Posted in Poetry, Teaching, Writing, tagged chalk poetry, chalkabration, Halloween, student writing activity on October 31, 2013| 4 Comments »
Join the Chalk-a-bration over at Teaching Young Writers
I love joining Betsy’s monthly Chalkabration at the end of each month. This week my students reminded me! We had a class visitor. Kaylie, who is now a middle school student, had a fall break, so she came to visit. The kids were excited to write with her again and to have her join our Chalkabration. With the theme of Halloween, ideas flowed quickly, and we were off to decorate the sidewalk with our spooky poems.
Posted in Celebration Saturday, Teaching, Writing, tagged field trip, gifted education, Grace Episcopal Church, Longview, Natchez, St. Francisville, The Myrtles, Travel on October 26, 2013| 6 Comments »
Today is Celebration Saturday over at Ruth Ayres’ Site, Discover, Play, Build.
Yesterday was a wonderful fall day! The air was clear and crisp. A perfect day for a field trip. The gifted program for our district takes the 4th-6th graders on a field trip every other year to St. Francisville, LA and Natchez, MS. Early Friday morning at 6 AM, our students and teachers, along with some parent and grandparent chaperones, boarded a chartered bus and headed north to St. Francisville.
In St. Francisville, we toured the haunted Myrtles Plantation home. One of the stories we heard was about a slave who had her ear cut off. This ghost apparently steals earrings, actually takes only one for her remaining ear, and is especially fond of hoop earrings. And sure enough, one of the moms had on hoop earrings. One was gone, Poof!, by the end of the tour. I had the freezons, which is Cajun for chills.
Students pose at the outdoor fountain.
After touring and walking the beautiful grounds of the Myrtles, we headed down the road to Grace Epicopal Church to their old cemetery. There the students did gravestone rubbings. Next week we will research these and write historical fiction stories.
In Natchez, we ate lunch on the grounds of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, and the kids had the chance to run up and down Indian mounds and learn about the pottery and basketry of the Natchez Indians. A favorite souvenir for my boys were arrowhead pendants.
Then on to Longwood Plantation. Longwood is an impressive site, the largest plantation home in Natchez; however, the only completed part is the basement. The Civil War broke out, and the owner died of pneumonia. His widow raised 8 children in the completed part of the basement which was only 10,000 square feet. Imagine the completed house would have been 30,000 sq. feet. You go up the stairs and can see the framework of the incomplete mansion. It is most fascinating. Again at this plantation, the students sketched. Back at school, they will compare and contrast the life of a child at each plantation we visited.
Even though the trip was long and we didn’t get back home until 8:30 PM, the friendships made and nurtured as well as the history learned and appreciated made this field trip a valuable experience for everyone.
Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, clustering, fall poetry, gifted writers, JoAnn Early Macken, writing exercises on October 25, 2013| 13 Comments »
Finally in the deep south the temperatures are cooling off. Everyone is putting out their decorated pumpkins and synthetic spider webs. Halloween is around the corner. Time to write some fall poetry. I introduced fall poetry by posting Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s poem “Preserving Fall” on our kidblog site. Her poem is about pressing leaves in waxed paper. I remember doing this as a child and with my own kids, but my students have never done this. We are going on a field trip today to Natchez, Mississippi where there may be more colorful leaves to collect. I promised we could press leaves next week.
In the meantime, I shared Amy’s book Forest Has a Song. We picked out favorites to read aloud. From JoAnn Early Macken’s book Write a Poem Step by Step, I asked the writers to use a cluster method for gathering ideas when pre-writing. I like how clustering can bring forth words you may not find otherwise.
One of my clusters turned to my backyard satsuma tree, full of ripening fruit.
Satsuma Time
Look outside the kitchen window;
First sign of fall,
peeks of yellow,
sparkle like diamonds
ripening in the sun.
Heavy hanging on the tree,
Abundance gathered one by one.
Satsuma sweet,
Autumn citrus treat.–Margaret Simon
See more Poetry Friday at Live your poem with Irene Latham.
Posted in Celebration Saturday, Poetry, Writing, tagged Art walk, Hunter Gibson, Illuminate, John Gibson, New Iberia, pointillism on October 19, 2013| 4 Comments »
Fellow blogger, Ruth Ayres starts up her Celebration Saturday round-up today. Click on the image above to find other writers celebrating today.
Excitement is in the air at A&E Gallery for the Fall into the Arts Artwalk tonight. Above is a picture of gallery owner, Paul Schexnayder on the right, showing my father, John Gibson, on the left where he will be displaying Dad’s art for tonight.
Dad brought 8 pieces to show, a few to sell, and some prints. I am excited to introduce him and his art to my friends here in New Iberia. We will be signing and selling our collaborative book Illuminate. My brother, Hunter Gibson, completed the companion CD, and it is absolutely beautiful. My nieces added in their voices on the recording. This whole project touches me deeply. I hope others will feel all the love that has gone into the book, the love of art, poetry, music, and family. A true thing to celebrate!
Posted in Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged ekphrastic poetry, fine art photography, Louisiana wetlands, Marjorie Pierson on October 18, 2013| 15 Comments »
Photo by Marjorie Pierson, all rights reserved.
I’d like to introduce you to a my friend and cousin, photographer Marjorie Pierson. Marjie has an amazing eye for light in nature. She lives in North Carolina, teaches a fine art class at Duke, and sponsors a girls’ art club at Durham Academy. Her mother lives here (actually, across the street),so Marjie visits often. She always finds time to explore the bayous and marshes and take photographs. She creates large prints on canvas that look like oil paintings.
Marjie did not visit my class on her latest visit, but her photographs did. She has developed an inspiring website. I told my students about Marjie’s interest in wetlands preservation and talked to them about writing ekphrastic poetry. I used a 6-room organizer from Georgia Heard’s book Awakening the Heart.
Then I played classical music while the students watched a slideshow of wetlands beauty and wrote.
Magic happened as magic often does when writing combines with art. Here are some of the poems my students wrote.
Song of the Wetlands
The beautiful details of the wetlands.
Shadows reflecting off of the water.
I am silent.
I smell sweet and damp.
I feel wet, mossy, grassy and slimy.
I taste bitter, salty water and sweet.
Like
I am pretty places
flowing everywhere,
a wetland full of
green.
I am precious and you can preserve me to save me before I am gone.
–Tyler
Silhouette of the Sea
The fine art of blue dancing waters
embrace the feel of warmthreflections of green
sounds of naturea wind in the silhouette
smells like freshly cut grass
small droplets drip
drip
dropping
on the smallest blade of grass
–Vannisa
I’m Home
A green line of cane,
above the tan dirt,
under the bright blue
Louisiana sky.
Colorful, like a
shining rainbow after
a harsh rain,
like a path full of
roses and daisies.
There is a hushing noise,
made by the stalks slowly
and gently rubbing together,
hush. hush, hush.
With the touch of the angel’s wing
so delicate and free, reassuring
you that anything is possible.
Always giving off the soft, welcoming,
harmless, I’m home feeling.
I’m home,
I’m home,
I’m home.
Join the Poetry Friday blog hop at Merely Day by Day.
Check out Matt Forrest’s Mortimer Minute over at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme.
Posted in Poetry, Poetry Friday, Teaching, Writing, tagged teaching gifted, Wonderopolis on October 11, 2013| 15 Comments »
Happy Poetry Friday! For more poetic fun, hop over to Laura Purdie Salas’ site Writing the World for Kids.
Mortimer Minute has hopped over to Michelle’s place today–Today’s Little Ditty.
Chuck Savall
coral.org
Ever since I discovered the website, Wonderopolis, I have wanted to find a way to use it with my gifted students. On Tuesday, I saw the widget for the Wonderopolis link on Amy Rudd’s site. It caught my eye. The wonder of the day was the Great Barrier Reef. I got lost in the video swimming along the reef. I decided to make Wednesday into Wonderopolis Wednesday. I showed the Wonder of the Day and the video and asked my students to use at least 3 of the Wonder Words in their writing. I always write alongside them.
In walks my principal for a “walk-through evaluation.” We were finishing up the quiet writing time and getting ready to share. My normally vivacious class clammed up. No one wanted to share. What was I to do? I shared my own attempt at a rhyming poem with this disclosure, “I’m trying to write a rhyming poem and you know how hard this is for me.” When I read aloud, one student suddenly became an expert on rhyming poetry. He explained to me how I had to not only rhyme, but I had to have a consistent beat to each line. My students chimed in to help me write my poem. We continued revising the next morning. I think in the end we created a pretty good poem. But I must credit my students for their guidance.
By the way, my principal thought it was awesome that I had them critiquing me. She thought it was a little “teacher act.” But I explained, “No, I really needed the help. I’m terrible at rhyming.”
Living Treasure: The Great Barrier Reef
Discover our ocean friend.
Twenty thousand years to no end.
Golden-tailed hope rises on the wind.Coral flowers sway with the tide.
Sea turtles, stingrays gracefully glide.
Among the lacy red, a mollusk will hide.White-fingered anemone hug dancing fish.
Swimming, swaying, a rainbow swish.
A beauty, a wonder, a diver’s lifelong wish.–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Chere' Coen, Haunted Lafayette, scary stories, students writing on October 6, 2013| 4 Comments »
Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!
October is here, and the weather has turned slightly cooler. Anticipation is growing for a favorite holiday…Halloween. What better time is there to write haunted stories?
I invited my writer friend, Chere’ Coen to visit my class. She recently released a new book, Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana. You can read excerpts on her blog Haunted Lafayette. Chere’ is a journalist who has always had a fascination with ghost stories. She brought her interest and her talent together in this book published by History Press. The book blurb reads, “Ghost stories abound in the Cajun and Creole city of Lafayette, Louisiana, from those lost in Civil War skirmishes and fever outbreaks to the former living who can’t say goodbye. Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana by The History Press takes readers inside some of the most historic sites in South Louisiana, including haunted bed and breakfasts, restaurants and entertainment venues — even the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In addition, there are the back roads and cemeteries where spirits linger, pirates who refuse to leave and ancient French legends hiding in the swamps, bayous and woods.”
My students came alive while Chere’ talked to them. They all had stories to tell and questions to ask. To illustrate the difference in style from dry, factual writing to intriguing feature writing, Chere’ read an article from the front page of a local newspaper. Then she read an article she had written about a ghost story. We discussed the differences and how we can make our writing more vivid and interesting.
Finally, we all settled down to have quiet writing time. The pens and pencils were flying. My students were primed to write their own haunted stories. Chere’ wrote, too, and shared her scary tale of a class of students diligently writing while a headless man lurked in the sugarcane fields. (In Brooklyn’s thank you note, she wrote that she keeps looking out the window for the headless man.) While we were reading aloud our rough drafts, one student proclaimed, “We are all writers!” Yes! Chere’ inspired them to understand they can be writers.
Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Berry Queens, gratitude, Illuminate, International Dot Day, John Gibson, Peter Reynolds on September 24, 2013| 8 Comments »
Join the Tuesday Slice of Life!
For today’s Slice of Life, I want to express my gratitude for the Wonders in my life.
I. I am part of a Wonderful group of women called The Berry Queens. At the 6th annual ball on Friday night, I was honored to be named Head Diva.
2012-13 Head Diva, Susan and me, 2013-14 Head Diva.
II. My Wonderful baby girl was home for two weeks. We enjoyed some fun times together. Her boyfriend, Jeff, came in for the weekend. Here they are posing at the Grandmother Oak.
Daughter Martha with boyfriend, Jeff with Grandmother Oak.
III. Reading FREADOM: This is National Banned Books week. My students are discussing their favorite books. I am grateful that they are Wonder-filled readers. Some of them made Animoto videos about their books.
IV. International Dot Day celebration continues: My younger students (2nd-4th grade) discovered the Wonder of creating their own mark using Paint.
Emily’s Dot created on Paint.
Emily’s Acrostic Dot Day poem
Decorating Dots
Oh,what a nice day
Today, today dots we make.Dabbing on dots
All day I say
Yay! oh what a nice day!
V. The proof is here! The book of my poems with my Dad’s art, Illuminate, will be coming soon. Here I am with the Proof! Wonders never cease!
It may be small, but it is oh, so precious. My book of poems with my father’s art.
Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged 15 lines, poetry, quotes, writer's block on September 3, 2013| 12 Comments »
Join the Tuesday Slice of Life
an interesting exercise to try when you have writer’s block
I didn’t know what to write about for my Tuesday Slice of Life Challenge, so I went back to an exercise from Poets and Writers The Time is Now to collect 15 lines in a day and write from those lines.
Here are some lines I collected:
I write to honor childhood and extend dignity to children. —Caroline Starr Rose
The more unlikely the guest, the more likely it is that we are entertaining Jesus himself. —Bishop Jake Owensby
A great day to do nothing. —Carol RiceThe way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become. –Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Everything we carry, even the smallest thing, has weight. —Clare Martin
Love the one you hold. —Mumford and SonsWe make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. —Winston Churchill
These lines spoke to me and this poem emerged, still rough, but it seems to be wanting to tell me something…
The way you see me is who I become.
I am the unlikely guest who stands
with feet crossed. My toenails are orange.
I wear a cross on my wrist
and another on my neck, in amethyst.
Am I the angel you will entertain today?
I cannot lift you without holding you,
holding some of what weighs you down.
Maybe if we interlock our hands,
intertwine our fingers, the load
will be easier to bear.
–Margaret Simon, all rights reserved
A new writing challenge by way of Teaching Authors: Write Fifteen Minutes a Day on Laurie Halse Anderson’s blog. Join me? Can you write 15 minutes today? Set a timer and just go for it.
Posted in Blogging, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged gifted education, Kidblog, teaching, Writing Slice of Life on May 21, 2013| 6 Comments »
Join the Tuesday Slice of Life
Class group hug, saying goodbye.
At first I set up a site just for my students. I teach gifted elementary students at two schools, so this site was titled “Mrs. Simon’s GT Allstars.” I required only one post per week and comments on two posts. I created a very simple rubric that included these four aspects: 1. I posted at least one time this week. My post followed the teacher’s prompt. 2. My post was free of grammar errors. 3. I commented on at least two other posts. 4. My comment was thoughtful and constructive.
Kidblogs provided my students a forum for posting and sharing their writing. They interacted through comments. Some students built stories and would write, “Stay tuned for part 2.” We talked about commenting and creating a “compliment sandwich” or “criticycle.” Students became anxious for new writing prompts. They would rush to the computers to check on their comments.
I introduced the Kidblog site to my colleagues. We used it for responses from a group field trip with the 4th and 5th grade gifted students. We made a site for our 6th grade enrichment project. Two colleagues decided to read the same book and had conversations between their students on Kidblog.
Then came the Slice of Life Challenge in March. Being familiar with writing on a blog made it easier for my students to jump in and participate. I made this site public (after getting parental consent) so that other Slice Of Life writers could read and comment. For the Slice of Life Challenge, I raised the expectations for posting to three posts per week and commenting on three other blogs. But to win a prize, they had to write at least every day we had school. The more they posted, the better the prize. I had 4 students get the top prize for posting every day. One of these told me that she felt she was a real writer now.
I highly recommend using blogs in your classroom. The Kidblog site is easy to use. The site administrators are helpful and supportive. I think my students are better writers, but the best part is they think they are better writers.
I did a survey and here are some of their comments:
The way that people could comment on my writing helped me to improve. I think everyone built up each others’ self esteem. I can not think of a better way to improve this blog; it is already great.
During slice of life, I was able to see what others’ interests are. People’s comments helped me improve my writing. Writing should be shared with the world. Blogging has improved my writing and helped me stay connected with friends. I hope kidblogs continues.
When I commented, I tried to be as nice as possible, but still able to tell the author’s mistakes. From now on, I’ll try to think less about mistakes and be more positive when I comment.
I really enjoy blogging on slice of life challenge this year, and it was the first time I enjoyed blogging. I used to think it was boring, but it’s not. I enjoy being able to communicate with people all around the USA. YES! Blogging was so fun! I want to do it every year.
To see all of their comments and their writing, go to Slice of Life Challenge.
I want to take a moment to thank all of the Slice of Life teachers who took the time to visit our Kidblog site and comment. We even had a few authors stop in, Caroline Starr Rose and Sharon Creech. The wonders of this World Wide Web!
Making connections! Improving writing! Sharing! Building a community of writers! These are the values of blogging. Blogging is for kids!
Our address on the Bayou Teche
Order on Amazon.
April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
April 2 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
April 3 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Denise at https://mrsdkrebs.edublogs.org/
April 6 Buffy at http://www.buffysilverman.com/blog
April 7 Jone at https://www.jonerushmacculloch.com/
April 8 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 9 Tabatha at https://tabathayeatts.blogspot.com/
April 10 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins
April 11 Rose at Imagine the Possibilities | Rose's Blog
April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and Pieces
April 13 Cathy Stenquist
April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainly Write
April 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink
April 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm
April 17 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 18 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
April 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 21 Tanita at TanitasDavis.com
April 22 Patricia Franz
April 23 Ruth at There's No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
April 24 Linda Kulp Trout at http://lindakulptrout.blogspot.com
April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
April 26 Michelle Kogan at: https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/
April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 28 Pamela Ross at Words in Flight
April 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors
