"I heard a poem, I almost cried..."

Haiku-of-the-day: April 9, 2012 (I've been tweeting my #haikuoftheday each day in April, and will compile them at the end of the month)

Children carefully
crafting creative combos
of words: POETRY!


We finished Love That Dog in 4th grade library today.  There were tears (luckily, not my own!), though a student did call me out on a wavering voice at one point.  We talked about connections to the poems, the emotional response most of them had at listening to My Sky by Jack, and then they worked briefly on writing some poems of their own.  One student wrote a poem about her sadness listening to My Sky.  I think I may have stopped her mid-poem, but she was happy to share.

Interestingly enough, many of them were struck by the contradiction of the sadness of Jack's poem and then his use of the phrase "smooshed in the street" when writing to Walter Dean Myers.  We talked about why Jack (and Sharon Creech :) may have decided to use words in that way.  There were many thoughtful responses!

I really can't wait to show them the Teachingbooks.net video of Sharon Creech and Walter Dean Myers reading from the Love That Dog Reader's Theatre.

First graders also had a chance to work on some acrostic poetry.  We wrote class poems about library (what better way to celebrate Poetry Month AND School Library Month!) and then they tried their hand on acrostic poems of their choice.

There were many examples for our Celebrate Poetry wall!

Books to borrow, read them tomorrow...

Haiku (review) of the day: (inspired by emilyreads.com)

Like Charlotte, Ivan
artfully fights for his friends.
Some (mall) Gorilla.







Today in the library:  Kindergartners learned about types of poetry from Annie and Moby on BrainPOP Jr.  We then took that knowledge and applied it by co-writing an acrostic poem about the library! (I will write these up on chart paper and they will help me to decorate them for display in the library.)

                                    

First graders talked about preparing for Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 26th!) and read from these books:

Speaking of reading books tomorrow - I seriously need to take a look at my TBR pile - it's getting out of control. And by pile, I mean books strewn all over my car, nightstand, dining room table, kindle, etc.  I need a sorted priority list.  Before that, I'll just start with Addie on the Inside - in honor of poetry month!

Metaphors be with you!

Let Poetry Month begin!

poetry month starts
with a whisper, a rhyme, a
cascade of word song

Up first, I started Love that Dog with 4th graders (most of whom have never read it before).  I read the poems Miss Stretchberry uses (in the back of the book) FIRST, so that the students have some background on what Jack is talking about.  We made it up to March 1st today.  They were begging me to continue. I was already getting a little choked up while reading it aloud (I read it yesterday in anticipation and was fine - there is something about sharing it out loud that gets me!)  Their attention was complete.  I loved the guffaws over the first page ("I don't want to/because boys/don't write poetry. Girls do.")

With 1st and 2nd graders, I shared funny, silly poems, rhyming poems, haikus, and where to FIND them in the library.  Got a poem emergency? Find 811!

I can't WAIT to start creating poems with my students.  Here are the books that were featured today in the library!

Poem in Your Pocket Day = SUCCESS!

Zervas Elementary School was buzzing with students and staff stopping in the hallway and classrooms, pulling folded and crumpled pieces of paper from pockets (there was even a 1st grade girl who CONSTRUCTED pockets for her pants that were pocketless). The poems were read, shared and generally enjoyed by all. Grades 1, 2 and 3 were able to share their poems during library time and 4th graders illustrated their chosen poems in art. 5th graders helped to read a poem over the intercom - and they will continue this every morning after vacation to wrap up poetry month. Kindergarteners saw their acrostic poems decorating the library. All and all - a HUGE success! Here's an outstanding example of a student who created her own poem for the day:

There's a poem in my pocket

by Maggie

There's a poem in my pocket

And I don't know when to read it

There's a poem in my pocket

And I don't know when to feed it

There's a poem in my pocket

And I don't know what to do

There's a poem in my pocket

Can I give it to you?

There's a poem in my pocket

And I'm very confused

There's a poem in my pocket

And it has not been used

There's a poem in my pocket

And it doesn't really fit

There's a poem in my pocket

And this is it.

Library Poets

Inspired by a post at 100scopenotes.com, I challenged the 5th grade students to come up with their own book spine poems. I am duly impressed with the results! We even got to use ELMO in a new way by taking pictures at different angles. The best part for me was hearing all of the possibilities being considered, shared and enjoyed around the library. Take a look at our poets!