Poetry Friday round-up with Sylvia at Poetry for Children
If you are a teacher, here is another poetry book to add to your collection. I am a big fan of Laura Purdie Salas. She has a good voice for children. This new book is small and rich. I have been doing an activity every few days or so with my students. The activities only take about 15 minutes of your writing time, and yet they build strong poetry muscles.
I recently listened to a podcast, On Being, about creativity in which the neuropsychologist Rex Jung suggests that the way to creativity is through practice. What this suggests to me as a teacher who wants creativity to stay in my curriculum is I must model the practice daily.
Laura’s book introduced my students to the author Thanhha Lai who wrote Inside Out & Back Again. I loved that book, but never thought of using it as a mentor text for writing poetry. Using a short 4-lined verse from the book, we see imagery and the craft move of showing, not telling. How can you show an emotion without using the emotion word?
I am sharing two poems today, one from Jacob (2nd grade) and one from Vannisa (6th grade). Each of these students wrote about their younger sisters using imagery to describe an emotion. We talked about how the words you use not only describe an image, but they also inform the tone (emotion).
When I re-read the pages to prepare for this post, I realized that Laura does not use the words imagery and tone in her “Your Turn” writing activity; however, through this simple poetry lesson, I can tell the students that they are practicing creative moves that writers make.
My sister’s face lights up
like a nightstand lamp.
You can tell by her eyes,
though they don’t crinkle,
that she is smiling.
Her toothless smile giggles.
My sister’s tiny smile.–by Vannisa, 6th grade
My sister’s face lights up!
My baby sister’s face
opens up
like a confetti egg.
I appeared out of nowhere
and said, “Rahhh!”
She wants me
to do it again.–Jacob, 2nd grade
These are beautiful, Margaret. And Laura’s book sounds wonderful, too. It’s just great that you’re already in the swing of writing poetry. I’m happy you shared.
These poems are so sweet and happy, Margaret. Your students’ writing is always impressive. They are so lucky to have you as their teacher. Thank you for highlighting Laura’s book. I’m off to order it now.
Writing poetry is so much fun that some days I feel guilty about it. Can learning be this much fun?
Margaret, I love how you used Laura’s work to inform your students’ writing experience this week. I must read her book to bring the ideas to my writing workshop for teachers this year. Vanessa’s first image is such a charming one and representative of the photo she paired with it. Do you think she would like to place the combination in my gallery, Summer Splashings?
I’ll talk to Vanessa about sending her poem. The image is not hers. It’s Jacob’s sister.
Please let me know if you and/or your students will send in a digital inspiration for Summer Splashings. I hope so.
I can’t wait to get my hands on this book. I love how it guided your teaching.today
Jacob’s delight in his sister is perfectly captured in this little poem. It touched me.
I just sent in an order for Laura’s book. All the photos I’ve seen show someone else’s name on the cover! Strange…
The image on Amazon has the wrong author’s name. Hmm. I changed it to an image I found on Laura’s blog.
Lovely! These poems do a wonderful job of capturing the love between siblings. I love Jacob’s “confetti egg” and how he scares his little sister. That’s exactly what a 7 yr old would do.
I love Jacob’s, “Rahhh!” and Vanessa’s, “My sister’s face lights up
like a nightstand lamp.” Lovely phrases to describe those little sisters. Off to look for this book.
We had a hard time getting Jacob’s poem to show that his sister enjoyed his scary roar. In our discussion, he said, “She wants me to do it again and again.” Bingo. Write that!
What a great job Vannisa and Jacob did in showing their siblings’ delight–love the specificity of light-up like a nightstand lamp and Jacob’s “rahh” that his sister wants again!
Hi, Margaret, thanks for swinging by for Poetry Friday this week– and for sharing these lovely gems from the kids you’re working with– complete with the perfect photo!
Sylvia
Oh, I LOVE these, Margaret. Doesn’t take your students long to get back into the swing of things, huh! At least not as far as poetry is concerned. I have no doubt Laura’s book is going to be a huge hit in classrooms.
Both of these poems are delightful! They capture the feelings so well. The photo is a perfect accompaniment, too.
Beautiful poems and a wonderful exercise.
I always love getting a peek at your teaching and your students’ work!
Sweet poems. Lovely imagery.