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NPM #4: Literary Festival

Posted in Poetry, Teaching, Writing, tagged #verselove, Books along the Teche Literary Festival, Ethical ELA, National Poetry Month, Poem Portraits on April 4, 2022| 1 Comment »

What a full weekend! The Books along the Teche Literary Festival was held in New Iberia. On Saturday, my friend, artist Paul Schexnayder and I led a children’s workshop. He taught the art part and I led the poem part: Poem Portraits. The kids wrote a bio-poem and decorated a cardboard face with Picasso-esque facial designs.

Outside in Blue Dog Park, there was a children’s authors area, but I decided not to sit and sell books this year. I had a good time supporting my SCBWI friends, hanging out at their tables, chatting and selling their books.

It certainly helped that the weather was probably the best we’ve had all year.

Blue Dog Park was the location of the Children’s Author Tents

For Ethical ELA, Gae Polisner and Lori Landau led the prompt with a suggestion to choose a line from another writer’s poem and create your own poem. They called it Collaboration Inspiration and it was probably the most prolific day for writing so far. Pop over to read the amazing poetic responses and to be inspired yourself. I borrowed my first line from Stacy: “Yesterday I wore only a sweater.”

Yesterday I wore only a sweater
Cream-colored comfort
in the morning chill.
I left it on a folding chair
in the children’s authors’ tent
where we joyfully greeted
a couple from Ohio
who loved children
and storybooks
and the craft of illustration.
A book festival can be an inadequate space,
sitting for hours
no sales in sight
pondering imposter syndrome.
Yet on this April day
I dropped my sweater,
tossed my discomfort to sunshine
and a circle of writers
who fed my soul
and warmed my shoulders–
no sweater needed.
Margaret Simon, draft

Progressive Poem is with Mary Lee today.

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Slice of Life #30: This Photo Wants to be a Poem

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged #small poems, equation poems, student photography, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on March 30, 2022| 45 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Last week I took my students out to the playground to find photos. I wrote about the activity yesterday. I was surprised by the variety and interest their photos generated. Without any direction, Adelyn straddled the drainage and folded herself in half and took this photo upside down. When I asked if I could use her photo for the poetry prompt, she said, “Be sure to give me credit.” Of course. She wrote this equation poem: Investigation = question + adventure.

Now it’s your turn. What do you see? Write a small poem in the comments. Support other writers with your comments.

Follow your curiosity.
Landing among the stones,
Explore a mystery.
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life #29: Photo Project

Posted in Photography, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged equation poems, Kim Douillard, Laura Purdie Salas on March 29, 2022| 11 Comments »

Following other teacher-bloggers can lead to new ideas for classroom activities. Recently I read Kim Douillard’s posts about using photography with her students. She graciously sent me a slide show to teach students about three photography techniques, bug’s eye view, bird’s eye view, and rule of thirds. My students caught on to these ideas with ease and were anxious to get outside to try them out. Our beautiful spring weather was a wonderful collaborator.

Following our playground photo sessions, my students used the editing tools on the Chromebooks. Kim had led her students to write equation poems with their photographs. I shared Laura Purdie Salas’s equation poems. I directed my students to use Canva to display their photos and equation poems. Here are a few student photos.

Sunlight + Trees = Painting by Jaden, 6th grade

The creative teacher in me wants to find more opportunities to practice photography and language. In fact, I think I’ll use one of their images for a poem prompt tomorrow. Stay tuned.

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Slice of Life #22: Hope Haiku

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged haiku, inspirational quotes, Mr. Brown's precepts, simile on March 22, 2022| 7 Comments »

Quote-of-the-day from Matthew, age 11, in 365 Days of Wonder:

This precept gave me the opportunity to teach about simile. Avalyn understood immediately and created her own simile. When the syllable count emerged as 5, then 7, I saw a haiku in the making. Avalyn completed it with a dazzling 5-syllable line.

Hope is the rainbow
sparkling in the sunshine rain
dazzling air with Joy!
Avalyn, 2nd grade

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Slice of Life #14: Jamboard Quotes

Posted in Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Happiness, inspirational quotes, jamboard on March 14, 2022| 13 Comments »

I teach different groups of gifted kids, so I try to find ways to connect us. One of those is by blogging. Each week my students write a Slice of Life and comment on each other’s blog posts on Fanschool (formerly Kidblog).

Another collaborative project is our daily quote of the day. We often pull quotes from the 365 Days of Wonder, a companion to the book Wonder by R.J. Polacio. My first student of the day begins the Jamboard. We recently got the use of a Promethean, so she pulls it up on the board and taps out the words with the pen. Together we choose a background image. And throughout the day, each student adds a personal response to the quote. Their response also goes in their notebook as a creative notebook page they can decorate for themselves.

I love this little ritual for a few reasons. One, it gets us talking first thing, analyzing the quote, thinking about what it means, and sharing our responses. But I also love how my students are influenced by the positive message in the quote. They are just happier when we do this. And that makes me happy, too.

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Slice of Life: Hearts and Monarchs

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged concrete poem, heart painting, monarchs on February 15, 2022| 6 Comments »

My mind has been on hearts and monarchs. For Valentine’s Day, I gave each of my students a small canvas to create a heart-inspired art piece. We looked at Pinterest images and got inspired. They enjoyed spending time focused on design and playing with paint.

In my email inbox, the Poetry Foundation Poem-of-the-Day was a concrete poem in the shape of half of a heart. I used the idea to create a poem for Laura Shovan’s poetry challenge. It was a challenge. I managed to make the shape, but I’m not sure if I managed a cohesive poem.

I came home to find four monarchs hanging out in my butterfly enclosure. Such beautiful creatures. I am worried, though, because we are still having cold temperatures. I released two of them in the afternoon 60 degrees. Today the temps will climb to 70, so I’ll release the other two.

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Slice of Life: Notebooking Fun

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged #100DaysofNotebooking, collage, quotes on January 11, 2022| 8 Comments »

When we returned from winter break, I started a new daily writing activity in my classroom: 100 Days of Notebooking. In truth we don’t have 100 days of school left, but no matter. The point is to write and draw and be creative every day in some way or another. My students have embraced this idea.

We start each entry with the date and a quote. I have a copy of 360 Days of Wonder which is full of quotes. I also allow students to look up quotes by famous people they admire. One student is choosing a sports quote each day.

The papers I used for the collage above were images in a National Geographic magazine of a polluted lake in Romania. I told Chloe about it and she wrote a poem about it. I asked her if I could have a copy for my notebook page.

For Christmas, one of my students gave me a gift card to Target, so I used it to get more notebooking supplies, washi tape, felt-tip pens, and decorative paper.

Michelle Haseltine started a Facebook group and an Instagram hashtag. It’s fun to be a part of a larger group. Everyone has their own unique style of notebooking. I enjoy drawing inspiration from others.

Avalyn picked out the quote above, and we discussed the figurative meaning of it. On her notebook page, she wrote a loving poem. You can see how she worked on the line breaks. She posted it on our Fanschool page. You can leave a comment for her here.

Do you have a notebook? What creativity can you bring to the blank page?

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Poetry Friday: Little Gingerbread Houses

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged ee cummings, Karen Eastlund, The Slowdown, winter poem swap on December 17, 2021| 11 Comments »

Little Gingerbread House
The whole room smells
of graham crackers and icing,
sweet-scented as Christmas should be,
marked by twinkle lights and fingers
dipped in icing or glitter glue.
Santa’s in the hallway
listening to every child’s wish.
Teachers are tired, overwhelmed
by lists and sugary treats. Too much
time spent on planning, cooking, decorating.
But there’s the child with bright eyes
who opens her arms and says “I love you”.
You must open
your little gingerbread house
to all of it.
Margaret Simon, draft

I started my day listening to Ada Limón and The Slowdown. She talked about her grandmother’s kitchen and read the poem little tree by ee cummings. I played this episode for my students, and we wrote together. My poem above is true. I took the plunge and did gingerbread houses made out of graham crackers for the first (and most likely last) time. The success on Avalyn’s face and her insistence on telling me she loved me comforted my weary soul. She wrote a sweet story about her little gingerbread house on Fanschool here. (Spoiler alert: it includes a true story about a lizard rescue.)

Chloe wrote a poem side-by-side to ee cummings.

(after ee cummings little tree)
bright star
bright little North Star
you are so bright
you are more like a light
who found you behind Mars
and were you sad to lose hide and seek?
see I will comfort you
because you light up my Christmas tree.
i will hug your prickly sides
and swing you gently
as your mother would
so don’t run away
and my father and i will lift you up
and look at your shining stem
we’ll skip and sing
“Behold that Star”
Chloe Willis, 6th grade

This is the time of year for the Winter Poetry Swap. I exchanged with Karen Eastlund. She sent me the following poem (how cool that it’s in the shape of a Christmas tree) along with some delicious goodies and a hand sewn mini bin. Thanks, Karen.

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Slice of Life: Mentor Poets

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, circle poems, Mentor poems, student poems on November 16, 2021| 10 Comments »

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
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.
Margaret Simon

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
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?
Jaden, 6th grade

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
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.
Katie, 6th grade

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Slice of Life: Classroom Haibun

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged #gratitude, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, haibun on November 9, 2021| 10 Comments »

On Saturday as part of the Festival of Words, I had the privilege to attend a small workshop with Aimee Nezhukumatathil. She led us through a number of writing exercises and ended with a discussion of the haibun.

From Poets.org: “Haibun combines a prose poem with a haiku. The haiku usually ends the poem as a sort of whispery and insightful postscript to the prose of the beginning of the poem. Another way of looking at the form is thinking of haibun as highly focused testimony or recollection of a journey composed of a prose poem and ending with a meaningful murmur of sorts: a haiku.”

Aimee added to this definition with two concepts: Aware, a Japanese concept similar to natsukashisa, a type of nostalgia with a fondness for what is gone but also slight optimism for what’s ahead and a sense of calm because this is the natural course of things. She also Nezhukumatathiled the form with the addition of scent. She spoke about scent as a way to activate the reader’s mind to a memory.

On Monday, I went to a former school to screen a student for gifted. They put me in my old room to do the testing and while the child took her test, I wrote this poem.

I enter the spacious classroom, and you are not here. So many hard days in masks and social distance
defined our relationship then. Your desk is gone. The smell of pencil shavings is sharp
mixed with musty-mold of an old school. Today I am testing a girl like you,
bright and edgy with a little swagger to her walk. But she isn’t you. No one can be you but you.
This chair, the small blue square that lost its cushion years ago, holds me again.
I trip over its wobbly wheels wishing you were here to laugh at me. Where are you now?
In another classroom, another school, same masked face, same suspicious eyes.
I want to know if you are OK. I only ever wanted you to be OK.
Students come in
Twist my heart into a knot
And leave it longing
Margaret Simon, draft