National Poetry Month: What I Discovered

It is the first time that I have saturated three grade levels (3rd-5th) with poetry all month.  It made sense, these students have been engaged in state tests all month.  I wanted library time to be a respite.  It was worth it.

I discovered:

conversations about poetry increased with staff and students.

one teacher wrote poetry with her students for “Poem in Your Pocket Day”.

I have poems for this blog until school is out.

a way to teach how to write the pantoum form with students. I did this for Earth Day.

I need to post more than Poetry Friday with poems. (and I will)

I may have connected with a third grade student for the first time when I published his haiku poem about hating haiku.

Students you least expect will deliver amazing words in poems.

This next week I am working with a fourth grade class to finish their “ring, drum, and blanket” poems.  I posted a comment on Wild Rose Reader about this poem eluding me.
Janet Wong posted a suggestion and I ran with it.  I am going to have the students revise a bit and I hope to have them for the post next week.  But some of the drafts are amazing.

As far as my own goal of 30 days =30 poems? I wrote 26 poems during the month.  Not quite my goal but I am learning lessons,letting go of my perfectionism.

I am really happy with my poem, “For My Granddaughter”.

Thank you, Elaine for the copy of The Llama Who had No Pajama.  I can’t wait to get it.

Kelly at Big A, little a is rounding up poems today.