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Early Chalkabration

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Betsy Hubbard, chalkabration, space poems on May 22, 2015| 8 Comments »

Matt is hosting today at Radio, Rhythm, & Rhyme.

Yesterday was our last day of school. I decided what better way to celebrate and send off the year than to write chalk poems. I only could round up three of my students (all boys). We started as usual by discussing a theme. Here is where my students always surprise me. I’m thinking the usual topics such as summer, end of school, May. Well, not these guys. They had outer space on their minds. So outer space it was. We each chose a topic out loud: black holes, Mars, galaxies, and stars. I couldn’t find paper (all packed up), so I pulled out sticky notes and some pens from my purse. We wrote, shared, then headed outside to chalk it up!

And to top it off, it was Betsy Hubbard’s birthday! Do you know who she is? She’s the inventor of Chalkabration. So my students added a birthday wish. Betsy usually posts a roundup of Chalkabration on the last day of the month. We’re early, but it was the last day. Check out her site on May 31st.

Galaxies by Tyler
Never ending
billions of stars
lighting up the night
different styles
amaze mankind.

Stars by Mrs. Simon

Mars by Jacob Mars is red And the only red planet Red planet Super cold!

Why did God create
this destructive force
that eats galaxies?
Why did God create
black holes?
by Matthew

Creating chalkabration
We appreciate that a lot
Happy B-day,
Mrs. Betsy!

More Poetry Goodness:

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is gathering notebook ideas for summer. I sent in two, one from me here, and the other from my student Tyler here.

Michelle Hendrick Barnes put out a ditty challenge from Nikki Grimes. My poem was featured here.

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Sometimes on the Lake

Posted in Poetry Friday, tagged lake, Mississippi, poetry on May 15, 2015| 18 Comments »

Sometimes on the lake in June
white pelicans fly in together
and you get out the camera.
Then they turn as a drumline in step,
swim away swiftly in a cloud.

Sometimes on the lake in June
a lone blue heron fishes.
Sly step, long beak held high,
drinking in the sunlight.
A small boat passes by
lines thrown out,
catching nothing.

Sometimes on the lake in June,
I wake before dawn,
put the coffee on,
Sometimes Dad will join me
silent, reading the daily news.
Mom comes in pleased to have fresh coffee.
We sit on the porch, quiet
content to be together
on the lake in June.

My parents live on a lake in Mississippi. I am anticipating my annual visit in June. This poetry exercise can be found in Kate Messner’s 59 Reasons to Write.

Diane is hosting today at Random Noodling.

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Trying on Other Poets’ Clothes

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged Georgia Heard, List poems, Naomi Shihab Nye on May 8, 2015| 9 Comments »

Michelle is hosting today at Today’s Little Ditty!

Poets are some of my favorite people. I want to be one, so sometimes I try on their clothes. I shared this confession with my students. One of my poet-heroes, Laura Shovan, tried on Naomi Shihab Nye’s list poem, Words in my Pillow, that you can find in Georgia Heard’s collection Falling Down the Page. I shared Naomi’s poem as well as Laura’s with my students.

My students are smart kids who are really stubborn about wanting to break the mold, but I told them, “This is the form we are trying on today.” When the third student asked about breaking the form, I turned to them and said, “What did I say?”

“We are trying this one on today!” Sometimes when you try on another poet’s form, it is confining and doesn’t fit at all. Not this one. I was surprised at how well this poem fit.

Words in my Bathroom

I keep words in my bathroom,
Words that keep me clean.

SOAP
TOWEL
SHAMPOO

No one sees them
Until I put them on,
But I know they’re there.

BATHROBE
FACE CREAM
BODY WASH
HAND SOAP
LEFTOVER CLOTHING
TOILET PAPER

TOILET is in there.
BATHTUB is in there.

The words wish they were something else
When I’m not looking.
This TOWEL and that RACK
like being together.
CANDLES brighten up my bathroom
TOILET yells NO
in my bathroom.

My friends the words
know better than I do
what makes me feel good.
–Tobie

Words under the Couch Cushions

I keep words under the couch cushions.
Words that make me cool.

HANDSOME
BLACK
STYLISH

No one sees them until
I put them on.
But I know what’s in there.

REMOTE
TOYS
PAPER
FEATHERS

WHITE SOCK is in there.
GOOGLY EYES are in there.

The words make a PUPPET
when I am not looking.

TISSUE
GUM
CARD

My friends the words know how to fluff a cushion
better than I do.
But I love them.
–Jacob

Words in my Closet

There are words in my closet that say “you’re chic!”
OLD NAVY
GAP
JUSTICE
“No one sees them until I put them on, but I know what’s in there–”
SILK
SPARKELS
POLKA-DOTS
RHINESTONES
“DENIM”
FLOWERS
SHOES are in there.
EXTRA LACES are in there.
The words choose my outfits.
I’m just not around when they do.
This SHIRT those SHORTS Already pieced together.

NEON colors brighten up my closet.
LSU shirts shout “GO TIGERS” in my closet.

My friends the words
know me the best.
–Emily

Words in my Journal

I keep words in my journal.
Words that dance from
my thoughts to the page.

BUZZY
PATIENCE
BOUQUETS

No one sees them
like LOVE LETTERS I hide in a box,
but I know what’s in there.

PURPLE
SKY
VICTORY
UMBRELLA

STARLINGS flit in there.
Even DILLY-DALLY trots a page.

The words make poems together
when I’m not looking.

LAKE
MAZE
WONDER
RUSH

My friends the words know better than I do
how to sing songs.

–Margaret Simon

This form fit reluctant poets as well as confident ones. Laura Shovan is posting student poems, too, from a writer in residence program. Check them out here.

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Chalkabration Cinco Style

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged chalk poetry, cinquain, Read Write Think on May 1, 2015| 8 Comments »

Join the roundup at Space City Scribes

Join the Chalk-a-bration at Betsy Hubbard’s site Teaching Young Writers.

What is Chalk-a-bration? The brain child of Betsy Hubbard of the Two Writing Teachers. The last day of the month is dedicated to chalking poems. And what better way to end National Poetry Month! My students have been looking forward to this day for months. (We were on spring break for the last day of March.) Now it is May Day, and we decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo early with cinquain poems.

Read, Write, Think is a go-to site for me for all sorts of literacy lessons and fabulous student interactives. We pulled up the Theme Poems student interactive. Together as a class, we chose a shape, brainstormed words, and wrote a cinquain. Then it was outside time, playing with words, shapes, chalk, and shadows. Enjoy!

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Gifted by Nature

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry, Poetry Friday, tagged Gifted by Nature Day, I am poem, torn paper art on April 24, 2015| 10 Comments »

Join the roundup with Renee at No Water River

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Every year we gather all the elementary gifted students at our local city park for a day of playing strategic games and combining nature, art, and poetry. This year our 6th grade students led the day. They’ve been working together once a month all year to plan a day of wonder for all our students. They performed a play about the Wonders of New Iberia. Written, designed, and performed by students, the play led the audience on a tour of the wonders of our area.

The 6th grade students led an art and poetry activity. Their instructions were to think of something you wonder about and write an I am poem about it. The form was simple. The students wrote and tore paper to create an art piece to accompany the poem. I participated because I wanted to sit next to students and be one of them. I thought about my diva cat, Mimi. One of the students helped me with my torn paper art.

Torn paper Mimi by Margaret Simon

Galaxy by Kaiden

Air by Matthew

Nature by Vannisa

This post is my 600th post. I never would have thought I would get here when I started this amazing journey. Thank you, friends and readers!

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Acrostic Verse

Posted in Chalk-a-bration, Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, tagged Creativity, student acrostic poetry on April 17, 2015| 9 Comments »

Join the roundup with Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

I am staying true to my blog title and reflecting today. I discovered a student of mine has been writing acrostic poems. Lani is new to my gifted class, in third grade, and works on math with me. She knew the others were blogging for the month of March, and she wanted to join in. Of course, I let her, and her mother welcomed the challenge by allowing her computer time at home to post. With the crazy number of posts during March, I was not completely keeping up. I thought I was until I saw this post from Lani from March 25th.

Since today is International Poetry Day for me… this is my poem…..

Hour long punishment
Expelled from school yesterday
Lectures from my mother
Practicality flunked sixth grade

My worst day ever
Everyone knows that I lied to get their attention

I hope that you liked my poem!!

This form intrigued me. As I said, Lani is a third grader, and none of her lines were true to her, so I assumed that she was writing a novel in verse as a 6th grade character. Here was another post from the same day.

Crazy unpredictable things have happened
Once I had a pig for supper
Maybe a dog would have tasted better
Eww!!!

Inviting you is not a problem
Never a problem because I need a witness

All my relatives have not survived
Nor my family
Dad did not want to come in fearing that he will be finished

Sometimes I do not know how people can lie
Even if they are lying to themselves
Everyone thinks that I am lying and I am!!!

After reading this, I had to have a discussion with Lani. I was wondering where she was getting her ideas from. She didn’t have an explanation. She just wanted to write poems, and she knew she was good at acrostic. The only time she had written a poem with me was for Chalkabration, an acrostic about March. I gave her loads of praise because it was a great poem.

I talked to Lani about her fictional character. She made some notes in her notebook. I encouraged her to keep it going. Since this conversation, we have had disruptions with spring break and testing, so I hadn’t checked in with Lani. These poems seem to get crazier and crazier. Not everything makes sense, and yet, I think I have a creative writer on my hands. I hope we can make time again to put aside the math book and write poems. I love how she gives me credit for “coaching” her.

Hard-headed
Ant=my brother
Reading maniac=my sister
Dare addict=my dad
Especially the hard ones
Sardines eater=my cousin
Tardy=my friends

Dummy=my other cousin
Arnold=my brother’s name
Reaction=crazy
Extreme dare

Elapsed time:02 seconds
Ventriloquist people call me crazy (look at them!)
Even my mother! Listen to what she calls it!!!!
Ridiculous lying is what my mother calls it

This a poem for MY International Poetry Month. It took me a few days but I finally finished it. (with a little help from Mrs.Simon and some ”coaching”)

You can leave comments directly to Lani here.

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Be the Boss of your Words

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged Laura Purdie Salas, poetry, student writing on April 10, 2015| 14 Comments »

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

I had a wonderful mentor years ago who said that good writers are the ones who give themselves the most permissions. In her recent e-newsletter Salas Snippets, Laura Purdie Salas says this about student writers, “When kids write, they are the boss. Whether they’re writing a free verse poem or a five-paragraph essay, they have the power.” I want to show my students that they have the power over their words. I want to show them that they have permission to be who they truly are when they write.

During National Poetry Month, I make poetry an integral part of my classroom. My students become immersed in words in verse with rhythm and expression. I have a huge collection of poetry books. For their April poetry project, I have asked my students to select three books to read. They are finding themselves in these poems. They are being inspired by poets.

I had a discussion with Erin about the book Water Rolls, Water Rises by Pat Mora. She waved over the pages and repeated the words with awe and wonder in her voice. She told me she loved so many of the words, like golden, glimmering, shining. She was falling in love with the language. This is what poetry offers, every time.

I gave Jacob some ideas for writing a poem. He didn’t take any of them. When I walked over to see what he had typed, I read this first line, “Isn’t it sad when your memories are happy and you want to do it again?” Whoa! His words stopped me in my tracks. I sat next to him and asked him to tell me some of the memories he wanted to keep. He went back to last week, then to his first birthday party, then to being in the womb. Jacob needed to be the boss of his words because his words are amazing. He has the wisdom and spirit of a poet at age seven. What a privilege to watch!

Isn’t it sad when your memories are happy,
and you want to do it again?

I want to catch Easter eggs again with my cousin.
I want to stick my face in the cake again.
I want to go back in my mommy’s tummy again
because I want to get close to her all the time.
I love my memories!

Another activity that has my students singing poems is Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s poetry month project. Each of my two student groups have tried to guess a song/poem match. Both guesses were wrong, but we had a great time working on them. We counted syllables, sang the song choices, consulted YouTube for tunes, and sang Amy’s poems through multiple times before recording and sending our SoundClouds to her. Please go over to her site, The Poem Farm, to hear her sing and our guesses. I wrote to Amy that I admired her braveness in recording her voice singing acapella. She responded that being brave helps others be brave. With that, I encourage you and your students to be brave and send a SoundCloud guess to Amy.

Join the roundup with Laura Purdie Salas!

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Honey Bee #DigiPoetry

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Writing, tagged #DigiPoetry, Bees, iMovie, nature poetry, poem movie on April 3, 2015| 16 Comments »

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Join the roundup with Amy at The Poem Farm.

An invitation: Many bloggers in the kidlitosphere are celebrating National Poetry Month with all sorts of special projects. Jama has a roundup of them here. I invite you to post on Twitter with #digipoetry. What is digipoetry? Well, anything poetry. If you write your poems on a blog, that’s digital. If you use an app, digital. If you post on FB, digital. So anyone is welcome to join. The hashtag came about because of a tweet from Leigh Anne (@Teachr4) who simply asked me and a few other Slice of Life bloggers, “What are your plans for April?” We didn’t want to be any more specific with this invitation. No challenge involved. You don’t even have to write a poem every day. You can post student work, your work, or somebody’s inspiration. All passionate poets welcome.

Thistle bee

I have been playing around with taking video and writing a poem. Yesterday I posted a serious poem. Today, it’s lighter with a little bee dance.

Pollinate
Propagate
Cultivate
Bees buzz in
Carry dust into the wind
So Life goes on…

-Margaret Simon

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Wonder of an Old Oak Tree

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Mr. Al oak tree, Nature poems, student poetry on March 27, 2015| 17 Comments »

SOL #27

Join the roundup with Jone at Check it Out.

Mr. Al surrounded by children.

With our 6th grade students in the parish (district), we have been doing an enrichment Wednesday each month that we call WOW for Way Out Wednesday. This year’s theme has been wonder. One of the wonders of our area is this huge old oak tree named Mr. Al. A few years ago, Mr. Al was in the way of a planned service road next to the highway. Protesters were instrumental in getting Mr. Al moved to a safer location. He now overlooks an intersection of the highway, Highway 90 at Weeks Island Road.

This past Wednesday was a gorgeous spring day. We took the 20 students out to Mr. Al for a picnic. They sketched and wrote poetry. I coached the poetry writing with a suggestion that they look outside and write description, then look inside for a memory or inner feelings, then go outside again. Darian came to me with an idea. She was caught up on the directions, though. She told me she saw the whole area as a kingdom and Mr. Al was the king. I loved this creative response and told her, “Yes, this idea is using your imagination that is inside you.” She crafted this poem.

What a wonderful way to honor Mr. Al with writing and drawing. The time was peaceful and productive. A true gift to the students and their teachers.

A tree in the middle of nowhere,
As lonely as can be.
But the tree is not as lonely,
As the eye can see.
Ferns and flowers, moss and thorns,
Give the tree some company.

The hill is a castle,
Its rightful ruler on top.
A king greater than all kings.
King Al is protected by his guards,
The ants and spiky plants.
His loyal citizens obey his commands,
For they are the flowers,
purple, yellow, white and green.
His advisers–the fern, magnolia and evergreen,
Work together in harmony.

Long branches reach out,
As if to be holding up the sky.
Leaves more numerous than stars.

Mr.Al is a wonder of nature,
Nature of wonder .

–Darian, 6th grade

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Creative Poetry with Kids

Posted in Creativity, Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, tagged poetic forms, student writing on March 20, 2015| 9 Comments »

SOL #20

Join the roundup with Catherine at Reading to the Core.

This week we talked about form and being innovative and creative with form in Slices of Life and in poetry. We looked at Tara Smith’s call for Classroom Slices in which she shared the poem That was Summer by Marci Ridlon. I had not seen this poem before. I trusted Tara that it would inspire writing.

Have you ever smelled summer?

Sure you have.

Remember that time

when you were tired of running

or doing nothing much

and you were hot

and you flopped right down on the ground?

That was summer. From That was Summer by Marci Ridlon

Today I would like to introduce you to my student, Erin. I wish I could post a picture of her because she is quite adorable. She has long dark hair that accentuates her tan skin (her mother is Filipino.) There is a dimple that appears with every smile, and she smiles a lot. She is small for her age, nine, which only adds to her charm. Erin experimented with two forms this week, the “Remember that time” form and a two voice poem with Spring arguing with Winter.

Spring flowers, Lytes Cary, Somerset
Copyright nick macneill and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Can you feel spring? Remember the breeze blowing and you feel you’re flying.
That was Spring.

Remember the time you played catch with your dog,
and he knocked you down in the soft spiky grass?
That was spring.

Remember the wonderful warmth
of the sun on your skin
after the harsh winter.
That was spring.
—Erin

Spring
I’m spring here to kick you out.
No one likes you with your cold heart and all.
While i am loved by millions all around the world.

Winter
Ha you wish.
You bring mosquitoes and bees stinging all about.
I kill and make them pout.
I rule all seasons. While you are a slave.

Spring
Please, you wish.
You give people hatred and make them cry.
While I give them hope and sunshine.

Winter
Oh, really?
You make them happy.
I think that all that sunshine
is going to your head.
Now, be a good girl
and go to bed!
—Erin

Can you hear Erin giggle after that last line? She had a boy in class play the part of Spring. He was a good sport about it. In fact, I think anyone in our class would do anything for Erin. You can click on her name under either poem to leave comments just for her.

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