Poetry Friday round-up is with Jone at Deo Writer.
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Octopus Zeno
Octopuses are amazing
cephalopods
mollusks
beak8 tentacles
wave on
fleeklooking anywhere
for food
sneakBreighlynn, 3rd grade
Irene Latham is an accomplished author/poet, and she is a generous friend. She sent me an advanced copy of Love, Agnes which will be released on October 1st. Agnes has declared October as Octopus Month. See Irene’s post here.
With my students, I read Love, Agnes. We enjoyed logging into this video.
We gathered some amazing octopus facts and words. And, of course, we wrote octopus poems.
Over the weeks we’ve been together, we’ve explored some different poetry forms. For this activity, my students chose their own forms to use and two of them even invented new forms. Madison created the octaiku.
“An Octopus form, or, as I like to call it, a Octaiku ( A combination of Octopus and Haiku. ) The form is 2, 4, 8, 2 ,4 because 2 and 4 can go evenly into 8.”
Eight Arms
Suction Cupped
Cephalopod, Mollusk, Family
Giant
And Beautiful.
Madison, 5th grade
Madison met Irene Latham at the 2016 Louisiana Book Festival.
Things to do as an Octopus
Wear a color changing coat,
call it camouflage.
when you get hurt,
heal up soon.
Something’s going to scare you,
blast streams of black goo.
Time to lay eggs,
protect them till you’re dead.
Landon, 5th grade
My life as Agnes
My friend who lives on shore.
I think he thinks I’m a bore.
He sends me a postcard everyday.
He makes me wanna shout “HOORAY!!!”
I protect my babies ’til they go away
And then I pass away.
Kaia, 3rd grade
Reflections on the Teche 
Love that newly-coined idea, the “Octaiku”, Margaret. What can we do to write a haiku? We’ll use all our arms, and tell of our charms!” Yes, I know it’s not your Octaiku but wanted to compliment all of you for your creativity! Love, Agnes is a sweet story that the grandgirls & I enjoyed very much.
Wow! Breighlynn…that is a truly wonderful xeno. I love your use of “fleek”
Madison, I’m going to have to give Octaiku a try…I’ve never invented a form before. You are too cool. Landon, I see your poet-self growing stronger. Way to go. Kaia, I’m shouting Hooray right with you.
Octaiku, awesome! Photos with Irene, hooray! “Time to lay eggs,
protect them till you’re dead.” ❤
What fun Octopuses poems–Hooray for all, and I love the new offered “octaiku” form. The video was a treat too, thanks Margaret!
Such fun octopus poems! I love seeing how your students chose a wide variety of forms ( and even invented their own!) to create their poems. As always, I admire how you take a challenge and run with it, inspiring others as you go.
Margaret, the children’s poems are wonderful. I especially like Kaia’s poem and want to congratulate Madison for creating a new form. I always love seeing your students evolve as young poets.
What delightful poems about OCTOPUSES! (Glad to know what the plural is and WHY!! We’re studying ways to make plural nouns right now!)
Hi dear Margaret, These young poem-maker ocean advocates will likely always remember swimming through the pages to meet Agnes, the book octopus. Especially so for the student who met Irene, the LOVE, AGNES creator.
And especially memorable is the way you’ve enhanced their poetry-octopus sea studies.
I love all these octopus poems & look forward to reading one of your own when Irene posts her octopus poems. contributions pages.
Octaiku! I love it! And I love the explanation of the form.
I love the octopus waving on fleek! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
These poems are wonderful! So nice to see the kids getting so creative with their imagery and playing with forms.
What fun octopus poems! Those are some creative, talented writers you get to work with.
An octaiku! Love that your students are inventing new forms… and inspired to write such descriptive, creative octopus poems.
So, so fun! I get to do poetry on Tuesday with second grade.
So creative! (Belated) kudos to these young writers, and to you for leading them in this fun multi-armed adventure. :0)