today - Word List Poems

Canoeing at Sprucelands

Photo by Amy LV

I am still at Sprucelands riding camp with our children, and this week found canoeing words sloshing through my brain.  Walking up and down the hills, watching children giggle-paddle around the lake, I began writing in my head.

In Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury explains how listing words, especially nouns, sometimes helps him to generate story plots.  This week's poem is a list of words, dropped one-at-a-time into a poem.

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 Students - favorite poems stay with us.  And one of my favorites is Lee Bennett Hopkins' poem "Good Books Good Times" from his anthology with the same title.

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Lee begins his poem :

Good books.

Good times.

Good stories.

Good rhymes.

He ends with these lines:

Good stories.
Good rhymes.
Good books.

Good times.

Can you see how Lee's last four lines are the same as his first four, only switched?  When I began writing my poem for today, I did not know how it would turn out.  I only knew one thing:  I wanted the first and last two lines to switch.  I knew this because I have been carrying a favorite poem around in my head for a while.

You might want to try this - write a list of words and then move them around.  Play with rhyme.  If you can't find rhymes you like, try some different words.  For me, such an exercise feels like skipping stones across a lake.  Some jump easily and sound good, and some sink to the bottom and don't stay in the poem  Either way, it's fun to throw both stones and words around.  

Do you have a favorite poem in your head?

Libby is hosting today's Poetry Friday buffet over at A Year of Literacy Coaching.  May you find some new and old favorites on the menu.

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Poetry Friday & Poem #65 - Poems Talk

Today I feature three poetry books that read well as narratives.  It's fascinating to see the different types of poetry collections out there:  anthologies grouped by theme, collections of a style of poetry such as mask or concrete, books which feature a variety of poems by one poet...

Most of us don't read poetry aloud often enough.  But these volumes of sparkling jewels deserve a place in our laps too, every day.  Here are three poetry books we can read front to back, just like stories. While each poem stands strongly on its own, if we read the poems in these books in order, we come to know characters more deeply with every page- turn.  Three such poem-story books I admire are:  Oh, Brother! by Nikki Grimes, Hummingbird Nest by Kristine O'Connell George, and River Friendly River Wild by Jane Kurtz.  All three of these offer us beauty and understanding through both word and image.  I recommend each very highly for every family or classroom collection.

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Oh, Brother!, by turns poignant and joyful, takes us on the journey of two new stepbrothers negotiating this tricky territory, each trying to make his way in a blended family while holding onto his own sense of identity.  Nikki Grimes captures boy feelings and talk sensitively, and readers come to identify with and care for both.  Excellent for students in any kind of family, this book also demonstrates that poem ideas can sprout from difficult times.  Oh Brother! was vibrantly illustrated by Mike Benny.

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In River Friendly River Wild, illustrated by Barry Moser, we follow the story of a hummingbird building her nest and raising her young.  We watch a girl, pets, and the especially this little bird very closely.  Written in journal style, day-by-day, Kristine O'Connell George paints tiny wonder-portraits of this "hummer" at work.  In her extensive author's note, Kristine explains that she really did keep a journal when hummingbirds built a nest in the ficus tree on her California porch.  Those journal entries led to this book, a great connection for young writers about how our notebooks feed our published work.

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In this book, a young girl and her family experience the effects of flooding after the Red River flooded Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1997.  The image-full poems give readers a window into the emotions and realities a flood leaves behind.  Jane Kurtz experienced the Red River flood herself and also garnered a 2001 Golden Kite award for this collection.  This book was softly and evocatively illustrated by Neil Brennan.  For those who have experienced natural disaster and for those who have only heard about it on the news, this book opens all of our hearts and is very timely in the wake of recent events.


Reading poem-story books aloud allows us to tell a story and also to reap the gifts of many small packages of writing, each poem structured and layered with carefully-chosen words, each a published piece.  As we read many poems about one family or character or animal, we build a multi-faceted relationship with the characters, just as when we read a narrative book.

Do you have a favorite such book, a poem book which can be read front to back as a narrative?  If you do, please leave the title in the comments, and I will share the list in an upcoming post.

Head on over to The Cazzy Files for everything Poetry Friday!

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Poetry Friday & MyPoWriYe # 58

When I taught fifth grade, our class studied light each year.  Every group had a cardboard box with holes at the end, a light bulb inside, color filters, and prisms.  We'd follow a series of experiments, and then we just played around.  Much of our learning came from this playing around, and I still think about the beauty of invisible colors becoming visible through a prism.  This idea got me reflecting on how poetry makes the invisible visible too!

Today I feel fortunate to welcome teacher Faith Catarella and her fifth graders from Pinehurst Elementary in Lakeview, NY, with a few of their poems.  In these you will notice serious work toward imagery, careful meter, and a stretch-of-self-and-words, just what we hope for.

Camping

by Emily Scarsella

I feel the grass tickling my toes

I see the kids playing in the open field

I smell the smoke from the burning fire

I taste the gushy burnt s'more

I feel the fire's warmth tickle my toes

I see the stars sparkle in the night

I hear the parents talking by the fire

I hear the birds peep good night

No Matter

by Zachary Morrisey 

A dream is a dream, no matter how you dream.

An eye is an eye, no matter what is seen.

A dog is a dog, no matter how it barks.

A pen is a pen, no matter how it marks.

A fire is a fire, no matter how it burns.

A job is a job, no matter how it earns.

A plant is a plant, no matter how it grows.

A day is a day, no matter how it goes.

A dream is a dream, no matter how you dream.

An eye is an eye, no matter what is seen.

Vampire

by Nicholas Damstetter

Feel the coldness of his breath,

And prepare yourself for your death.

He'll bite a strong bite on the neck,

Even while relaxing on your deck.

They come around every night,

So be prepared for all its might.

You're never safe, even at home,

Especially at night when you're alone.

For the Vampires will come at night,

So be prepared for all their might.

Here are a some poetry teaching tips from fifth grade teacher Faith Catarella:

1.  The room needs to be silent so that the students can go off into their own worlds and focus on their subjects.

2.  The students must feel comfortable with their abilities.  They must know that poetry doesn't have to rhyme to be good. (They get stuck on rhyming poetry.)

3.  It helps to use mentor poems as models for students' writing.

One strategy that I use to help students generate ideas is to have everyone sit in a circle and say one thing that they could write about.  While we do this, all students hold their writer's notebooks on their laps.  When they hear ideas they like or ideas that trigger other ideas, they write.  For example, I might start with something simple like "ice cream" to show the students we can think simply.  We go around the circle about three times, and then they go off to write.  The students will say anything and everything!  Their lists are huge!

Thank you so much, Faith and class, for sharing your work and ideas with us here today.  I continue to welcome teachers and students with poetry or thoughts to share.  Simply leave your information in the comments if you would like your classroom poets and poetry work to be featured here on a future Poetry Friday.

Since it's baseball season, here's a neat picture book version of Ernest L. Thayer's great poem Casey at the Bat.   This 2001 Caldecott Honor Book was illustrated by Christopher Bing.

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If you have not visited Wild Rose Reader this week, do check out Elaine's fantastic list of Children's Books for Summer Reading. 

Today's Poetry Friday is hosted today by Tricia over at The Miss Rumphius Effect.  Hop on over there for the full roundup of poetry in the blogosphere today.

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Two Poems & 50th Day Book Drawing

When I was in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade in the 1970s, I went to a Catholic school in Vestal, NY, named Our Lady of Sorrows School.  We learned to care about people there (you can read about teacher Mr. Fron over in the left column of WBFO commentaries), and we were taught to say a "Hail Mary" prayer whenever we saw or heard a racing ambulance.  Somehow, waiting in the hardware store parking lot for my husband to come out with new pipe fittings, this old wisdom from my childhood teachers came to mind.

Students - can you think of something you have been told to do by a parent, a teacher, a friend?  Maybe it's something you agree with, and you always do it.  Maybe it's something you disagree with, and you never do it.  No matter - advice from others is poetry food.

Here is another poem, written during my son's baseball game last night. Where did it come from?  I don't know.  Maybe it came from the starlings nesting in our roof.

Today is Day #50 of my poem-a-day-for-a-year project.  To celebrate, I am holding a drawing for Eileen Spinelli's lovely poetry book, Feathers: Poems about Birds. 

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If you leave a comment today or tomorrow, with your city, state/province, and country, you will be in the running to win this book.  The winning name will be drawn Friday at midnight and announced on Saturday morning.  Teachers are welcome to enter on behalf of your classes.  I'm curious to know who and where you are...

Here on Day 50, I'd also like to thank all of you who have shared The Poem Farm with your colleagues or friends - I'm grateful!

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MyPoWriYe #48 - Gum for Free

Yesterday I wrote about how ideas are inside all of us, how we just need to climb ladders to pick them.  'Strange thing is that you never know where those ladders will end up.  When my family read this verse, one child said, "That's gross!"  One said, "I love that poem!"  And one just rolled her eyes heavenward, shaking her head with pity. 

This week over at The Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia's Monday Poetry Stretch invites us to write poems about colors.  You can read the offerings (and add one of your own) in the comments.  I wrote and sent a poem about the color brown.  

Why brown?  Well, once while driving down a highway, looking out at the fields, my husband told me how much he loves the color brown.  At first I was surprised, but ever since that day I have come to see beautiful browns in all of nature.  Especially this time of year, Western New York is full of old cornstalks and freshly-plowed fields.  Thank you, Mark, for opening my eyes yet again.

Speaking of gorgeous colors, this classic 1973 book by Arnold Adoff, the first children's book to celebrate an interracial family, takes joy in all human colors through one family's deep  love.

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MyPoWriYe #41 - Homework Spot

This week, Tricia's "Monday Poetry Stretch" over at The Miss Rumphius Effect asks us to write a poem about homework.  At first, all I could think of was the very funny "Homework, Oh Homework" by Jack Prelutsky.  Then I remembered doing homework when I was a girl, remembered my pretty white desk, and remembered how I never sat there to solve math problems or write reports.  These memories walked me right into "Homework Spot" below and also posted over at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Students - if you are ever given a topic for a poem, it's a bit like being given free entry into a house.  You just have to figure out how to get in, which way makes most sense for you.  Lately our cat Firepaw has been sneaking into the basement through a window, and suddenly he's a house cat for a few minutes.  Firepaw has found his way into our house, just as we each need to find our way into the house of a poem.  Will we enter a poem through a main door or through a hole in the basement?  It's up to each of us, every time we sit to write.

Teachers - here is a beautiful Washington Post article about the power of one teacher's belief and enthusiasm. Thank you to Sara Lewis Holmes of Read Write Believe for pointing the way to this inspiring story for teachers and parents too.

It is Children's Book Week this week, from May 10-16; thank you to Aline at Paper Tigers for the heads-up and information.  If you'd like to find book celebration ideas, printable bookmarks, and dates for future Children's Book Weeks, check here.

To help you celebrate this week, read a wonderful book about...a book!  I highly recommend this one for Children's Book Week and always.  Thank you, Gayle Kerman, for sharing another whimsical title with me.  (How thankful I am to have a librarian as a friend.)

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Poetry Friday & 10% Through MyPoWriYe

Today marks 10% of my year to write and post a daily children's poem.  It is fascinating how anything can become a habit (flossing, cleaning the sink, writing daily poems....)  

Poem number 37 was partially inspired by Lewis Carrol's "The Walrus and the Carpenter", in which my daughter Hope recently played an oyster.  It was also partially inspired by Lisa Westberg Peters' poem "Obituary for a Clam" from her marvelous book, Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up.

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Last Friday was Poem in Your Pocket Day at Country Parkway Elementary in Williamsville, NY. 

Poems in Pockets at Country Parkway Elementary

Photo by Bobbi Hopkins

Bobbi Hopkins, third grade teacher, recounts the festivities:

It was a phenomenal day at our school on Poem in Your Pocket Day!  It was pockets, pockets everywhere in the halls of the school.  Every student displayed a decorated pocket and enclosed within it a treasured poem.  Classes made sure to roam the halls to reach into pockets and take out a poem to read and enjoy.  Throughout the day, there were random blasts of poetry over the PA - students reading poems of their own creation or favorite poems of choice.  A talented group of staff members did some "roaming poem-ing" by stopping in each classroom to recite and perform some poems.  Older students paired with younger students to read and compose poetry.  This was an event we will be sure to hold again next year!

I felt honored to attend Country Parkway's first Poem in Your Pocket celebration, especially when I was met at the door by third-grader Skyllar C., who wrote this poem.  Hopefully Skyllar's dance teacher will be lucky enough to read her words too.

Dancing Queen

I'm now a dancing queen,

So I can't wait to make a dancing scene.

I love being a dancing queen -

It is my biggest dream.

When I dance with my feet,

I can feel the powerful beat.

I dance everywhere I go,

Even in the ice cold snow.

I love to dance -

     and also prance,

I love to dance...no matter what.

Skyllar C., grade 3

May we, like Skyllar, see poetry as a way to celebrate great love...

Happy Poetry Friday!  Head on over to Random Noodling with Diane to learn about all sorts of poetry happenings in the blogosphere today.

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Poem #33 - Two Worlds of Words

Last Friday at Country Parkway Elementary in Williamsville, NY, I was once again struck by the beautiful children who speak and understand two languages.  During my exchange year in Denmark, I came to appreciate this gift of two tongues.  I never became fluent in Danish, but 23 years later, a Danish word still occasionally pops into my head and I struggle to find a perfect English equivalent.  What would it feel like to have two complete worlds of words inside, sometimes in their own spaces but sometimes dancing together?

There are a few books about which I can say, "Just trust me...order it!"  The Arrival, by Shaun Tan, is one.  This wordless book about the immigrant experience for older students and their families is breathtaking. 

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Poem #25 & Final TV Turnoff #7 - Boredom

Today is the final day of TV  Turnoff week.  Last Monday, I had only written one stanza of this poem.  Now, to end the week, I've added a second stanza. 

 

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl's Oompa Loompas sing a song about poor Mike TeeVee (who turns into a television), and Roald Dahl Fans gives us the complete lyrics to this song.  Here's a bit of the Mike TeeVee song below.

What used the darling ones to do?

'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:

THEY...USED...TO...READ! They'd READ and READ,

AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!

Here's a YouTube bit of this Oompa Loompa movie song.

And here's the classic book if you haven't read it aloud in a while.

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I'm wondering if alternatives to TV would be a good poetry collection...what do you think?

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