El día de los niños/El día de los libros!

Celebrating Children's Day/Book Day at Burr!

Poems, Red Carpets and Sidewalk Chalk: The Pefect Day

Today was the BEST BEST BEST BEST day.  Combining Poem in Your Pocket Day with the first annual Zervas Red Carpet Book Trailer premiere was just magical.  Highlights included poetry slams in all 2nd and 3rd grade classes, teachers going around the lunch table and EVERY single person sharing the poem in their pocket, seeing the "Ask me about the poem in my pocket" stickers on almost ALL of the students, hearing the principal exclaim, "Two students have asked me about my poem and school hasn't even started yet!" and then seeing him later in the morning in a tuxedo, playing Ryan Seacrest, interviewing the "movie stars" on the red carpet. And I can't forget the end of the day when 5th graders went outside to write their poems in sidewalk chalk on the playground!  Special thanks to all who came to support, and to the 4th grade classroom who were our special guests!  I'm already rambling, I'll let pictures tell the rest.

Preparing my credentials for the day...

A poem one of my 3rd graders shared today - it was amazing.

Mr. Griffin welcomes Mr. O'Rourke's class to the red carpet and preps them for "star sightings"!

Our debonair interviewer with hard-hitting questions...

Students took the initiative to make awards for each other!

This poem, written by the scribe's twin sister had a twist ending...

Days like today are why I believe I have the BEST BEST BEST job ever.

"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!

On the first day of Poetry Month...

What a day!  No April Fools for me...I was lucky enough to see Mo Willems read his newest books Listen to My Trumpet and The Duckling Gets a Cookie (and I got to pick up some signed books for the library!)

First things first, the packed theater sang Happy Birthday to the Pigeon.  That stinker (as Mo Willems calls him) turned 9 today!

Then there was the photo shoot, before Mo encouraged everyone to put down their phones, hold the hand of the kid next to them and ENJOY and EXPERIENCE the moment.

He also went on to field questions, with the answers geared to adults as well as kids - like this gem:  (The question was where he got his ideas.)  "An idea is not an animal you hunt, it's a seed that you plant. And then sometimes you cut it down and burn it for profit."

Finally, we waited in line for him to sign some books.  He was friendly and very much a fan of teachers and librarians.  He is fast with his Piggie and Pigeon drawings!

Also, it being the first day of poetry month, I settled down with a stack of books that I will be sharing in different ways in the library this month.  I am so excited for the poetry madness that is about to begin!