Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge
Poetry Friday round-up is with Renee at No Water River.
For a few days last week, most of my students attended the state Beta convention, so I had fewer students. I seized the moment to do something out of the ordinary.
One of my gifted teacher colleagues told me about the website Animal in You. This site has an online quiz that determines what animal you are most like.
Each student took the quiz. Then they wrote a blog post about their spirit animal. We also made masks on round cardboard discs. I had no idea how popular this activity would be. The news spread to the Beta kids, and they have been taking the quiz on their own time. It’s become a “thing.” I put the writing prompt into our padlet for Slice of Life challenge ideas.
This activity led to poetry. Here are a few student poems that emerged.
Eagles,
flying high,
touching the ocean blue sky
with their soft silk feathers.Eagles,
Bird of Prey,
you are majestic but carnivorous,
helping us keep balance.Eagles,
feathers soft as silk,
soar high and long
like love in my heart.
–Dawson, 4th grade
A note about Dawson’s writing: He wrote this on a scratch sheet of paper with words going all across the page, no form. Previously, Dawson’s poems have been silly and rhyming with little sense of poetic language. I held my tongue, knowing that more exposure would lead him, that I did not have to tell him about writing poems. I had to show him. The poetic format was done by me to show him his poem.
Roosters
Fierce and Strong
Protector of his home.
Fast like the wind
Soaring on land
With their butt feathers in the air.
Screaming,
“Predators over there!”–Trace, 5th grade
My youngest writer, Chloe wrote about life as a lion.
If I was a lion I would like to play and jump.
If I was a lion I would have a big circle of friends
If I was a lion I would like to play in the tall grassy fields.
If I was a lion I would like to play fetch with my friends.
If I was a lion I would like to slurp the water.
If I was a lion I would sleep all day.
If I was a lion I would eat a lot of gazelles.
Wouldn’t it be fun to be a lion? What animal would you like to be?
–Chloe, 2nd grade
Reflections on the Teche 