in for a Mother’s Day Poet-Tea.

Another teacher and I purchased teacups and saucers at thrift stores for students to plant a flower in for decorations and to give to their moms for Mother’s Day.

I also brought in mismatched tablecloths to cover the desks to make our room look fancier and to give the room more of a “tea” feel.

Allison even made a sign at home to welcome our moms. The kids were so excited to host their moms for such a special occasion.

During the Mother’s Day Poet-Tea students shared poetry that we had been reading all year in groups. Several students were brave enough to stand up and share individual poetry that they had written on their own. Students also shared their poems from own poetry books with their own mom. As a teacher, it was very rewarding to see students and their moms interact. I know that all the moms were very proud of their children. After students shared their poems, everyone had lemonade or iced “tea” and cookies while we watched our end of the year imovie. What a great way to celebrate our poetry!

Much gratitude to Barbara and her student poets for joining us today.  These poems and this tea are warming and beautiful...and I would not be surprised to hear about other classrooms of young poets hosting Mother's Day Poet-Teas next spring!

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday smorgasbord over at Check it Out.  Check it out!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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