Check It Out

My poem to share today is in honor of having Sabina I. Rascol at our school three of five days this week.  Sabina read the following poem to the students.

I Hear America Singing

by Walt Whitman.

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;
Those of mechanics–each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat–the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench–the hatter singing as he stands;
The wood-cutter’s song–the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning,
or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
The delicious singing of the mother–or of the young wife at work–or of the girl sewing or washing–Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
The day what belongs to the day–At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.

Ms. Rascol used this  line: “Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;” to illustrate that everyone has their own song, or in this case their own poem to write.  She passed out so many gems to everyone:
–date your poems. (I am guilty of not doing that)
–keep all the drafts to refer to
–use “juicy, descriptive words
–keep a book with the poems written by others that you love (I do this, yay)

She met with students, handing out prompts like candy.

 
Chris, 5th grade, works on a poem “Ode to the Cheese Factory”. 

 Mrs. Grabner, 2nd grade teacher assisting a student.

Thursday afternoon was reserved for those engaged in poetry.  Three to four students per classroom came to the library. 

Students wrote poetry with new prompts: food, a time of year or time of day.

Some were very brave.  They volunteered to do a revision conference with Sabina. Strengths about their poems were pointed out along with one or two ideas to make their poem even better.

 It made my heart sing to have a teacher tell Sabina how excited her students were about the poems they wrote. I enjoyed this week immensely. I heard poems from students, normally are not engaged in library activities. I heard their individual songs this week and they were delicious ones.