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Slice of Life: How Poetry Enters the Social Studies Door

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged on April 24, 2018| 10 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

 

Social Studies is not my area of expertise, so last week I found a way to let poetry come in the door.  I pull a group of gifted students for their Social Studies class. I needed to teach these kids about the Civil Rights Movement.  Equipped with website links, videos, and articles, we explored three major events: Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in, March on Washington, and the Montgomery bus boycott. As a way to synthesize the information, we wrote poems together.  Our discussion about these events included what important information to include and how to make it into a poem.

In the Woolworth’s store,
four brave students,
as brave as can be
sat at the lunch counter
and would not leave.

Several more the next day
sat with those brave boys
they took Mr. Woolworth’s
breath away.

News spread, far and wide.
Three hundred more stood by their side.

To get their minds straight
and stop segregation,
they worked hard, stood strong.
It’s not time to have fun.
There is still work to be done.

–Mrs. Simon’s class


Dear Rosa Parks,

You are a hero for all of America.
I really appreciate
that everyone can ride together.
You refused to give up your seat.
You inspire us to fight
for what we believe in.

Because of you,
segregation on buses ended.
You befriended yourself in my eyes
through your bravery in the Montgomery Bus Boycott
sewing together minds for integration.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Simon’s Sea 

Another group of my kiddos was featured on Today’s Little Ditty with their dinosaur poems.

If you would like to participate in a round up of poetry about photos, join the photo/poem exchange on my blog, More than Meets the Eye. 

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#NPM2018: Bees Play

Posted in Blogging, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged , on April 17, 2018| 12 Comments »

National Poetry Month 2018

 

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

 

My students and I have been writing to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s daily prompts at The Poem Farm.  I usually write alongside my students, so some days I have three poems done because I teach 3 different groups of kids.  On Monday, when we were writing using word play, I started writing at school number one about bees.

Dawson, 4th grade, helped me think about rhymes.  He told me that bees carry pollen in their mouths and spit it back and forth with other bees until it becomes honey, thus “honey primers.”

I turned to bee research and RhymeZone.

At school number two, Chloe, 2nd grade, told me that a bee’s dance is called a waggle.  Google confirmed it.

Last month, I had a bee incident in my classroom at school number 2 that caused a curse word to come out of my mouth, thus “cursing singer.” This incident happened in March, so I sliced about it here.

My students responded with pleasure at my completed poem.  They exclaimed “Boomchakalaka.”  Great word play for the ending!

 

Bees
hullabaloo
on flowering trees
humming,
drumming,
buzz-strumming.

Bees
hokey-pokey
through pollen fields
persnickety climbers,
expert mimers
honey primers.

Bees
waggle-dance
in the hive
insect communication
tapping out dictation
pointing to a destination.

Bee–one bashful bee
squirming
in my hair
angry stinger
hand slinger
cursing singer.

Boomchakalaka!

I am writing ekphrastic poetry this month for National Poetry Month.  Michelle Kogan is an poet-illustrator I’ve met through Poetry Friday.  Usually I start with the image to inform the poem.  This poem came before the illustration, but I knew Michelle would have one that fit just right. Thanks, Michelle.

Towering Tulip by Michelle Kogan. Click image to see Michelle’s website.

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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 #21: First Day of Spring

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , , , on March 21, 2018| 10 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

 

 

Inspired by Violet Nesdoly’s blog post Welcome Spring, my students and I wrote a collaborative poem about spring.

At first, I talked about the spring equinox and how it’s related to the rotation of the earth (to get in a little science content).   Then I opened a blank document on the screen.  Jayden said, “I hope we are going to write a poem.  I love when we write poems.”  My heart swelled.

We read it aloud to hear the beat.  We rearranged stanzas.  Landon suggested that we end the poem at night with fireflies.

First Day of Spring

by Jasmine, Kaia, Landon, Jayden

(edited by Mrs. Simon)

Happiness everywhere.
Let’s go to the Spring fair.

Easter is near.
Wind tickles my ear.

Green grass growing.
Dad lawn mowing.

Mom is cleaning.
I am dreaming.

Cherry blossoms blooming.
Sun’s light booming.

Bees buzz.
Dandelion fuzz.

When daylight ends,
fireflies descend.

 

On Sunday, our choir held an Evensong service.  My fellow choir member and friend, Brenda, recorded the service.  There were only 9 of us, but we made a joyful noise.  Here, she put one of our hymns on YouTube.  Enjoy Benedictus, one of my favorites. I sing alto.  Listen for me.

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Slice Challenge #13: Moldy Poem

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , on March 13, 2018| 8 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

On Sunday I posted about using jeweler’s loupes with my students in science and writing poems.  I felt a little guilty writing poems in science class, like that was somehow not allowed.  But my friend and slicer Dani Burtsfield posted a link to a podcast in her comment.  The podcast from Heinemann featured Amy Ludwig VanDerwater talking with authors Valerie Bang-Jensen and Mark Lubkowitz about science and poetry.

Amy asks, “Is a poem a system?”

She continues, “”Do you feel if a poem is a system … is the reader’s intent and background, when a reader comes to a poem, is that energy that flows through that system?”

Later, Amy brings up genre study. “one of the things I see that happens with writing is that … sometimes writing is divided up into these little genres, and we do this for a few weeks, we do this for a few weeks, and we do this for a few weeks. But what gets lost, and what can get lost, is the bigger idea of how to notice these patterns. How to see how interlocking pieces of words work together in a text beyond genre, like transcending, flying over genre.”

Amy’s ideas led me to my lesson today with my science kids.  I wanted to use the patterns of poetry to notice the patterns in science, to fly over genre.

We were using jeweler’s loupes to look at plants, but today we were looking closely at mold.  Last week we set up mold terrariums using ziplock bags and a slice of bread and apple.  Following the weekend, guess what grew?  Yucky mold!

Mold on an apple

“What does the mold remind you of?”

“An old man’s beard.”

“Whipped cream!”

“Let’s write a poem about it.”

Moldy Poem

Mold is growing on our food.
We know it’s made of spores.
Now it looks like
an old man’s beard,
white and green like sour cream.

Mold is creeping like a fox
preying on a squirrel.
Decomposing apples and bread
like bacteria in my mouth.
A marshmallow made of spores.

Writing this poem helped solidify some science concepts through discussion and creativity, observation and discovery. I think we’ll write poems in science more often. Thanks, Amy, Valerie, and Mark for permission.

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Slice Challenge #4: A Slice of Mindfulness

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged on March 4, 2018| 15 Comments »

Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life March Challenge

 

In the middle of the night, an Amber Alert alarms on my cell phone.  I put on my glasses, checked the phone, and saw something about a 1979 white Cadillac… I went back to sleep.

At morning recess shouts and screams enter the hallways.  I close my door.

The bell rings, my students enter, visibly stressed, breathing differently, heavier.

We talk about it.  One says, “I’m so tired of all this bullying.  I just want people to get along.” Her eyes tear up.  I offer a hug.

Another student says, “Let’s meditate!  I need it this morning.” Blankets and pillows come out.  Breathing slows as we imagine the stress leaving our bodies.

We breathe slowly in silence for 4 minutes.

We begin the work of the day, reading and writing.

I don’t have any answers for the fears, the cries, the bullying, but I can offer a safe place of mindfulness.  It’s something.  Some days it’s everything.

stones-1372677_960_720

Note: My student Faith wrote about the fight in this Slice of Life post. 

For meditation, I use Mindful Kids, a box of kid-friendly meditation cards by Whitney Stewart.  Available on Amazon.

Mindful Kids

 

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A Slice of Community Change Makers

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged , on February 13, 2018| 10 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.

What is a change maker and who are the change makers in our own community? I asked my students. I made a list on the board of people I know from our area who are making a difference.  Each student chose one to interview based on his/her own interest.

I called Vicky Branton, a feature writer for The Daily Iberian, our local newspaper.  She agreed to come visit with my students about interviewing for and writing a feature article.  She had good advice:

  1. Begin with the 5 W’s: Who, what, when, where, why?
  2. During the interview, listen.
  3. Record the interview in order to be completely present and to go back for direct quotes.
  4. Elaborate: Find the interesting thing.

For the first three days of last week, I scheduled interviews.  In all, we had 5 interviews.  Students then began writing.  We had to juggle the computer around for them to listen to their recorded interviews.  Eventually, they had a draft of a feature article.

This was a motivating project for my students.  They were elevated by their interviewer status.  They learned a great deal about the good things happening in our city.  They learned how to take a quote and turn it into narrative.  They learned about themselves in the process, too, and have renewed aspirations for what they may want to do to be a change maker.

Faith is interested in an anti-bullying program that is in the early stages in our community:

Mrs. Dawn and Mrs. Sharon say they really feel like Chez Hope is impacting the community. Russo expressing,”…What we do is not easy, it’s not easy work at all, it’s hard.” Over time they are helping the community. These crises are a big problem in our community. And many people are afraid that they aren’t going away any time soon. To add on to that, I would like to say that I feel like Chez Hope has impacted our school. When Mrs. Sharon and Mrs. Dawn came to our school, they left an impact on me and others as well. Once I walked out of that room, I knew I had to do something to help stop bullying. I also took away that I should never bully anyone. Also, if some one bullies me, then I need to tell an adult. I don’t need to be put down and be bullied. So stand up for yourself and tell an adult. (Faith, 6th grade)

Bully Free Kids T-shirt from Chez Hope

 

Jennie Lallande, Acadiana Lifestyles “Women Making a Difference 2016”

Andrew wanted to know more about how Jennie Lallande became involved in the community garden and school garden programs.

Jennie Lallande is a massive change maker. She helps in the community garden, but the garden is made in a place where people don’t have much access to fresh food like lettuce or carrots. She was recruited because she has a experience in sustainable agriculture.

Erin is doing a fundraiser to make care packages for foster children, so she wanted to know more about the system from someone who had adopted a foster child.

When I interviewed her I got a lot of information about her and the foster system, which will help me with my research because I want to learn more about the foster system. A lot of new information was revealed to me.  I thought the social workers were supposed to help the parents. But according to Mrs. Schlicher they don’t really help.  She said they provided her with false information so that she would take children in.

From interests to interviews to writing, my students are discovering who is making a difference as well as planting seeds for their own future as change makers. 

 

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Celebrate World Read Aloud Day!

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing, tagged , , on February 3, 2018| 4 Comments »

Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.

Thursday, Feb. 1st was World Read Aloud Day.  Back in November, Kate Messner posted a long list of authors willing to do free Skype visits.  I selected and contacted Sarah Albee, author of Bugged, Poop Happened, and Poison, amazing and engaging nonfiction books.

Each of my students in my morning class composed a question and were promised a chance to personally ask their question.

Argh!  Tech problems!

A quick call to the tech director, and he took over the computer and was able to solve the problem just in the nick of time.  My students were able to ask their questions, and Sarah expertly answered each one.

Even Erin’s question, “Do you know what a narwhal is?” did not stump this nonfiction research expert.  Sarah pointed Erin to a page in Poison in which she refers to the practice of using narwhal horns to simulate unicorn horns.

My students marveled in the length of time it takes to research, write, and publish a book.  Dawson, who is reading Bugged, asked what her favorite insect is.  Would you be surprised to know it’s an ant?!

Dawson later announced that it was the first time he had ever met anyone famous.  In a more perfect world where technology was flawless, I would Skype more often with “famous” people.  Authors are my heroes, and they are becoming my students’ heroes as well.

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Poetry Friday: Moon Poems

Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, tagged on February 2, 2018| 17 Comments »

Poetry Friday round-up is with Donna at Mainely Write

 

This week there was a big moon event: the second full moon in January called the blue moon as well as a lunar eclipse that caused the moon to appear reddish and the fact that the moon was closer to the Earth than usual making it a super moon, thus blue blood super moon.

What better reason do we need for writing poems?

Prompted by NASA images and Laura Purdie Salas’s book If You Were the Moon, my students and I wrote moon metaphor poems.

 

Lynzee watched and wrote as slides of moon photos rolled across the screen.

Super Blue Blood Moon

Two birds, side by side,
front row seat
for what happened
in the early hours of the morning.

Birds flying in front of the moon
like sparkles on a disco ball,
they see, too, what happened.

Plane flying, too,
over the skies of Britain
like the moon’s huge moving tattoo.

Lynzee, 3rd grade

Chloe is new to writing poetry.  She’s a second grader.  She seems to be grasping the idea of metaphor in her poem.  She was so proud of her poem, she typed it in all caps.

THE MOON IS BRIGHT LIKE A STAR

IT IS NOT A STAR BUT IT IS FAR

THE MOON IS A BABY FOR EARTH

Chloe, 2nd grade

Madison is becoming quite a poet.  Her poem is one I used in other classes to model the use of metaphor.

Peppermint Moon

Red Splashing Shadow
Take a White Pearl
In The Sky

Peppermint Swirling
Shadow,
Flaming From
Embers
To White and Red Tongues,
Licking the Dark Coals
Of the Night

 A Flame
Red and White
Sends Embers Scattering Across
The Deep Black, Overhead
But A Golden Flame Rises,
A Bonfire To Cast
Shadow Around
The Gem.

A White Diamond Revealed,
A Golden Bonfire Raging
It Is Time For The Moon
To Rest,
Forever The White Diamond
Of the Night Sky.

Madison, 4th grade

Eclipsed moon hides in the trees.

And here is a draft of a poem I wrote alongside my students.  I wrote two poems and combined them to make draft #3.

We all see the same moon.
All over the world,
Prague, Athens, Rome,
yellow, red, blue
sphere in the night sky.

I walked early this morning
watching the eclipse
of the full supermoon.
Minute by minute,
pieces fell from sight
like a giant hand
turning off the light.

In the shadow of a church steeple,
over desert hills,
setting behind our Lady Liberty,
a super moon eclipsed by our own
planet Earth.

As the moon set below the trees,
I thought of you
far away
seeing the same moon
in the same sky.

Margaret Simon, (draft) 2018

Yesterday I posted “Moon Wisdom” for Spiritual Journey (first) Thursday which included a poem by me around a painting by Michelle Kogan.

My post for #TeachWrite Chat this month is about sustaining a writing life by joining Poetry Friday.  See the post here. 

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Slice of “Further” Research

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing on January 30, 2018| 3 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for the Slice of Life Challenge.

 

Last week my students and I read together a Scope magazine article titled, “Escape from Alcatraz.”  The title alone was enough to interest my students as well as the images of three fugitives believed to have escaped the highest security prison that ever existed.

Armed with the article and a video from MythBusters, I asked my students to make up their own minds about whether or not the fugitives escaped.  Students worked on rough drafts and by Wednesday were poised at the computers to type up their essays.

Alcatraz_Island_photo_D_Ramey_Logan

Photo from Wikipedia by D. Ramey Logan.

They were still bothered, however, because they didn’t know the truth.  Did the three men escape or not?  Searching for images to put into their blog posts, a student came upon a recent news report, recent as in “3 hours ago.”  We all eagerly gathered around the computer, reading over his shoulders.

A letter allegedly written by one of the escapees recently came to light. CBS San Francisco exclusively obtained it from a source.

“My name is John Anglin. I escape from Alcatraz in June 1962 with my brother Clarence and Frank Morris. I’m 83 years old and in bad shape. I have cancer. Yes we all made it that night but barely!”   

CBS News Jan. 24, 2018

 

What happens to an essay that has been written and worked on in conferences when new evidence emerges?

Different students responded in different ways.  One student placed the link to the article into his post.  Another changed his whole essay and threw away the rough draft.  Others adjusted and added to what they had already written. And some were not convinced by the evidence.  They kept their original theory.

In a recent blog post by Kate Roberts on The Educator Collaborative, Kate asks these questions: “Is it ever worthwhile to read as a community, to read a text someone else chooses for you, one that you would never read on your own? ”

Like Kate Roberts and many reading workshop gurus, I believe strongly in choice.  But when it comes to nonfiction, experiencing the text as a whole class is engaging and exciting.  Nonfiction encourages more research.  Students push each other, ask questions, and engage in a deeper way when reading nonfiction together.

This week we are reading aloud Poison by Sarah Albee to prepare for a Skype visit with her on Thursday, World Read Aloud Day.  I look forward to discovering where this will lead us.  Keeping kids engaged, wondering, and curious is what teaching is all about.

 

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