Poetry Friday: Getting a Book in the Mail

May 16th, 2008  Tagged , ,

arrive home from school
book package, note in mailbox
way to end the day

I traveled 35 minutes each way to school so coming home this week to a book and a handwritten note was delightful.  I won a copy of The Llama Who Had No Pajama from Elaine during National Poetry Month.

It is such a great collection of poems by Mary Ann Hoberman.  I love the variety in the poetry forms and the poetry subjects. Plus there are 100 of them!! Love it!
Two favorites are haiku

Fireflies

Fireflies at twilight
In search of one another
Twinkle off and on.

Flamingo

Sea risen sunbird
O flaming flamingo, spread
Wide your red feathers

I know that I am going to spend a lot of time with this treasure. I see reading to students and reading it to my grand daughters. Thank you, Elaine.

Poetry Friday Roundup is at Two Writing Teachers.

Poetry Friday: A Cloudy Day

March 20th, 2008  Tagged , , ,

Having second graders write poems about clouds was part of the collaboration unit I just finished integrating science and literacy. These are a few treasures.  Terran’s is significant because he hates to write. I love his repetition.

Cumulonimbus

Cumulonimbus

Rain cloud

Thunderhead

Lightening will make a

Big boom!

It is really dark.

–Makenna, 2nd grade

Cumulus, cumulus

You are big

Cumulus, cumulus

Whit cumulus

Puffy on top

Cumulus, cumulus

You have a flat bottom

–Terran, 2nd grade

Stratus

Stratus are soft

They are like a blanket

They are

Cool, tight, best

They are gray

–Oscar, 2nd grade

Unseeable

Calm

Wispy

Like

A

Wave

A little

Rain drizzle

Seems restless

Like

It’s

Always

There.

–Tailor, 2nd grade

Stratus

Soft like a blanket

So wispy

So gray

Low in the sky

See in the morning

Wiggly line

–Adam, 2nd grade

Counting down until I mail my national board box with my 4 portfolio entries.                                    

Mailing date: March 27, 2008.

More wonderful poetry can be found at Wild Rose Reader.

Happy Reading.

MsMac

Poetry Friday: Shoes Made for Poems

February 29th, 2008  Tagged , ,

I am working with a second grade teacher in collaboration on a unit about poetry writing, clouds, and science.  It is for Entry 1 of the national boards; “Instructional Collaboration”.  It is the way library classes should be held.  There are days, many days, that the 30 minute time frame does not work for me.  My convictions have only grown stronger through this national board process this year.

When I started with the second grade class, many did not know was meant by the word: poem.  The teacher and I did lessons about poems.  We shared poems and then the students drew their shoes and wrote poems for their shoes.  Here are a few, unfortunately I cannot share the drawings:

Soccer Shoes

Oh my shoes come untied all the time.

They are made in Vietnam.

Kick

Really hard

Guard the goal

My shoes have

Zig Zags on the side

They are Adidda’s.
Allison

   My Shoes

My Shoes Make Me Feel Good.

My shoes have cool spiders.

My shoes always come untied.

They light up.

They are made in China

My shoes rock!
By Brenton

  Black Leather Boots

Boots made out of leather.

They make me feel

happy and proud.

They are made in Chinas

You will never expect karate

Boots!
By Lacey

Pretty Shoes

My shoes are pink and white

And they have spots

And holes

They even have hearts too

And they are sneakers

And air breathers

They make me magical.
By Lisa

Second Best Shoes

Riding on

Wheels

On soft leather.

So much fun to ride.

My shoes are made

In China.

My shoes are

Fun to walk.

My shoes been in a movie

Theatre.

My shoes are the second best shoes.
By Dorian

The poems and the illustrations are fantastic.  The teacher will be putting the collection into a book and will then donate the book into the library.  I have several student generated books but the donations have fallen off in the past few years. It’s exciting to see someone revitalizing thie student author collection and giving voice and purpose for writing.

I hope you visit Writing and Ruminating who is hosting Poetry Friday.

I finished Eat Pray Love last night and will begin Copper Sun this weekend.  The author, Sharon Draper, will be in our district for a  “One Book, One Community” this spring.  Copper Sun will be the books she talks about at that forum.

Happy Reading.

MsMac