Puppets and a Poetry Peek

Friends

Puppets by Children and Photo by Amy LV

Students - I wrote today's puppet poem for a purpose.  (Now there's some alliteration...)  I was visiting a kindergarten class, and I wanted a puppet poem. So...I wrote one!  

Sometimes there are occasions or moments in life where we are looking for words and are might not be able to find the exact words we seek.  Then it's time to pull out our pencils and write something new.

And now for a Poetry Peek!

Yesterday I was fortunate to visit Nancy Johnstone's and Marilyn Delucia's kindergarten classes as part of the extended day program with Mercier Literacy for Children at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School #9, the school where I student taught in 1992.  We had a few adults working together with children in poetry centers, and I am still smiling to think about it.

In Center One, children made the paper bag puppets you see above and recited the silly poem.

In Center Two, children read poetry books together from a suitcase full of books.

In Center Three, children made up poems and shared them orally in the voices of fuzzy puppets.  

And in Center Four, children wrote poems together with teacher Nancy Johnstone. Today they will be reading these group  poems (I typed them) and painting their own individual color poem books.

Enjoy reading these delightful images and playful color poems illustrated in watercolors.

Thank you very much to Nancy for inviting me to join her for an afternoon of poetry and time with these beautiful children.  It was a delight!

There is still a giveaway going on at last Friday's post.  If you're interested in winning a copy of Barry Lane's great CD, FORCE FIELD FOR GOOD, head on over to Friday's post and leave comment to be entered into Friday's drawing.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Day 23 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 23 of this Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List Here

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.  You can learn all about Sing That Poem! and how to play on my April 1st post, where you will also find the list of the whole month's poems and tunes as I write and share them.  If you'd like to print out a matching game page for yourself, you can find one here, and during April 2015, you'll be able to see the song list right over there in the left hand sidebar.

Yesterday's poem was Earth Day Song.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

I was completely charmed and amazed to receive three songs yesterday!  A warm welcome to these classes full of strong singers and puzzle-solvers...

Here are Lindsey Staub's fourth graders from Arcade Elementary in the Pioneer School District in Arcade, NY.  They got it!

Here are Mandy Robek's second graders from Tyler Run Elementary in Powell, Ohio. They got it!



And here you can watch and listen to Stacey Goodman's second grade students from Wealthy Elementary in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.  They got it!

Thank you, students, for playing along.  It is fun to play a game across the country like this, and I truly appreciate your voices and feeling as if I am a little part of your classroom communities.

And here, below, is today's poem.  Look at the song list in the sidebar or on your matching form to see if you can puzzle out which tune matches this one.  I welcome all classes to send their own audio clips to me through SoundCloud (easy free app), and I adore posting them here on The Poem Farm.  (Only 8 songs left, including today's!)

Birthday Party

by Amy LV

Students - I found the idea for today's poem on Wonderopolis, a fantastic site full of all kinds of information about everything in the world.  I was reading yesterday's wonder:

Wonderopolis Wonder for April 22, 2015

and the Wonder ended with the passage you see below.

From Wonderopolis Wonder for April 22, 2015

So, that's what was wheeling around in my mind.  I am not sure exactly how yesterday's wonder went from polar bear pet to polar bear MOTHER...  "Yet, knowing how way leads onto way," (Frost) I am not surprised.  To get into the polar bear mood, thinking about the truths of polar bears, I read the pages and looked at the pictures online, especially at Polar Bears International.  I had to revise line two which originally said, "She eats a seal each morning" when I read these facts at the SeaWorld website.

From the SeaWorld Website

Today I did draft (this is unusual for me) right at the computer.  You can see below how I typed out the numbers of the syllables for each line to help me know how the meter should sound.  You can also see one of the first ideas I had - about holding a ladybug.

I do prefer to draft longhand as ideas usually flow more easily for me with a pen in my hand.  I also like to see the evidence of my work.  Typing is interesting and fast, but the revisions simply disappear and later I am left to wonder exactly how the poem arrived.

We do all have secrets.  And no, my mother is really not a polar bear.  She is a wonderful, wise, kind woman named Debby with regular sized teeth and pretty hair.

The winner of yesterday's giveaway of my book, FOREST HAS A SONG is An Education in Books. Please drop me an e-mail with your address, and I will mail your book to you!  The winners at The Poem Farm Facebook Page giveaway and the Twitter giveaway will be announced in those places.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Manny the Manatee & A Poetry Peek

Manny & Imaginary Friend

by Amy LV

Students - Are you asking yourself, "Why on earth is Amy writing about imaginary manatees?"  If you are, I completely understand.  And I can tell you why.  Yesterday I was scooting around online, and on Twitter, I came across this video from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  After that, I could not get the word manatee out of my mind!  Somehow, pat-a-cake entered my mind too, likely because these two words have the same number of syllables and the same stresses too.

If you're interested in these cows of the sea, you can learn more about manatees at the Mote Marine Laboratory or the Save the Manatee Club.  In fact, if any classroom of poets researches, writes, and shares a manatee poem in the comments of this post or on Twitter (I am @amylvpoemfarm), I think that The Poem Farm might just have to adopt a manatee this weekend.  It will be our manatee to love from afar.

Lately I have been working on revising a couple of new books, so it was fun to switch over to a new imaginary manatee friend.  Perhaps Manny will join us in another wee verse down the road.

Monkey See, Monkey Do 

Bookstore Reading

April 2014

Last month, I had the good fortune to visit Monkey See, Monkey Do Bookstore in Clarence, NY for an April Poetry Celebration.  As part of this celebration, three young writers read their poems about what they love and how they feel.  It was a treat to be a part of that morning, and it is an honor to share their work here today.

Horses

They gallop in the fields,
Running like brave warriors
With riders on their  backs.

Sometimes they stand,
Tall and proud,
Neighing hello to their friends.

Although they love to run free,
They love to rest at home,
Munching on hay.

by Ada, age 8


Monkey See, Monkey Do

Monkey See, Monkey Do
We’ve got tons of books for you.
Come on down,
It’s right through town
Chapter books,
and raptor books,
Books big and small’
and off the wall.
I have been hooked
on books!

by Martha, age 8


Tossed and Turned

Tossed and Turned
Tossed and turned in the waves of life
I am a twig fighting in the current
Nothing will be the same again
Every friend I make digs a hole in my heart
Filling it up with friendship and love
Then comes the horrible day when I am swept away
Tossed and turned in the waves of life
Fighting the current just to survive
“Help Me! Help Me! friends”
You are so kind

by Mira, age 10

Thank you to Monkey See, Monkey Do Bookstore and to these poets for this celebration of poetry.

In other happy news, FOREST HAS A SONG was just named as a '2014 Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts' by the Children's Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English.  I have not yet seen the whole list, but I would like to offer congratulations to another poet friend, Margarita Engle as her THE LIGHTNING DREAMER: CUBA'S GREATEST ABOLITIONIST was also named to this list.

Liz is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Elizabeth Steinglass!  Head on over to her place to taste the various poetic offerings in the Kidlitosphere this week.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Ketchup Man - Poems from Silly World

The Ketchup Family

by Amy LV

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

Students - Today's poem is a silly story, and as with all silly stories, I like thinking about where it came from.  Well, I spent a chunk of yesterday afternoon at my old writing table. I write in many different places, and this table is a favorite as it used to be my husband's grandparents' kitchen table.  When I sat down to write, there was no Ketchup Man in my brain or thoughts.  But after writing in my notebook about the weekend, our children, some writing plans, and autumn, Ketchup Man appeared.  Why?

One Place to Write (and Ketchup Man Draft!)

Photo by Amy LV

Upon reading this verse, my daughter Hope also asked, "Why did you write this poem?" Well, to be honest, I am not sure why.  I had been flipping through KNOCK AT A STAR, by X.J. and Dorothy Kennedy, and it includes some poems by Karla Kuskin, including "Knitted Things" which begins, "There was a witch who knitted things:"  Karla Kuskin was also on my mind because of this most recent wonderful interview of Lee Bennett Hopkins by Renee LaTulippe over at No Water River.

I've been making many hats and handwarmers over the past weeks, and so perhaps Karla Kuskin's poem was in my mind for this reason as well.  Speaking of handwarmers, the winner of my handknit handwarmers giveaway is Matt Forrest Esenwine over at Radio, Rhythm, & Rhyme.  Matt - please send me a message letting me know whether the handwarmers will be for you or for someone else as this will help me determine the size and surprise color!

Our family has many ketchup lovers, but perhaps none as great as my maternal grandfather and my husband Mark's paternal grandfather.  Those wonderful men did love ketchup on scrambled eggs and many other foods too, so Ketchup Man may have grown from my memories and hearing stories of all of the different foods on which they poured ketchup. Then, I just carried the poem and idea out beyond what was truly true.

Many thanks to Ruth Ayres and her children for weighing in on this verse last evening.  I appreciate their expert advice on whether today's verse was funny or simply strange.  "Cuckoo" seems to sum it up!

Eyebrow Hair is another poem at The Poem Farm which begins, "There once was a man...." Beginning a poem with "There once was..." can yield a funny (or simply strange) surprise.  It also gives a verse a story-feeling, right from the start.

"There once was a..."

What are you imagining right now?  Pick up your pencil and follow your own mind...

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.

Visit Sharing Our Notebooks to peek in all kinds of notebooks.

Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest!

I'll Never....in Las Vegas for NCTE12

I'll Never Have a Lion for a Pet

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Today's poem started in a funny way.  The other day I got thinking about knitting a sweater for a starfish and how difficult it would be for a starfish to wear a sweater.  How would she put it on?  This is a funny problem, and one I will never solve.  That whole idea made me think about the many things that I will never do, and the result is this list poem.  (Tip: Hang onto those funny thoughts that cross your mind.  You never know when you will need them!)

Today's poem is dedicated to Moira and her classmates in Ann Marie Corgill's second grade class at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Mountain Brook, Alabama.  Yesterday, Moira posted a beautiful poem about her class to her Kidblog, celebrating their caring and loving community.  Ann Marie is my roommate this week at NCTE, and I was lucky enough to hear her read Moira's poem.  When I realized that my poem was about friendship, I knew it was for "the Corgill kids."

Ann Marie Corgill is the author of one of my favorite professional books, OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE.  If you are a primary teacher, you will not want to miss this gem!

Available through Stenhouse

Keep watching this space for poetry by Moira and her classmates.  Soon they will write a Poetry Peek for The Poem Farm, and I am already looking forward to that day.

Greetings from NCTE12!  It is such fun to be here in Las Vegas this week, learning from inspiring and wise souls.  Last evening, Natalie Merchant serenaded us with her beautiful album, LEAVE YOUR SLEEP, classic children's poems set to music.  It was simply enchanting, and I highly recommend the CD.  You can check out the book trailer below.  I cannot wait to get my hands on this one - it just came out a couple of days ago...

In case you did not see it on The Poem Farm Facebook page, Kate Messner and Joanne Levy are coordinating KidLitCares, a relief effort for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and I have offered two books and a Skype visit as an auction item.  Please visit here for my offering and here for all of the offerings, from Skype visits to signed books to manuscript critiques.  All money goes to help those who need a little assistance in the wake of Sandy.

It is an honor to be a peanut-butter-loving-visitor to Jama Rattigan's blog today, Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Today I join Irene Latham, Douglas Florian, and Charles Waters in sharing a peanut butter poem for National Peanut Butter Month.   My poem, is about something else I'll never do, and it is perfect for this week. I packed peanut butter and homemade raspberry jam into my suitcase for breakfasts in Vegas!

I am still away...working on a new project this month, but I have truly missed Poetry Friday, so I will try to continue Friday posts.

Anastasia is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at Booktalking.  Visit her space to find out about everything happening around poetry town 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!

Bear Behind - Silly Poems!

Oh My!

by Amy LV

 

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

Students - This poem let me play with my silly side!  Everyone has a silly side, and writing is a grand way to set it free.  Sometimes I will just look at a situation and wonder about the silly side of it.  What if there was a bear in the outhouse?  I wonder what potatoes think about?  What would it be like to dance with a tree?

You might wish to try that today.  Just look at something or listen to the sounds around you and ask, "Hmmm...what is silly about this?  What could I pretend could be silly about this?"  Then, once your silly side is freed, take out your pencil and simply follow it.

Here's a writing silly tip: one thing I've learned is that silly is different than crazy.  Silly is fun and quirky, a little offbeat and surprising.  Crazy can be confusing and too wild for me when it comes to writing.

Today's poem is written in quatrains - four lines per stanza.  Did you notice that lines 2 and 4 of each stanza rhyme.  Even bears can rhyme...who knew?

If you love camping and poetry, do not miss Kristine O'Connell George's wonderful book TOASTING MARSHMALLOWS.  You can read the title poem here at The Poetry Foundation.

Available through Amazon

This week, I welcome illustrator Nina Crittenden to Sharing Our Notebooks. Nina shares some fabulous notebook peeks along with her inspiring words, and you will have a chance to be entered into her generous drawing of a book and pocket notebook.

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!

Mechanic - Imagination Poems

Replacing the Bulb

by Amy LV

Students - Sometimes I like to think about the world of animals, to imagine what it's like and all of the secrets that bugs and birds and little mammals have. Do they have mechanics? I imagine not...but it's fun to imagine that they do. Have you ever imagined something silly about the animal world? Such journeys of thought might give you a poem or two!

Dana Schreiner is the winner of the drawing for Ralph Fletcher's A WRITER'S NOTEBOOK over at Sharing Our Notebooks. Dana - please leave your address in an e-mail to me at amy at amylv dot com, and I will send both you and Grace your books this week.

Marjorie is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Paper Tigers.  Head on over to find this week's bounty.

To all who 'like' The Poem Farm on Facebook, thank you!  This week we reached 300, and in honor of all of this poetry-love, I will be purchasing $100 worth of children's poetry books for a women's and children's shelter in Buffalo, NY.  Thank you!

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!

Elephant Toenails & Sleepwriting

Rainbows!

by Amy LV

 

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

Students - I wrote this poem while half-asleep.  It was bedtime (past bedtime) and I had not yet written for the day.  I told myself, "Just get something started!"  And most of this poem is what poured out.  Why on earth?

Sometimes you'll never know.

For a couple of days afterward, I continued to tinker with the words and lines, and then I began to worry that elephants do not even HAVE toenails.  Worse yet, I worried that elephants might not even have TOES! But I knew I'd seen those lemon-slice-sized-half-moons on elephant feet, so I figured they must. I looked it up and found this very detailed article and set of pictures of elephant foot anatomy.  Phew.

The moral of the story is this: try writing while you are half-asleep.  Try it in the evening.  Try it in the morning.  Let your brain work in its foggy state.  Turn off the wide-awake-censor who likes to say, "That's ridiculous!  Don't write that!" and you may discover fresh - or even strange - ideas.  You, too, may find that you have a fancy elephant somewhere in your mind.

And now...for elephant toenail jokes!  I found these at WikiAnswers and felt relieved that my own elephant will be able to hide in a jellybean jar.

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!

P is for PRESCRIBE

 

P is for PRESCRIBE

Photo by Amy LV

Students - When I first pointed to PRESCRIBE, my first thought was to write using all -SCRIBE words. SCRIBE means 'write,' and I thought it would be interesting to write a poem using the words PRESCRIBE, DESCRIBE, SUBSCRIBE, INSCRIBE.... But I changed my mind when I realized that MEDICATION and VACATION are pretty neat rhymes.  Those two words made me write this whole silly poem.

Today's verse is a limerick. It's actually three limericks. I'd only planned to write one, but the story wanted to go longer, so I wrote longer.  (Sometimes you just have to listen to the story!)  Limericks require a lot of tapping on the table to see if they sound right, and because of this, our table might have a little headache right now. 

I have not written many limericks before, but whenever I do, I begin thinking in that form.  Can you imagine meeting a person who always spoke in limericks?

In case you are new to The Poem Farm, this month I am walking, letter-by-letter, through the dictionary, (closed-eyed) pointing to a letter each day, and writing from it. You can read poems A-P by checking the sidebar, and you visit Lisa Vihos and read her accompanying daily haiku at Lisa's Poem of the Week.  

I'm so happy to share that for the past two days, we have also had Christophe sharing haiku in the comments of each post. Go back to N is for NORTHERN IRELAND and O is for OVER to catch up on the latest haiku!

You may also be interested to know that I have categorized 250 poems by both topic and technique - see the top tabs. 250 to go.

If you have not yet taken a peek into Laura Shovan's notebook to see the evolution of her poem, April, please go and read her post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks.  There is a giveaway on that post for her beautiful chapbook, MOUNTAIN, LOG, SALT, AND STONE.  Names will be drawn before Friday!

Tomorrow I am pleased that I will host the 2012 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem! It's just like a dinner, but everyone contributes a line instead of a dish! If you would like to read the poem so far, see today's post with Tara at A Teaching Life.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

M is for MACARONI

MACARONI

Photo by Amy LV

Today is Day #13 of the Dictionary Hike! This means that we are halfway through the alphabet, and honestly, I've been quite happy with most of the letters my finger has pointed to.  This poem is a bit on the silly side, and if you didn't notice, it is to be sung to the tune of YANKEE DOODLE.

Teachers - This week I have been reading Sylvia Vardell's fabulous book THE POETRY TEACHER'S BOOK OF LISTS (watch for words from Sylvia and a giveaway of this book on Friday), and one page stuck in my head.  The page was about writing poems from meters of well-known songs.  For some reason, that page resonated this week, and so when I opened to MACARONI, YANKEE DOODLE popped right up.  There was no other choice.

Students - Sometimes our silly sides get the better of us when we write, and it's clear that this happened to me today!  It's not my favorite poem ever, and I had some struggles with getting the meter right (this song may be forever in my head now), but it sure was fun.  There are times when the experience of writing a poem is better than the poem, and so it was for MACARONI.

Georgia and Hope and I had a lot of laughs trying to sing this yesterday afternoon. In between giggles, I kept saying, "This is a very dumb poem." Georgia laughed back and said, "It's dumb and funny and clever at the same time."  And then we laughed even harder.

Later last night, Henry found me with an old song book from a wagon train vacation we once took.  He'd found the words to "all six verses of YANKEE DOODLE."  So he and I sat on the couch and sang YANKEE DOODLE, POP! GOES THE WEASEL, AMAZING GRACE, and more songs too.  

The laughs and the singing make this poem a good memory in my mind.

Did you ever consider writing a poem from a song?  If you want to try it, I recommend writing out the original song on a facing page of your notebook. Then you can count out all of the syllables and write your own version next to the original, trying to make everything match.  Some parts may get tricky!

If you want to more about the history of the song YANKEE DOODLE, click here.

In case you are new to The Poem Farm, this month I am walking, letter-by-letter, through the dictionary, (closed-eyed) pointing to a letter each day, and writing from it. You can read poems A-L by checking the sidebar, and you visit Lisa Vihos and read her accompanying daily haiku at, Lisa's Poem of the Week.  She and I are Dictionary Hike partners, and we have enough trail mix and water to share.

Yesterday, for Poetry Friday, we heard wisdom from and sang birthday wishes to Lee Bennett Hopkins!  You may still leave a message (until 11:59pm on Sunday night) on that post to enter a giveaway for Lee's most recent anthology, NASTY BUGS. 

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Technological Error - Channeling Amelia Bedelia

Computer Virus

by Amy LV

Students - I am going to call today's poem a Channeling-Amelia-Bedelia-Poem! When I was a little girl, I loved the way Amelia Bedelia took words at face value, mixing up all sorts of household tasks. She did not understand idioms, and her mistakes helped me understand the complexity of language at a young age and in an entertaining way. Amelia may have been my first window into wordplay, and I was charmed by her good-hearted mistakes.

For today's poem, I took a phrase that we hear all of the time and made my little speaker take it literally, treating the computer as one would treat a sick child. And while "computer virus" isn't exactly an idiom, I used the idea from Peggy's "Amelia Bedelia" books and wrote a confusing-meaning poem. You might wish to try this little exercise. Here's a fun list of idioms from Tammy Worcester that you might wish to start with.

You can read about Peggy Parish, the author of the Amelia Bedelia books, here.

World Book Night is coming up on April 23, 2012 the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth and death. I've signed up to be a Book Giver, and I hope I'll be chosen to hand out copies of THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot. Check it out - you may wish to sign up too!

If you like poetry-related crafts, check out The Poem Farm facebook page. I've been finding some neat ones.

And at Sharing Our Notebooks, author J. Anderson Coats is sharing her notebook!

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)

Poetry Friday, Poetry Peek, & Silly Poems!

 

Silly Poems

Students -  we all have different moods, different ways of seeing things and different kinds of days.  Sometimes we're serious, but sometimes we're silly.  Many of this year's poems are silly ones.  Read on, and you will know about my own silly side.

 from January 2011

 from July 2010

from September 2010

 from May 2010

Gum for Free
In My Pocket
Recycling
Gum
Problem Solved
Toe Jam Jam
Eyebrow Hair


What is your silly side?  Writing when you are in a silly mood can lead to fun and giggles!

Many warm welcomes to second grade teacher Dale Sondericker from Marilla Primary in the Iroquois Central School District as he shares how he has helped his students find meaning and joy in poems.

As I approached National Poetry Month in my second grade classroom, I was trying to think of a way to immerse my students into poetry.  I wanted to find an authentic way for my young writers to connect with this genre.  When my family's dairy farm inspired Amy's manure poem, I realized how great it felt to have a personal connection with a poem.  

Somewhere along the way I had read about the power of sharing poetry, so...I planned to give each of my students a "poetry gift."  My goal was to find a special poem for each of my students.  I had to tap into student interests, personalities, and all of the tidbits that I collected from our year-long conversations.

The first poetry gift actually found me.  Neleah is a second grader in my classroom.  She is lucky (or possibly unlucky) enough to have her mom work as a teacher in our building.  One morning, Neleah's mom shared a story with me about Neleah getting in trouble for jumping on the bed.  That afternoon, my daughters had found my Amazon order on the front step.  I had ordered a poetry book, DAYS LIKE THIS by Simon James, to prepare for our upcoming poetry unit.

Available through Amazon

When I was flipping through the poems in this book, I found one titled "Bouncing" by Simon James.  It was a perfect fit.  The next day, I shared the poem with the class and gave Neleah a copy.  

This became an exciting way to share poetry.  The kids looked forward to guessing who each poetry gift was for and why I picked the particular poem, and they loved getting a poem of their own.  It took a bit of work to find a poem to match each student, but I think it will pay off as we begin our poetry unit in May.

Students also jumped in on the poetry hunt.  We built a bulletin board titled, POEMS THAT SPEAK TO ME, and I asked my second graders to contribute three poems from three different authors to our classroom display.  We talked about how poems and writing can be powerful and "speak" to our hearts.  

Students began taking poetry books from the library, the public library, classroom materials, and online resources.  Throughout the month of April, students brought in their poems and shared why each poem spoke to them.  In addition, a picture of each student and a speech bubble illustrating the connection was incorporated into the display.

 Bulletin Board of Student Poems & Connections

Photo by Dale Sondericker

"This poem "This Tooth" by Lee Bennett Hopkins) speaks to me because once I had a wiggly tooth and when I stopped wiggling it, it came out on its very own." - Camryn

Photo by Dale Sondericker

 "This poem ("Enemy" by Kristine O'Connell George) speaks to me because whenever my dog hears the vacuum and the vacuum goes up, he goes up.  The vacuum goes down, he goes down.  Woof!  Woof!  Rrrrr!  It just gets louder.  Ha!" - Mateo

Photo by Dale Sondericker

On Poem in Your Pocket Day, I chose to share a silly poem about a purple cow.  I passed copies of the poem out to students in the hallway as they were going to their classrooms.  I shared the poem with a few of my friends from a K-2 class next door to our classroom.  

A few minutes into the day, the teacher from next door stopped by with a few of her students who wanted to know if I had additional copies.

When my class returned from lunch, we were surprised to discover that the door to our classroom  had been decorated with a herd of purple cows.  Apparently, my friends from next door were inspired by the poem.

 

Surprise Cow Door!

Photo by Dale Sondericker

The best part was that one of our visually impaired friends from this class had also attached a Braille version of the poem.  My second graders were very excited to see and feel a Braille poem.

Braille Cow Poem

Photo by Dale Sondericker

Much gratitude to teacher Dale Sondericker, his students, and their next door neighbor students, for inspiring all of us today with their ways to fall in love with poetry...together.  May we all learn from his generosity, placing "just right" poems in students hands and lives.

Tomorrow will be the final day of revisiting this 2010-2011 year of poems.  After that, The Poem Farm will take a brief May hiatus to discover its new direction.  Please feel free to send suggestions!

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 -   Poems about Poems

April 2 -   Imagery

April 3 -   Poems about Animals We Know

April 4 -   Line Breaks and White Space

April 5 -   Poems from Everyday Life

April 6 -   Free Verse

April 7 -   Poems from Wonders & Questions

April 8 -   Classroom Poetry Peek & Circular Poems 

April 9 -   Poems about Science

April 10 - Rhyming Couplets  

April 11 -  Riddle Poems 

April 12 -  List Poems 

April 13 -  Poems for Occasions

April 14 -  Concrete Poems

April 15 -  Poems about Food

April 16 -  Quatrains

April 17 -  Poems about the Seasons

April 18 -  Alliteration

April 19 -  Poems about Sports

April 20 - Compare/Contrast Poems 

April 21 -  Family Story Poems 

April 22 -  Poems about Nature

April 23 -  Repetition

April 24 -  Poems Inspired by Fairy Tales

April 25 -  Concerns Poems

April 26 -  Mask Poems

April 27 -  How-To Poems
April 28 -  Word Play Poems
April 29 -  Today - Silly Poems

Tabatha is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at The Opposite of Indifference.   Have fun visiting all of the poems on this last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month 2011!

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)