Celebrate Summer with FOUR Poetry Peeks Today!

We Did It!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Life is chock full of moments to feel happy about.  One accomplishment to feel happy about is a writing piece finished and shared with friends or with readers we do not even know.  Today I am grateful to share all kinds of writing by poets and songwriters of different ages.  Today's poem is for the writers of the pieces you are about to read...and for all of you who celebrate writing with me all year long.  Thank you!

Please sit back and take great pleasure in these works...

First, I welcome First Grade Teacher Mark Kehl of Arcade Elementary in Arcade, NY and his young poet, Colton.

From Mark:

Colton had overheard his parents talk about their previous home.  He is only 8 but is writing about a house that they had for 11 years.  He is an old soul.

Welcome, now, to First Grade Teacher Amanda Urbanski and her poets from Cattaraugus - Little Valley Elementary School in Cattaraugus, NY.

A musical welcome to Music Teacher Heather Holden and Songwriter Zoe Lesika of Lindbergh Elementary in Buffalo, NY.  Zoe approached Heather with the beautiful melody she wrote which turns my "Song" from FOREST HAS A SONG into a real song.  It is beautiful, and I am so grateful to Zoe for writing it and for Heather for reaching out and sharing it.

From FOREST HAS A SONG

Illustration by Robin Gourley

(Click to enlarge)

Beautiful melody by Zoe Lesika

And a hearty welcome to Sixth Grade Teacher Helene Albrecht and her two classes of poets from  Oradell Public Schools in Oradell, NJ.  

From Helene:

During Poetry Month we began over a month long unit on poetry where students were immersed in reading and writing different kinds of poetry.  The children listened to music while writing poetry inspired by paint chip colors. They also wrote color poems by Writing the Rainbow, The Poem Farm's challenge to pick a random crayon from a box of crayons to create poems. 

I introduced my students to blackout poetry using different text. The amazing pictures that were created can be found on our Instagram @la.in.6a.  Many of the ideas for poems, such as list poems and just because poems, came from 30 Days of Poetry, a name many of us ELA teachers use to describe our poetry units.  Among others, I used the following websites as resources: Mrs. McKeown's Thirty Days of Poetry, 30 Days of Poetry, 30 Days of Poetry (II).

At the end of our Poetry Unit, we invited the parents in so that we could share our creations. The children chose one of their favorite poems from their Poetry Notebook and created a slide for our class slide shows which you can view below.

Lucky, lucky us.  Thank you to everybody who was part of these beautiful celebrations.  I celebrate and thank all of you today!   Please, kind reader...leave these writers a kind comment.

If you have not yet visited, Linda Rief has opened her gorgeous notebooks this month over at  my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. Please visit and leave a comment by next Thursday, July 29 to be entered into a giveaway of one of Linda's books.  You can find all kinds of notebook inspiration over there!y

Heidi is hosting today's Poetry Friday by celebrating her students and their over at my juicy little universe.  Visit her warm space for this week's roundup of poetry and friendship.

Happy happy summer to all!  I am on a blogging holiday for July...and maybe longer. During this time, I will complete a writing project for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, draft a proposal with an illustrator, organize the poems already here, and make some jam!  You can still find me at The Poem Farm Facebook Page, Twitter, and Instagram, sharing old poems from the archives and other things I find along the path of summer.  Much joy!

xo,
Amy

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.

Writing about Writing & a Poetry Peek

1979

Photo by Amy LV

Students - One of the best parts of my days is when I have the opportunity to visit classrooms wtih writing workshops.  This week I had the chance to visit a third grade and a kindergarten classroom, both humming with writing and love.  At home here, I write all alone, but I, too, look for people to be a part of my writing circle.  You are these people.  The teachers and students I visit are these people.  My poetry friends are these people.  It really does feel "almost like a hug" when one has the chance to write and share with others.

Receiving a kind note from Jen Westervelt (you'll read words from her in a moment) reminded me that I have written about writing several times, so her note got me searching the files to see what I could find. This draft was a scrap written over a year ago, and I found it in my files. 

This short verse felt worth finishing, even with that weird little last nonsense line.  I didn't want to finish it in the spring of 2013, but this week I did.  So, thank you to Jen and to Lillie and Willow and all of the students in this class for inspiring me - through your words - to comb through my digital files.  I was happy to find today's small poem and hope that others in writing workshps know the feeling I describe.

Being a writer-packrat can be very helpful.  Don't throw those notebooks away or erase those files.  Someday, down the line, you might find a scrap that you wish to revisit.  Look through your old notebooks sometime, maybe even today.  Surprise your new self with the interesting thoughts of your old self.  Take an old piece and make it new.

Today I am very happy to host sixth grade English teacher Jen Westervelt, from Sherburne-Earlville Middle School in Sherburne, NY.  Many grateful welcomes to Jen as she introduces her students.

As part of Scholastic's TRAITS WRITING PROGRAM, my sixth grade students have been exploring the connections between the Writing Process (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing...) and the Writing Traits (Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Voice, Presentation, and Conventions).  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poem,"Writing Time," served as inspiration for these poems.    

Poems

Poems are like Paintings

Except telling a story through words

You might stare and be waiting

For great inspiration to come

You might get an idea one day

While walking down the street

It might start “hello” or  “far far away”

Or even great George the giant

Use transition, organization, ideas, and voice

These are all important in poems

There might be a sentence like “there is Boise”

Or “Hi my name is Bob”

This is all about you

The poem you write

And the ideas you use

If you do what you like

Could be poems about bikes

There’s no way you’ll  ever fail

Lillie Ashton

Writing is Life

Writing is life, It's naturally nice to write about life.

Like when your kindhearted friend sends you a letter, so 

you can feel radiant and beautiful and somewhat better.   

Writing is a source of showing you 

care about your friends that are everywhere and anywhere.So,

writing is life,

you can write to anyone even if he/she lives in the 

middle of nowhere.

Willow Austin  

Thank you very much to Jen, Lillie, and Willow for joining us with these thoughtful words and lines.  It is a joy to have you all here at The Poem Farm today.

Students are often our best teachers, and I continue to be thankful for the young writers from the Western New York Young Writer's Studio who are currently sharing their notebooks over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks.  If you have not yet taken a look at these students' notebooks, I encourage you to come on over and get some new ideas for your own notebook.  Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in a giveaway of a book and a notebook too!

Jama is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at the delicious Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Head on over for tea, croissants, and poems.  What could be better?

Please share a comment below if you wish.