It’s Celebration time! What are you celebrating? Head over to Ruth Ayres’ site to read about other celebrations.
I. A huge thank you to Greg Pincus, author of 14 Fibs of Gregory K, for Skyping with my class…twice. Two groups of my gifted students talked with Greg and learned about the life of an author and how to write Fib poems.
Quotes from their thank you notes:
“Math and poetry are two of my favorite things, so combining them makes my life 10x more enjoyable.” Brooklyn
“You taught us some interesting things about the book like that some things in reality accidentally snuck themselves into your book.” Ian
“I really thought it was nice of you to talk to us, it being 7:00 at your home.” Matthew
“P.S. I would eat 12 donuts before I ate pie (but I still eat it.)” Nigel
“I like how you said humor is the sixth sense because you made a joke out of every question we asked, especially the pie question.” Gage
II. My principal asked my students to write chalk poems on the sidewalk for our Mother’s Day celebration, “Muffins with Moms.” So we had another Chalk-a-bration, and following our Skype with Greg Pincus, we had to make them Fib poems!
III. This week was our annual Gifted by Nature Day when all the gifted students in the parish gather for a day of playing strategic games and making art and poetry with nature. This year a group of middle school students led the art/writing activity. This was a great relief to us teachers. The activity was great, too. The students drew an object from nature, then retraced it on foam board. This pattern was used for a monoprint on colored construction paper. The students really focused on the details in their drawings.
After they made the prints, they wrote 6 adjectives and a metaphor or simile about their print. I told the students these were poems. I thoroughly enjoyed this day watching my students interact with kids from other schools and have so much fun playing and creating. The weather was great, too, so we enjoyed picnicking in the park.
I wanted to take pictures of all of their prints. Here are a few to celebrate!
Reflections on the Teche 
Terrific about the Skype, Margaret & then the follow-up with Mother’s Day fibs, plus I love the way the prints turned out. They are gorgeous. How great that the students created and led the lesson! Happy Mother’s Day!
Great celebrations this week. I love the chalk poems for Mother’s Day. I bought chalk last week and plan to use it the last week of school for the poems we write this week! I love the cards. My favorite is the red one with “The flower is as elegant as a ballroom dancer.” It certainly looks like a dancer! Have a great weekend a Happy Mother’s Day!
I love the chalk poems for moms. I’m always glad to see students in leadership roles. It’s great to see the growth of our students who lead WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) groups in our school.
Love this eclectic celebration. Thank you, Margaret. You see celebrations in everything.
Love all the learning and love of learning that you celebrate, Margaret. How wonderful to Skype and bring Greg into your classroom to inspire your students! PS Hope you have a lovely Mother’s Day tomorrow.
It was great getting to chat with your classes – I got asked questions I’d never heard before, making it well worth getting up early. And please tell Nigel that I’ll gladly meet him for 12 donuts and then a slice pie. Sounds like an excellent plan! 🙂
Love this poetry filled celebration. I especially like how the poetry wasn’t traditional book-paper-only work but nature, chalk, author skype, math, art combination.
One of the points Greg brought up was poetry can be found everywhere. i love trying to find and make poetry wherever I go.
What a wonderful week you’ve had – full of creativity, writing, and celebrating! Beautiful prints! I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
Chalk poems for moms – lovely idea. Enjoyed hearing about your Skype! What fun.
Isn’t Skyping the best? And how fun with the chalk poems.