Poems Can Make Statements

Disconnected

Photo by Louise M.

Students - We all have things in our lives that trouble us, that we see as worries or dangers.  For me, one of these things is the way that technology connects us...but sometimes seems to disconnect us even more.  Today's poem explains the way I feel sometimes.  Perhaps you have felt this way too.  Life is full of ups and downs and beauties and concerns.  

And we can write about any and all of them.

We can comment on the world through our poems.  And when we're lucky, the poems we write will meet others at the right time for them.  Most of the time, we will never even know when this happens.  But we still write.  I would love to read some statement poems by young writers, so if you're writing them, please feel free to share them with me through your teacher.

Writing can lift the world.

Speaking of goodness, over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I am happy to welcome third grade teacher Dina Bolan and her third grade writers from Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Glen Rock, New Jersey.  Take a peek at their nonfiction notebook entries, and leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a new notebook of your own!

Thank you to Librarian Jone McCullough for featuring my READ! READ! READ! with illustrator Ryan O'Rourke over at Check It Out today!  There's a giveaway for the book, thanks to Boyds Mills Press, so if you leave a comment by next Thursday...you may win a copy.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup by celebrating the wonderful new book CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR: POEMS OF RACE, MISTAKES, AND FRIENDSHIP by Irene Latham and Charles Waters over at Reading to the Core. Please visit! 

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.

Wallow in Wonder Day #14 - The Right

Welcome to Day 14 of Wallow in Wonder!  For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis.  As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily.  This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning.  I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.  

I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too.  Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow.  Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.  If you would like to share any ways you have used Wallow in Wonder or your own site (safe for children only please), please link to the #WallowInWonder padlet.

My April Poems Thus Far

April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659 

April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660

April 3 - The Storm Chaser - a poem inspired by Wonder #779

April 4 - A Jar of Glitter - a poem inspired by Wonder #641

April 5 - To Make Compost - a poem inspired by Wonder #1661

April 6 - Deciding Now - a poem inspired by Wonder #1662

April 7 - Hummingbird's Secret - a poem inspired by Wonder #1663

April 8 - Limits - a poem inspired by Wonder #1664

April 9 - Sundogs - a poem inspired by Wonder #1665

April 10 - Perspective - a poem inspired by Wonder #128

April 11 - At the History Museum - a poem inspired by Wonder #115

April 12 - Seventy-Five Years Ago Today - a poem inspired by Wonder #1666

April 13 - Homer's Poem - a poem inspired by Wonder #1667

And now for Day 14!

Wonder #1668 - from April 13, 2016

Differences

by Amy LV

Students - This is a poem about one friend talking to another about differences.  I have had many differences with friends and with family; differences are a part of life.  Part of growing up includes learning to talk with others about our differences without getting angry or having a fit or a fight.

I would call this a Taking a Stand poem.  In this poem, the speaker is taking a stand, stating an opinion about something.  Poetry is a wonderful genre for expressing an opinion. If I want to, someday I could write a poem from the other point of view, from the point of view of the person who wants to play with Barbies.

What do you deeply believe, or what could you imagine someone believing?  You can take an idea you may have jotted into your notebook as a bit of opinion writing and shape part of it into a poem.  And you do not have to write about only what you believe.  Consider taking others' points of view, different from yours, and exploring them through poems.

Teachers - here at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, you can see some work that a fourth grade student did in his class's study of activist poems.

You can read another poem inspired by Wonder #1668 if you visit Wonder Lead Ambassador, literacy advocate, teacher, and writer Paul Hankins at his Wonder Ground blog where he, too, is writing daily poems from Wonderopolis wonders.  He and I are in this together daily and some other writers are joining in on the fun sometimes too. All are welcome to wonder through poems with us.

I am happily hosting middle school teacher and librarian Stefanie Cole and her students from Ontario, Canada at Sharing Our Notebooks all month long.  This is a fantastic post full of notebook inspiration, a video clip, and a great book giveaway from Stefanie.

Happy Day 14 of National Poetry Month 2016!  

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.

Warning - My Poem Writing Year #181

Go ahead.  Disagree.  You are welcome to do so.  You may disagree with any words that anyone writes anywhere.  If you live and read and write in a free country such as The United States, your right to freedom of expression allows me to say what I wish and you to do the same.  We may speak and write about what we experience, believe, and invent.  These freedoms are protected by the Amendment I in The Bill of Rights of the US Constitution.

Of course, freedom of speech is not an excuse to shoot our mouths off or hurt people with our words.  The other side of the freedom coin is responsibility, and in this blog I work to be responsible to my readers and to earn your trust.  This responsibility means that sometimes I must speak out about things I believe in.  And I believe in books.

September 25 - October 2, 2010 is Banned Books Week.  All over the US, schools, libraries, communities, and bookshops are speaking out for challenged books, for the right of authors to be read, regardless of their words.  There are people who work to have books taken off of shelves because they do not agree with the stories or words presented.  It is the right of these people to do so.  But it is my right to disagree with them.

Students - this post is about something I believe is important, something I would fight for - freedom of expression.  What would you fight for?  (I do not mean fighting with fists, but  standing up for something, working for a cause.)  These things you believe in will surely be powerful and rich writing ideas.

Teachers - if you would like to share a simple and sweet puppet video explaining the importance of ALL books, you can find one here at Banned Books Week Videos.  And if you would like to use today's poem in any public way by posting it on your blog or hanging it in your library, I welcome you to do so without permission (though I'd love to know!)

What can you do if you wish to defend the right of all books to live on library shelves?  You can do many things, but the best one is probably to read a banned book.  Of course, you may disagree with anything I say here.  You have the right to do so in the comments.

If you live in a country without freedom of speech, I pray that one day you will have this human right.

Shop Indie Bookstores

After explaining Banned Books Week to my children (11, 10, and 8), I read them this book, AND TANGO MAKES THREE.  We all fell in love with its tender message of love and kindness.  My eyes teared up, both at the story and at the thought that anyone could reject such a truth and theme.

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)