Can You Spot the Differences?

If you are a new visitor to The Poem Farm, via NCTE or elsewhere, I welcome you!  This blog began back in 2010, when I decided to write and post a new children's poem and mini lesson each day for a year. It was such fun that I continued on posting regularly, usually 3 poems and lessons per week. The archives of The Poem Farm are searchable (above) by both technique and topic, and I welcome students and teachers to share their own work too.

Thank you for visiting!

-Amy

Mark & Hope...Years Ago

Photo by Amy LV

Students - I found this old poem today, and I at first was going to just share it with you.  Then, reading it over and over again, I realized, "I can make this better."  It's an old poem, maybe from 2002, and seeing it ten years later gave me some perspective.

Below you can read the poem both ways, and then talk with a partner about what you notice is different.  Which do you think is better?  It is important for writers to revisit our work, to always ask, "How can I make this better?"  Maybe I will revise this poem again in 2022!

2002

2012

Today's poem is about a place I love.  I often write about favorite places because when you write about a favorite place, you get to keep that place with you forever...in words.  This is really just a little list poem about some of my favorite things at the shore, and I wanted the poem to have a little of a back and forth feeling, just like the tide.  Did you notice that the first two and last two lines of this poem are the same?  It's a circle poem!

I am still away...working on a new project this month, but I wanted to swing by with a little poem that is making me smile at this chilly time of year.  Here in WNY, the snowflakes are just starting to fly, just a wee bit, and this makes me think of the shore.

If you will be at NCTE this week, please know do visit our Poetry Panel, full of Poetry Friday friends, as we celebrate Poetry Friday and THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY!

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!

Blue Moon - A Goodbye/Hello Poem

Blue Moon

by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Astronaut Neil Armstrong died this week.  Because I was born in 1970, I do not remember watching Neil walking on the moon (he was the first person to ever do this!) but I have thought about him a lot, especially this week as I listened to npr and looked up at the sky.  A private man, Neil Armstrong did something that only 12 people have ever done.

Last night was a blue moon, the second full moon in August.  And in Western New York, it was a stunner, perfectly bright and clear. So beautiful that our children told me stories they've learned in school of "the rabbit in the moon" and "the grandmother in the moon."  Thinking about Neil's death and this month's blue moon, I began wondering if the moon chose to honor Neil's memory, to welcome Neil with a second full appearance this August.

Today's poem grew from a blending of current events and natural events and my questions.  It is also a poem of goodbye.  People often write poems to honor another's memory; this is one way to heal.

Thank you to my daughter Georgia, for it is she who said, "I love it when the moon looks like a dime!"

To read all about Apollo 11, check out NASA's wonderful student features.  To learn more, check out this NASA page.  If you would like to learn more about blue moons, check out Info. Please.  And I love to listen to Nanci Griffith singing Once in a Very Blue Moon.

Many congratulations to Theresa (Looking for the Write Words)....winner of last week's giveaway of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY (see sidebar)! Today is my last giveaway of this new book.  To win, please just leave a comment on today's post, and one commenter - to be announced next Friday - will receive a copy of this new anthology.

In other Poetry Friday news, you can now apply to become a Poetry Friday Ambassador.  This sounds like a lot of fun to me, and there is more information here!

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I welcome author Peter Salomon and congratulate him on his forthcoming book, HENRY FRANKS. Stop by and read about his first notebooks and enter yourself in the giveaway of his new book, coming out next week!

Sylvia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Poetry for Children. May your weekend and school year be full of poetry.  Beginning on Monday, I will be back and posting here 3x/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!

Dear Students, & A New Book!

Wildflowers

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Teachers and Students - Welcome to your new school year!  I have been thinking about you, about my own children and the new schools I'll be working in and this school year ahead.  It is indeed a type of meadow, full of surprises and growing, beauty and adventure.  I can't wait to see what new book titles will land in my notebook and what new friends I will make.

I guess you could call today's poem "a gift poem" since I wrote it with all new school-year-hikers in mind.  We often write with a special audience in our heads, and today my special audience is you.  

And now....a book announcement!  I am so pleased to share this brand new book with you today.  It's THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY, compiled and edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.  With both a Common Core and TEKS edition, this book introduces the idea of breaking for poetry each Friday.

From Janet and Sylvia -

In 2006 blogger Kelly Herold brought Poetry Friday to the “kidlitosphere.” Much like “casual Friday” in the corporate world, there is a perception in the world of literature that on Fridays we should relax a bit and take a moment for something special. Why not bring the Poetry Friday concept into your classroom and take five minutes every Friday to share a poem and explore it a bit, connecting it with children’s lives and capitalizing on a teachable moment? Pausing to share a poem—and reinforce a language skill—on Poetry Friday is an easy way to infuse poetry into your current teaching practice. 

Just in time for the 2012-2013 school year, get your copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. It's a new anthology of 218 original, previously-unpublished poems for children in kindergarten through fifth grade by 75 popular poets from Jack Prelutsky and J. Patrick Lewis to Jane Yolen, X.J. Kennedy, Margarita Engle, Nikki Grimes, Kathi Appelt, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Georgia Heard, and many more. (See a complete list of our impressive poets at poetryfridayanthology.blogspot.com.)

The book includes a poem a week for the whole school year (K-5) with Common Core curriculum connections provided for each poem, each week, and each grade level. Just five minutes every “Poetry Friday” will reinforce key skills in reading and language arts such as rhyme, repetition, rhythm, and alliteration. 

I am tickled to have five poems in this anthology, and thrilled to have a few copies to give away!  For the next three Fridays, by leaving a comment, you will have an opportunity to win your own copy of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY.  Please just leave a comment on this post to be entered in the first drawing.  The winner will be announced next Friday, August 24...at which time I will begin a new drawing for this book!

If you don't win...please check it out on Amazon and consider ordering a copy for yourself or your child's teacher.

On my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, it is an honor to host naturalist and teacher Bill Michalek and his notebooks this week.  Please stop by and read his thoughtful post and also enter your name in the giveaway for one of Bill's favorite books.  If you or your students keep notebooks, please remember that Sharing Our Notebooks is a blog to inspire just that work by highlighting all types of writer's and artist's notebooks.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading.  Enjoy the treats!  Happy Poetry Friday!

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!