Poetry Friday, Peek, & Circular Poems!

Today I am excited to welcome fourth graders from the class of teacher Ken Hand and Intermediate Literacy Coordinator Kristie Miner.  They join us from Tioughnioga Riverside Academy in the Whitney Point Central School District in Whitney Point, NY.

Room 203 Students - Tioughnioga Riverside Academy

But first...a quick poem lesson.

Over the past week, I have been revisiting last year's project in which I wrote and posted a new children's poem each day.  For each remaining day of April, I will continue to do so, with a particular focus each day.

Circular Poems

At times, it is difficult to know how to end a poem, so the words end up hanging out in space.  One way to tie things up at the conclusion of a story or poem is to go back to the beginning.  Writers call this "a circular ending" or "going out the same door you came in."  

Sometimes such an ending repeats exactly the same words, and sometimes there is merely a hint of the beginning in the ending, along with something new.  Not sure how to end a piece?  Check to see if you might find a thread to pick up way back in your first line or two.

Here are a few poems from this year, all with circular endings.  What poems or stories do you know with circular endings?  Try writing one sometime.  (I like this type of ending so much that sometimes I must make myself do something different!)
 

from December 2010

 from May 2010

from February 2011

from June 2010

And now...our Poetry Peek!  Welcome to teacher Ken Hand and Intermediate Literacy Coordinator Kristie Miner.  Below, Kristie explains their classroom publishing station.

All year, students in Room 203 at Tioughnioga Riverside Academy have filled the pages of their writers' notebooks with words and illustrations grown from their own ideas and through the inspiration of others.  The discovery of children's publishing links found at The Poem Farm opened students' eyes to the possibility of sharing their work with a much larger audience.

One thing led to another, and soon we had a publishing station up and running in our classroom.  We filled it with all of the resources needed to polish and publish -- mentor texts, poetry anthologies, samples of published work, submission guidelines, contact information, envelopes, publishing paper, pens, markers, crayons, watercolors, and colored pencils.

A Wall of Publishing Possibilities
Photo by Kristie Miner

Baskets Full of Writing Supplies & Mentor Texts
Photo by Kristie Miner

Students have caught the publishing bug, dreaming big, letting their talent and hard work lead the way.

 Tara & Erin Compose Writing & Art

Photo by Kristie Miner

Wonderholic

by Tara

My dream as a writer is to have someone recognize the potential of my writing and that I'm not just a girl who wrote something smart.  I'm a girl who has guts!

Football

by Connor

My dream is to get my poem published in the magazine STONE SOUP.  I hope I get a lot more of my poems published.

Alex Illustrating

Photo by Kristie Miner

Leaves

by Leih

My hopes and dreams of my future poem writing are to get really good and then have my own website (like The Poem Farm).  Once I know that publishing is what I want to do, I will then write an anthology of some of my best poems.  I'll send my draft to an editor, then when I get the changes back, I will get my finished copy done and sent out.  In no time, hopefully I'll have my anthology in stores.  Then I hope to become a big poem writer.  I draw my pictures with words.

Much gratitude and warmth to these students and their teachers for sharing their beautiful work, exciting publishing station, and writing spirit with us on this Poetry Friday!  Please write and let us know if you try some of their ideas.

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 - Today - Circular Poems

Teachers - if your students write poetry from any of this month's online lessons and are inspired to share, please let me know.  With permission, I'd love to host their work here in May!

Visit Madigan at Madigan Reads for the complete Poetry Friday roundup in all its glory!

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Poetry Friday & #156 - Her Voice

I have been writing "poems about poems" for the past few months of Poetry Fridays, and today brings #15.  While I'm not sure how long this line of poems will last, it will continue for as long as it has breath.

For those of you who are new to Poetry Friday, I welcome you!  Poetry Friday is a weekly event in the kidlitosphere.  On this day, children's book bloggers share all things poetic, and we all link to each other so that readers can find an easy menu of what is happening poetry-wise on this day.  Each Friday is hosted by one blogger, and you can see this list on the right hand side of my blog as well as others' blogs.  You can read more about this day and how it evolved over at Chicken Spaghetti.

Here at The Poem Farm, school is starting up again, and with school comes a hopeful bit of freshness into Poetry Fridays.  Today I invite all of you: teachers, students, families, everyone, to share your work here on a Poetry Friday.  Just like last spring, I hope to feature teachers' poetry ideas, students' poems, charts, photographs, publishing ideas, anything poetic! 

Remembering back, the very first of these was a poetry video by Olivia Brumfield and Marcus Middleton, "Poetry From the Soul" contributed by fifth grade teacher Kyle Leonard in Caledonia-Mumford.  We were fortunate enough to visit Country Parkway's "Poem in Your Pocket Day" and to see Susan Kellner's "poet tree".  Students from many schools shared their work, and teachers contributed to the pot of nourishing poetry plans.  Just thinking about this has me wishing to reread these posts, so I promise to link to them all along the right hand side sometime during the fall.

But for today...please consider sharing  a student poem or a writing idea on a Poetry Friday.  I welcome you!  Yesterday I received a note from a kindergarten class in Texas who has something they are already planning to share with us, and I look forward to learning from all of you.  My e-mail address is amy at amylv dot com if you are interested.

You can find today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Susan Writes.

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MyPoWriYe #82 - Summer Morning

First I would like to say hello to any classrooms of students who are following along here. Yesterday I received a lovely e-mail from fourth grade teacher Kristie Miner from the Whitney Point Central School District in Whitney Point, NY.  She said, "I start out every morning by projecting your daily poem on our Smart Board, and then when we gather, students volunteer to read it aloud...it's inspiring us to embrace poetry, both as readers and writers."

Students in Miss Miner's class:  I will now think about you each midnight as I sit at our table with little pads of paper and a black pen!  Thank you for reading; you are why I'm here.

Now, about today's poem.  This past Friday, we went to a bonfire at our friends' home.  In the yard, attached ever-so-intricately to the chains of a swing, glistened a perfect spiderweb.  Once again, I fell in love.  (I always fall in love with spiderwebs, don't you?)  It had to be a poem. 

Students - you may have noticed that today is Monday, but I saw the web on Friday.  That's because sometimes it takes a few days for something to work its way into a poem or a piece of writing.  The idea and the words have to settle inside you a little bit.  

Yesterday these words settled in as our family watched a Buffalo Bisons game in downtown Buffalo, NY.  As is the case lately, I had a little pad of paper on my lap and just jotted words as they came into mind.  Mostly I watched the game, but the whole first stanza came while washing my hands in the bathroom.  

So much of writing is getting (and trusting) an idea, and this is something we can do all of the time.   Watching a game, playing piano, eating our least favorite meal, hugging our cat...as we do these things, we can think, "Hmmmm...what could I write/paint/draw/sing/make out of this?"  Creativity.  

Today put yourself on lookout.  Not for what you'll write today, but for what you'll write tomorrow or the next day or the next day.  And tomorrow, tell your friends in class what you have been noticing in the world, what just might be good ideas for writing or other arts.

If you, too, love wet spiderwebs and would like to learn to photograph them well, this Digital Photography School site will give you 11 tips for How to Photograph a Spider's Web.

Teachers - Professor Sylvia Vardell, over at Poetry for Children, has a wonderful post up this week titled "The Poetry of Science".  Here you will find book recommendations and fabulous ideas for marrying science with poetry, two disciplines that require both curiosity, close observation, and attention to detail.  

This summer I will continue to write poems and offer ideas and book recommendations to student (and adult) poets.  If any teacher-readers would like a poetry-bookmark with the  The Poem Farm's address for your students, please send me an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com.  I will send a printable page with three bookmarks to your inbox.

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Poetry Friday & Poem #79 - Stay Awhile

Today is a beautiful Poetry Friday, with so much to share.  First, I feel fortunate to give you this poem by Emily Hoock of Pinehurst Elementary in Lakeview, NY.  Emily is second grade, and she is lucky to have Becky Carlson as her teacher.  Becky says, "I put a community journal next to our nature area (tadpoles, nests, butterflies, etc.).  The kids love writing in it, and one student wrote a very touching poem about one of our butterflies that died."   Thank you to Emily for allowing us to feel what you felt when you wrote these words:

Butterfly

Nice warm creature

In the wind

On a flower

~whoosh~

The butterfly is dead

All alone in heaven

In Mother Nature's heart

by Emily Hoock

Grade 2

Teacher Becky continues, "One of my favorite things we do in writing is poetry centers.  Georgia Heard's book, Awakening the Heart, has lots of great poetry center ideas.  We spend the first week of our poetry unit doing centers to explore different aspects of poetry.  The kids listen to poetry, search for beautiful language in books, play with words, paint their favorite poetry image, and make observations and comparisons with items from nature.  These centers really spark the students' enthusiasm for writing poetry."

Thank you, Becky and Emily, for your willingness to inspire us here today.  I invite you to leave Emily a comment on her poem.

For the past few weeks, my Poetry Friday poems have been all about poems.  Last week's poem was inspired by kitten Ashley (who gets a home today) with "Here, Poem!"  The week before, I posted a poem about poems talking together, "Poems Talk".  And the week before that brought "Science is Like Writing".  Today this month-long tradition continues.

Yesterday's mailbox held a treat...a galley copy of Lee Bennett Hopkins' Dizzy Dinosaurs which happily includes my poem, "Bathtime".  Below is a sneak peek into this funny book. Illustrator Barry Gott said it was "a hoot to paint", and it's a hoot to read too.  Thank you, Lee, for this opportunity.

Preview from Dizzy Dinosaurs: Silly Dino Poems

a HarperCollins I Can Read! book coming in Spring 2011

Edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins & illustrated by Barry Gott 

(Thank you, Barry, for permission to share this artwork.)

Today's Poetry Friday is hosted by Stacey and Ruth over at Two Writing Teachers.  Mosey on over there for a taste of all things poetic in the children's literature blogosphere.

If you read here regularly, I would be grateful if you would share The Poem Farm's address with any friends, teachers, college professors, or families who you think would be interested.  I am trying to spread the word and am appreciative of any help.

Happy 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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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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Poetry Friday & Poem #30 - Worm's Wish

First, a hearty "Thank you!" to Elaine over at Wild Rose Reader.  She has been drawing names for poetry books all month, and yesterday I won a copy of Every Second Something Happens, with poems selected by Christine San Jose and Bill Johnson and illustrated by Melanie Hall.  What a surprise!  If you leave a comment on Elaine's Poetry Friday post today at Wild Rose Reader, you will be eligible to win a copy of Laura Purdie Salas's book Stampede.

It is the last day of the month, and thus, the last day of NaPoWriMo and my poem-a-day-for-April.  Thank you to everyone who has been so helpful and supportive throughout the launch of this brand new little blog.  Tomorrow I will announce what's next here at The Poem Farm.

Today's poem is about worms.  Two days ago I learned that worms do not have eyes.  Of course, if I had thought about this, I would have already known that worms do not have eyes.  Have you ever seen a worm with eyes?  Anyway, this startled and upset me.  In fact, I kept on repeating, "Worms don't have eyes?  Worms don't have eyes?" until my family made me stop.  Anyway, this poem is for the worms.  Fishermen - do not feel guilty.  We've all gotta eat.

Teachers - if you are looking for a way to "spruce" up  your classroom (pun intended) see here what Mrs. Susan Kellner's class has brightening up their first grade classroom at Harold O. Brumsted Elementary in Holland, NY.  This tree was the cheeriest thing to come through my inbox in a long time.  Below you can read Susan's words about how you can have a poet-tree of your very own.

Poet-Tree

Photo by Susan Kellner

-->Here's how we did it: I typed up all of their poems and printed them out on colored card stock. They used scissors with different types of fun blades to cut them out so the edges were cool. Some of them cut the poems into shapes (a poem about a dog is in the shape of a dog, a fish poem is in a fish shape, etc.). Then they punched a hole in the top, and I taught them how to thread a rubber band through the hole so that it becomes a hanger. Then they hung them on the tree. They love the tree -- it is hard to keep them away from it. They are constantly getting distracted and stopping to read one poem or another. It was a super easy project except for typing up the poems! But now they are all typed up so that we can create a class book of poems, and I know some of the students will use them for their poems in the pocket tomorrow (I made more copies on regular paper).  

Poem in Your Pocket Day: We did have fun for Poem in Your Pocket Day! I spread out a bunch of poems for the students to choose from. Some had brought a poem from home. They gathered around the table reading them and choosing the ones they liked best. They begged me to be able to put a poem in each pocket -- and how could I say no? We spent a very busy and noisy morning reading poems to each other. Mine was my childhood favorite - "Mud" by Polly Chase Boyden.            

Thank you to Mrs. Kellner and her class for cheering all of us up this Poetry Friday.  

Today is indeed Poetry Friday.  You can find everything poetic today at Mary Ann's blog, Great Kid Books.  Head on over there for a complete roundup of this last day of National Poetry Month.  Please stop by tomorrow to see what's next here.

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Poetry Friday, "Poetry from the Soul", & #16

Right now, our son has a 'vacation mohawk', a long-wished-for and one-week haircut.  NaPoWriMo #16 is for all of those mohawk (and mohawk-hopeful) guys out there.  I hope you can read it.

 Vacation Haircut

Photo by Amy LV

Today I am honored to share Poetry from the Soul, produced by fifth grade teacher Kyle Leonard and his students Olivia Brumfield (poet) and Marcus Middleton (ukulele player) at Caledonia-Mumford Elementary in Caledonia, NY.  Kyle is an inspirational teacher who also runs a ukulele club after school, a club which includes most of the fifth grade class.  You can read all sorts of interesting things about the ukulele (I even learned how to spell the word) and hear Kyle's original music here at Ukulelear.  

Writing is power, and when we teach children and ourselves to use language with grace and strength, miracles reveal themselves.  How lucky we are as teachers, acting as midwives to words upon words.

Poetry from the Soul © Olivia Brumfield

Music by Marcus Middleton

Produced by Kyle Leonard

Olivia, Marcus, and Kyle were also generous enough to answer a few questions about their process in creating this work.

How did this project come about?

Kyle:  Each year I try to get student submissions for our BOCES Media Festival, and I knew that Marcus and Olivia had talents that could create something wonderful.  I didn't give them much time to put this video together.  My only input was to suggest they make a video with Marcus playing ukulele while Olivia read some of her poetry; the result was a pretty incredible collaboration.

Would you please tell a bit about how you wrote these poems?

Olivia:  The poems I write come from what I experience. It is a very creative process.  My inspiration is life.  I pay attention to the little things, like once I wrote about the color green.  It's easy to write about the big obvious stuff, but it's a real challenge to write about the little hard-to-see stuff.  Things you have to think about:

          1.  If you're going to rhyme.  I usually do.

          2.  Once you have your idea, what are you going to write?

          3.  Finally, why are you going to write about it?

                That's the challenge.

How did you revise and put your poems together for this video?

Olivia:  Making this magical video was a simple but rushed process.  First I had to get the poems from my writer's notebook.  Then we recorded me saying them with the ukulele in the background.  Then Marcus recorded the video.  After all that, Mr. Leonard's computer magic took over, and it became a success.

What are you writing right now?

Olivia:  At the moment I am writing plain poems.  Recently I wrote a chapter book called Green River.  I think you'd enjoy it.

What was it like to play music with someone's words? Did you play as Olivia read, or was this put together afterward?

Marcus: To play with Olivia's words was really easy because I've been practicing this song for months.  As strange as it is, the song fit perfectly with the words.  The song ended at a good spot.  The song is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  Originally Olivia was going to sing this song, but I think it all worked out perfectly.

What did you have to consider as you shot this video?  Do you have advice for others who might take on a similar project?

Marcus:  You'd think it would be pretty simple to sit on a cart, get pushed by your teacher, and hold a video camera.  Well, as you saw in the video, most of the time the video camera was mostly level.  That was because I kept my arm straight the whole time.  The part that really hurt my arm was when Olivia was writing in her notebook.  My friends and I like to skateboard, and I used to shoot videos of cool tricks, and I got really good at it.  So, one hint is not to make the camera bounce up and down when you walk with the camera.

Do you have plans for other such projects?  Advice for teachers who might wish to try this?

Kyle:  I think a lot of teachers are driven by the desire to create and learn, and there is always something new to learn when it comes to technology.  The free recording software, Audacity, is fun to play with and for podcasting.  I started with podcasting, and then found that Windows Media Maker allows one to upload audio into video - the birth of music videos in my classroom.

This video's combination of poetry and music is a powerful way of paying tribute to the talents that we find in all of our students.  It takes a couple hours to make a three minute video, so that tends to keep the production level low.  But you'll most likely get a gem in the process.

What one word best describes your goal as a teacher?  (Poetry is about economy of words, after all!)

Kyle:  Well, there is a well-known Yeats quote that says, "...Education is the lighting of a fire...", so I think my word would be 'enkindler'.  This word denotes the idea of lighting a spark that could lead others on to do greater things.  If I could do this for kids, I would feel very successful.

Thank you, Olivia.  Thank you, Marcus.  And thank you, Kyle.  What a true delight.

Teachers - please feel free to share any of your students' recent poetry projects with me here at The Poem Farm.  With permissions, I would be tickled to highlight them here on a future Poetry Friday.

Today's Poetry Friday is hosted by Jules at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast.  Here you will find posts, links, and all you could ever wish for caught in today's poetry web!

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If you've had trouble with this in the past, I think I fixed it!)