This has been an April full of poetry. In between the dreaded test prep, I have offered my students poetry breaks. I pulled out all of my poetry books and let them dig in. We also wrote some poetry. My students, when they hear the word poetry, breathe a sigh of relief and joy. I am lucky they are young and haven’t been stained by the bee that says poetry is hard.
We’ve watched a few of Allan Wolf’s Poetry Month videos. They are all on YouTube. It’s like having him visit my classroom with all his humor, antics, and natural Po-Love. My students loved watching him juggle while teaching them about dactyl meter. Sadie, 4th grade, is writing her own poems using dactyl meter.
My emotional bees
Make me want to have pet fleas!
My emotional bees
They just never seem to ease!
Sadie, 4th grade
My third grade student, Avalyn was drawn in by Marilyn Singer’s reverso poems in Mirror, Mirror and Follow, Follow. I sent Marilyn a message on Instagram, and she sent us a “Tips for Writing Reverso Poems.” Avalyn borrowed a few lines and created a poem of her own. We discovered reversos are really hard to write well.
Very pleasant,
happily ever after.
Luggage is packed.
You sob.
Nobody is there.Nobody is there,
Avalyn, 3rd grade
you sob.
Luggage is packed.
Happily ever after,
very pleasant.
Each week I present This Photo Wants to be a Poem on my blog and with my students on Fanschool. You can see their Prime Number Haikus this week at this link by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of the page.
Prime Number Haiku
Bubble
Adelyn, 4th grade
Blossoming
Grows great and strong but
Will not stay for very long
You try to win but you will pop very soon
April has been a wonderful month of poetry. Thanks to all of our Poetry Friday friends who have contributed to the Kidlit Progressive Poem which is still traveling, almost done. Today it’s at Karin Fisher-Golton.
I am keeping all of my daily poems in a slide show. Here’s my own Prime Number Haiku which was a prompt from Ethical ELA.
Reflections on the Teche 
Lots of poetry goodness here, Margaret. Your swing poem takes me back to childhood.
Margaret, I love the poems and creativity you instill in these sweet students. How much better poetry is than test prep! I think Reversos are difficult too. I’ve never even tried! I like the story Avalyn’s tells.
So much poetry goodness here! How wonderful that your students find respite in poetry 🙂 Your prime number haiku pairs beautifully with its accompanying photo.
This line, “My students, when they hear the word poetry, breathe a sigh of relief and joy.” is poetry too. How wonderful. I wish that April gave me a tiny bit more time to sit still and allow my mind to write. Alas, it’s not the case. But, Oh my goodness…”emotional bees” is so good! I am drawn to writing reversos. But they are hard! Avalyn is on her way to being a lifelong poet. Hooray!
I love the idea of “poetry breaks”, Margaret. Your students take excellent advantage of them! What a special teacher you are to give them such gifts.
Wow! I love your prime number Haiku…”to lift me on a tailwind”–such a wonderful image!
Hooray for you and your students, who dig in to both simpler and really difficult forms! Yay for finding relief and ease in the arms of poetry. And blessed are the swings and tailwinds. xo
Such a nice collection of poems by you and your students. Please tell them I enjoyed reading!