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Poetry Friday: A Photo Exchange “More than Meets the Eye”

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged crystal ball photography, ekphrastic poetry, Molly Hogan on April 20, 2018| 26 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

Photo by Molly Hogan, mbhmaine at Nix the Comfort Zone.

The world
inside a crystal ball
feels mystical
and magical,
a fairy tale land
where princes
fall in love
with glass slippers.

The world
inside ocean waves
feels treacherous
and terrifying,
a tossed ship
where pirates
set traps
for fair maidens.

The world
in a child’s mind
feels exciting
and thrilling,
a shore of seashells
where girls and boys
gather treasures
to share.

The photo above took my breath away. I saw it on Molly Hogan’s blog and thought, “I want to write a poem about this.” I also went to Amazon to buy my own crystal photo ball. I changed my header image to one of the bayou with the ball placed on my deck railing.

I had an email conversation with my virtual-poetry-writing-photographer-friend Molly Hogan about exchanging photos and writing poems about them. The idea grew into something we’d like to share with the Poetry Friday community. We are calling it “More than Meets the Eye.”

I am hosting the Poetry Friday round-up on Friday, May 25th and would like to invite poets to fill out the form below and I’ll match you with someone to exchange photos with. I’m going to make an effort to match you to someone in a totally different geographical location. Your charge will be to write a poem about the photo you receive and post it on your blog on Friday, May 25th. The photos should not include people. (People tend to complicate things.) There are no other rules except that the writer should give proper credit to the photographer and vice versa. Please sign up by Friday, April 27th.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

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#NPM2018: Happy Birthday, Lee Bennett Hopkins

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged ekphrastic poetry, John Gibson art, Lee Bennett Hopkins on April 13, 2018| 14 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2018

Poetry Friday round-up is with Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge.

Today the Kidlitosphere is celebrating Lee Bennett Hopkins’ 80th birthday. Click the Poetry Friday button to go to Robyn Hood Black’s site to see more posts for this celebration. How fun to light up cyberspace with candles and confetti!

Lee Bennett Hopkins is well known as an anthologist. He collects the best children poets and puts them together in unique ways. His most recent collection is World Make Way.

World Make Way

This book is a collection of ekphrastic poetry, poetry about art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book opens with the following quote:

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.

Leonardo da Vinci

This month I’ve been writing poems about my father’s art and this quote speaks to what I believe to be true; My father’s art is poetry that is seen.

Lee’s poetry collections are a canvas for poets, a place to find words that can be felt rather than seen. To write my poem today, I have chosen a line from Early Evening by Charles Ghinga.

Steamboat by John Gibson

Coming Home

We are coming home
stretched across a canvas of time
waiting for steam to rise

into still humid air.
We carry a load
of dreams from far

away where seas meet rivers.
We are born of the river,
her muddy banks birthed

strength to carry us
through toil and trouble
all the way home.

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#NPM2018: Walking to the Barn

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged ekphrastic poetry, John Gibson on April 6, 2018| 28 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2018

Poetry Friday round-up is with Amy at The Poem Farm.

Welcome to my National Poetry Month Day 5. I’m writing ekphrastic poetry about my father’s art.

Country Barn by John Gibson

Here
we take our time,
climb through barnwood
and tell secrets.

Here
we find ourselves
wrapped in fieldgrass
and speak whispers.

Here
we lower our masks
stay safely sunfree
and hum memories.

Quote from PoemCrazy by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge: “I feel safe because poems take me to a place out of normal time and thought, dipping me below the surface to where we all meet. The poem speaks in confidence, the reader feels included, honored, and keeps the secret.”

The form beginning with the word “here” borrowed from Janet Wong’s poem Walking to Temple found in Lee Bennett Hopkins collection World Make Way.

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Slice Challenge #30: Poetry Month Plans

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life on March 30, 2018| 31 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe.

National Poetry Month is upon us. Is it really April already? I absolutely love the month of April. It’s so fragrant and beautiful. My middle daughter was born in April. And April is all about poetry!

Join me and many others at Poetry Friday for daily doses of poetry. My plan this year is to write ekphrastic poetry, poetry about art. We did this in February for Laura Shovan’s birthday month challenge. I love art. Art often gives me an entry point into a poem that I may not have written otherwise. I find art digs deep into my soul.

As a warm-up, I captured a photograph from Ralph Fletcher’s Facebook Photography page. You may recognize Ralph from his work with literacy for children in books like What a Writer Needs, Joy Write, and many more resources for teachers.

Ralph has become quite an amazing photographer and especially of birds. I was attracted to this amazing photo of a hummingbird by the name of Anna’s hummingbird.

Anna’s Hummingbird

Fierce in a hot pink boa,
this perfection of nature
dominates beauty
with feathers of lace,
a flying, glimmering gemstone.
–Margaret Simon (c) 2018

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Slice Challenge #23: Golden Shovels and Chalkabration

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing on March 23, 2018| 20 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Laura at Writing the World for Kids.

This month’s Ditty Challenge on Michelle Barnes’ site is from Nikki Grimes. Nikki Grimes has made the golden shovel an infamous poetry form. I shared her book, One Last Word, with my students. Michelle worked with boys in a juvenile detention center. She posted Lil Fijjii’s poem blurred lines. This poem spoke to my students. They could relate to the strong emotion. To write golden shovel poems, each student chose a line to respond to. At first Faith placed her head in her hands. “This is too hard. I can’t do it.” I set the timer and said, “Just give it a shot.”

My students were pleased with the results. I’ve posted them on Michelle’s padlet. Scroll for Students from Mrs. Simon’s Class.

Spring is in the air here in South Louisiana and no one wants to stay inside, so I took my kids out for a chalkabration. View their poems in this slide show.

chalkabration

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Slice Challenge #16: Found Poetry

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged blackout poetry, found poems on March 16, 2018| 18 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Linda at Teacher Dance.

Have you thought about found poetry lately? This week my friend Linda Mitchell posted a found/ black out poem on Facebook. A day or two later Janet Wong posted a found poem from an article about the Parkland shooting. These two posts inspired me to try my own.

I’ve been reading aloud Tuck Everlasting to a group of students. Natalie Babbett’s writing is so descriptive and beautiful, so I copied a page from the book and made a black out poem to use as a model poem for my students.

When I shared this with my students as a writing choice, two of my girls chose favorite pages from favorite books to create their own black out poems.

The day was absolutely gorgeous. Highs in the 60’s, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. Who wants to stay inside?

My science kids are doing projects about plants, so I printed an online article for each of them. We took the articles and clipboards out to the garden to write.

Circling words to create poems, these students enjoyed “finding” poems in nonfiction text. Poetry can be found anywhere!

Jayden’s poem about camellias:

Prized beauty of
exquisite blooms,
splendid evergreen foliage
attractive shrubs
burst into flowers
rest little prodigious garden.

Where will you find a poem today?

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Slice Challenge #9: The Word Collector

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Peter Reynolds, The Word Collector on March 9, 2018| 27 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

Poetry Friday round-up is with Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty

If you take the book jacket off of The Word Collector, you see a golden collection of words.

Wonders of words
Fill constellations.
There is an angel
On my shoulder
As I write … praline, crimson…
Sounds of words roll
Over my tongue,
Taste sweet…Argentina…
Musical… infinity of words
To release into the air.
Amen.

–Margaret Simon (c) 2018

The librarian knows of my attachment to all things Peter Reynolds. I introduced her to Dot Day and helped her plan activities in the fall. Last week, she had a Scholastic Book Fair. I shopped on Friday and put some wishes into a bin. I never had a chance to go back and purchase any. When this sweet librarian saw me she said, “I saw Word Collector in your book fair bin.”

I said, “I know! I’m so sorry I never had time to come back and buy anything.”

“No worries. I had extra funds from the sales, so I bought a copy for the library. I put it aside for you.” And she handed me Peter Reynolds gold!

I shared the book with my students and as I did, I said, “Be a word collector. As I read, make your own collection of words.”

My students wrote and wrote. Their lists covered one, then two pages in their notebooks. Given 10 minutes on the timer, they turned their lists into poems. Amazing poems.

Madison decided to make word combinations, so she randomly matched together two word pairs. When she finished, she realized that all her combinations could describe stars. She titled this masterpiece Stars.

Stars

Azure Wonders
Emerald Willows
Drifting Whispers
Geometric Symphony
Aromatic Kaleidoscope
Marvelously Effervescent
Harmony Lore
Breezing Beyond
Onyx Liberty
Tranquil Silence
Cascading Glints
Brilliant Waterfalls
Onomatopoeia Collections
Hopeful Grace
Mused Clovers
Constellate Alligator
Utopia Yonder

Stars Of The Sky

–Madison, 4th grade

I wrote about Dawson last week, about how he was not using line breaks yet in his poems. I showed him how he could, and now he’s writing meaningful poetry. I love what he wrote about his decisions for the line breaks. “I decided to do it like this with line breaks and words because it sounds like a song that you could play. If you read it again, watch go ahead, read this again while playing joyful music in the background.”

With Willows
soft as a whisper,
with royal flocks
prancing around in your dream,
let it be known
there is wonder in your heart.

–Dawson, 4th grade

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Slice Challenge #2: Poetry Friday What Animal are You?

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Animal in You, animal poems on March 1, 2018| 32 Comments »

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

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Poetry Friday: Meet My Family

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged animal poems, Laura Purdie Salas, Meet my Family blog tour, persona poems on February 23, 2018| 31 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Elizabeth Steinglass

Welcome to the first post in the Meet my Family Blog Tour. Laura Purdie Salas’s book gives an overview of 22 animal families with engaging illustrations by Stephanie Fizer Coleman.

My students were immediately engaged in questioning and learning about animals, from the tundra swan to the chinstrap penguin. Each entry is written in the voice of the baby animal telling about his family.

My two daddies feed me fish.
One is always next to me, strong
and sturdy and warm. Both of
them protect me and play with
me. I am double-daddy lucky.

From the chinstrap penguin chick, LPSalas

Whenever we encounter a new text, I invite my students to write. For this book response, we wrote persona poems. Each student chose their favorite animal and wrote in the point of view of that animal. Research was optional. I shared a colorful National Geographic Kids Ocean Animals book. Some students chose to write about ocean animals. Some searched in Google about other animals of interest. And some had stored up research in their minds to tap into. All of my students enjoyed creating poems. For more persona poems, go to Mrs. Simon’s Sea Kidblog site.

Hi I’m Peanut, Peanut the Orangutan!
My mom’s name is Walnut.
I don’t have a dad but I’m still livin’ the life.

My mom made me a new nest which is my room.
We always have fruit for dinner
but on special occasions we get juicy, delicious, BUGS!!

Well, I am happy to say that
I can be as lazy as I want,
because I’m 3 years old and my mom gets my food for me.

Right now I’m in my nest
watching the birds tell jokes trying to make others laugh.
I didn’t get the jokes but I laughed anyway.

Can I tell you that I like and don’t like those weird humans.
Some of them like to shoot us
some like to capture us.
The nice humans like to protect us and help us,
but they’re still weird.

Well that’s my story
I got to go we’re having bugs for dinner tonight YES!!!!!!

–Dawson, 4th grade

The Great White Shark

I am sleek and silent.
I never chew my meals.
My favorite snack are seals.
I’m an undeniable top dog.
I am the king of the sea.

–Jacob, 4th grade

Erik the Eagle

My name is Erik
I was just born
I was fed raw meat,
it was a delicious treat.

My name is Erik.
I learned to fly.
I love leaving home
and soaring the sky.

My name is Erik.
I am fully grown.
I have my own wife,
and my own little throne.

–Andrew, 5th grade