Through blogging communities like this one (Slice of Life) and Poetry Friday, I’ve met many mentors for writing. Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is one of those special teacher-poets who generously gives of herself. During the pandemic shut down, she recorded videos in Betsy, her writing camper, every day. These can be found on her YouTube channel. Last year she went back to teaching, so she didn’t blog as much. Boy, did we miss her voice in cyberspace!
But she’s back and each week on Friday, she posts a mentor poem on The Poem Farm with student-friendly (and adult-friendly) instructions for writing your own poem. This past Friday, her poem came up on my Instagram and was just right for our writing time.
One of our kindergarten teachers is having a baby, so I crocheted a little hat for her new child. This was on my mind when I wrote alongside my students. I gifted the poem to Miss Heidi along with the hat.
The Wool Hat
after Amy Ludwig VanDerwater “Circles”
When sheep’s wool
Margaret Simon
becomes yarn
becomes crochet
becomes hat,
a newborn baby’s head
holds a sheep,
yarn,
hands,
needle,
warmth,
and I wonder
how prayers
offered for a stranger
growing inside a friend
becomes a child
wearing a hat
passed on
from sheep to hand
to heart
to warmth
to love.
Jaden, 6th grade, has started a new trend when he writes his gratitude poem. If he makes a mistake, he turns it into a picture. I noticed his little designs and complimented him. He said, “Oh, I made those dots and stars because I messed up.” That sounds like a poem to me. And so he turned his mistakes into stars into a poem.
Recycle Poem
Old mistakes
Jaden, 6th grade
become rainbows
and new designs
old mistakes
become new inspirations
when I look at the designs
will I remember the old mistakes?
will I think of new ideas?
shapes like stars and squares?
or something new?
what will the new mistakes become?
One of the fourth grade teachers is raising monarchs. Katie was inspired by this and wrote her circle poem about the life cycle of a butterfly.
Life Cycle Poem
Out of a small egg
Katie, 6th grade
comes a small, slimy, bean.
A bean that squirms
and grows and grows.
Grows into a small
chrysalis where it stays for a while
until it’s ready to fly.
Fly into the real world
with beautiful, colored, wings
and to reproduce
another small egg.
Reflections on the Teche 
Beautiful Margaret Thank you
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Oh, I love this post, Margaret! I’ll have to go back to read Amy’s as I missed it last week. Your poem is just such a lovely circling embrace and both of your student’s poems are wonderful as well. I found myself thinking of one of my favorite books, “Beautiful Oops” when I read Jaden’s poem. Are you familiar with it? I always share it with my students.
I love the interconnectedness that grows and weaves through your poem Margaret, and the hat is beautiful, along with this post filled with your students creative poems. Thanks for all the smiles this morning!
I love all three of these poems, Margaret! Both you and your students have wonderful
mentors. I love the students’ work. Jaden has found a creative way to deal with mistakes! And, monarchs have inspired me to write many poems – your student’s observation of the butterfly lifecycle could led to a lifelong interest in nature. Thank you!
I so enjoyed your poem. What a gift to that new mom! The students’ work was marvelous. I want to save that poem about mistakes to share with students! I love when we can slip a little poetry into the day.
Thank you, Margaret, for sharing not only an instructional post, but one filled with heart-touching examples. Your poem was beautiful…the ending just makes you pause and think. The poem by your sixth grade student blew me away and reminded me of the many times a student’s writing took me by surprise and filled me with awe. I’ll definitely be reading that post.
I love Amy LV’s poems so I thank you for sharing the poems you and your students mentored after hers. I’m always impressed by the writing your students create!
Side note: Isabelle and I did all of the Betsy the Writing Camper lessons during the pandemic shutdown. They were wonderful! Isabelle filled two and a half notebooks in that time!
I love that you used her videos. They were a wonderful selfless gift.
Wonderful! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Margaret, your slice is filled with joy. The ending of the baby poem is filled with loving stitches of thoughts. Congratulations to the children for their poetry. Jaden’s is so thoughtful and beautifully penned. Congratulations to Katie also.