Poetry Friday: Dreaming for School to be Finished
School gets out next Wednesday. I am dreaming for that day. It has been a long, wonderful year but I am ready for summer. So in honor of dreams, I am sharing fro a discovery I made this year over at 7-Imp; Janet Wong’s Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams. The illustrations are by Julie Paschkis, a favorite illustrator.
I dream almost every night. Sometimes as a result I wake up feeling like I had a good chat with my parents. This is why I loved the line for “The Ones They Loved the Most”:
…”When you are chosen
remember to pull
at the air around you
when you wake
pull and gulp it down,
swallow hard,
and those sweet memories
will stick
like cotton candy.”
And that’s what I do on the nights when my parents visit in my dreams.
And I laughed throughout the “Talking in Her Sleep”. It reminded me of my college days. I would retire earlier than my roommate. Many nights, I would sit up and begin a gibberish sort of conversation and she would recount it the following day. One night, she invited out friends to watch this weird event in our room. I woke and was not happy.
“Night Garden”, the first poem, is my favorite. I just love the idea of our mind being a garden rich:
“…dreams grow wild
like dandelion weeds,
feathery heads
alive
with seeds__”
I am looking forward to school being done, my national boards test completed (this Saturday), and time to cultivate the seeds waiting to sprout in my head.
Happy dreaming. Happy Reading. Poetry Friday reound-up is at A Wrung Sponge today.
MsMac
Books, Kidlitosphere, Poetry Friday | Comments (4)Poetry Friday: Photos and Poems from After School Poetry Club
Bars
Bars so slippery they always give me blisters
But I still always do it anyway
I think they’re fun
I see warm and cool colors
Like blue and yellow.
by Trinity, 3rd Grade
Flowers in the garden
Flowers in the garden dancing in the sun
Oh how I love to see the pretty flowers in the garden
Bush leaves shake when the wind blows
Pink and blue flowers and green grass sways.
by Brooklyn, 1st grade
Playground
The swings go swinging
The slide goes dripping
The basket ball so lonely
Just going
Drip drop drip drop
by Sarah, 1st grade
Pretty Tulips
Pretty tulips in the garden
Little hearts hidden in the flower
If you look very closely you will see love
by Jaegan, 1st grade
Rain
Small green buds
Dragonfly heart beats
A slick of rain falls
Tulips shine.
by Clare, 2nd grade
Tulips look like fruit
Like juicy apples and peaches
The stems like leaves on a tree
by Ember, 1st grade
In a forest
Blue violet bells hang
Softly misted
by Tasha, 5th grade
These students (and some others) have been meeting after school to do photography and poetry. These were their entries for the school art show. Poetry Friday is being hosted at Becky’s Book Review. Hop on over and see what others are sharing.
Will you be in Portland, Oregon, September 27, 2008? Look here for more details.
Heading out for the weekend. Enjoy!
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Kidlitosphere, Libraries, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comments (3)Poetry Friday: Getting a Book in the Mail
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.
Kidlitosphere, Libraries, Poetry, Poetry Friday | Comments (4)Poetry Friday: A Ring, A Drum, and A Blanket Poem
Last month Elaine at Wild Rose Reader suggested writing a poem with the words “blanket, drum, and ring” as a result of an interview with Janet Wong. It was an assignment given by the late Myra Cohn Livingston to her students (JW was one of them) in a master poetry class at UCLA.
This poetry prompt eluded me all month! I left a comment on Elaine’s blog and Janet Wong responded with a suggestion to have the students draw before writing. So I did with Mrs. Fisher’s 4th grade class two weeks ago. I brought in my mother’s Navajo story ring which she gave me months before her passing, a swatch of a Pendleton wool blanket and my father’s drumsticks as a visuals. They drew and wrote.
This week, rather than me play editor, I took the class to the computer lab and they played with the line breaks. Samples are here and others are on Mrs. Fisher’s Class Page.
I have to point out Kymberlee’s poem. She sat for most of the time and felt stuck, “I don’t know what to write”. We chatted and then she wrote. Wow!
Outside a thin
Blanket
Of snow
Lays upon
The ground.
I look at my ring.
The snow so cold,
My ring looking so warm.
Then I look at the pattern
in the snow
then the pattern on my ring
so alike almost the exact same.
I couldn’t keep it off my
Mind until
My mom’s homemade soup
The same golden color as my ring.
By: Alicia
Loud drums beating
in the park awaking
people with every beat. But
there is no drummer to this
drum. It is the spirit of the
tribes long ago.
People hear the drummer but
there is no site to see.
by Jacey
Heard in the distant,
The drum gets louder
And louder
get closer to the drum beat
When I get to it.
It was my
Heart that is making
The drum beat.
by Kymberlee
Ring of fire surrounds the valley,
a black angel rises from the ground,
a white angel comes from the glistening heavens, and a voice as loud as 100 bombs exploding shouts go get him, Zinkof,
and the 2 angels start fighting.
Zinkof gets hurt
but has enough strength
to overcome his enemy.
by Tim
Personally, I still haven’t captured the poem for this prompt. But wow, wow, wow to these fourth graders. Wow to the experience of bringing them into the computer lab and having them play with the line breaks.
Poetry Friday Roundup can be found at writer2b.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Kidlitosphere, Poetry, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comments (4)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.
Kidlitosphere, Poetry Friday, School | Comments (5)Poetry Friday: Poem Postcard, Anyone?
I am getting finished poem postcards from students. If you would like to receive one, please contact me via email: jmaccull at egreen d0t wednet dot edu.
The students have been having fun with these. From a first grader, who did this as “homework”:
Flip Flop, Hop Frog
Flippity flop
Did the frog hop?
Hop, hop the frog
did a big hop.
He hopped over a
frog. He played leap
frog all day long.
–Brooklyn, 1st grade
Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect is rounding up Poetry Friday today.
Poetry, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comment (1)A Poem Regarding My Absence at a Book Challenge Hearing
There was a book challenge hearing last night in my district. The book, Feed by MT Anderson, was the challenged book. I read the book last year on the recommendation of a workshop presenter. Not my cup of tea but I can see how the book could resonate with teenagers, especially boys. The book had been at all but one middle school library as well as the high school libraries. The challenge came from a middle school parent. I did not go to the hearing. I am now sorry that I did not attend. I do not know that it would have changed the outcome. I was told that I would not be able to testify because I was elementary and the book was not in the elementary level. But I should have been there supporting a colleague and I was not.
In the spirit of National Poetry Month:
This is Just to Say
I did not attend
the book challenge meeting
which you probably
were wanting the support
from colleagues
and which the
audience was void.
It would have been great
people present
who understand
the need
to have books
available
that engage
readers in higher level
thinking skills
despite
the language
which can be heard
via a variety
of media formats;
despite the notion
that we may come
to live in a dystopia
one day
instead of a
utopia
Forgive me
I promise
the next time
(and hopefully there
will not be a next time)
you will look out into the
audience
and
I will be there.
Read. Read it all.
MsMac
Poetry Friday: Winning Poem and Third Grade Haiku
Yesterday 3rd through 5th grade celebrated “Poem in your Pocket Day”. Students either had a poem in their pocket or the could turn an original poem into me. My classes have been reading and writing poetry as well. Today a winner was selected from the basket of poems and Mikyla’s poem was selected. She wins a copy of Poems in Black and White by Kate Miller.
This is Just to Say
I have eaten
ALMOST
All of your
Chocolate
That you were probably
Saving for
Your slumber party with
Your friends tonight.
Forgive me
It was so
Delicious
That I think
I might
Just have to
Eat the rest.
Please!
–Mikyla, 4th grade
I read Dogku by Andrew Clements, One Leaf Rides the WindbyCeleste Davidson Mannis, and Wing Nuts: Screwy Haikuby Paul B. Janeczko and J. Patrick Lewis with third grade. Then they tried some. I found it helpful to provide some starting lines for them to choose and then have them make it their own. The one haiku, “WASL”, refers to our state testing that is occurring right now.
My younger sister
Funny, loves to play, she’s two
She’s still my sister
–Darina, 3rd grade
Haiku not fun
Boring, I do not like it
I don’t understand
–Jamal, 3rd grade
one leaf rides the wind
like a wind blows in water
and take it with you
–Olesya, 3rd grade
WASL, so much fun
Can be hard, but yes, still fun
WASL, fun, fun, fun
–Kailee, 3rd grade
right now I am in
library, it is fun
books that read to us.
–Alexus, 3rd grade
Play in the garden
Worms eating ivy leaves
Worm tummy is full
–Aislinn, 3rd grade
Play all day outside
Play with my dog at a beach
I am hungry now.
–Katya, 3rd
Jedi, very cool
Jedi fast and powerful
Jedi have the force
–Bailey, 3rd grade
Loud, fast, and crazy
Dog running in the kitchen
to make some noise
–Justin, 3rd
Lone garden tulip
neatly, leatly in a row
let’s make this flower
–Breanne, 3rd grade
The Well Read Child is doing the Poetry Friday Round-Up today. Head there for more poetry.
This weekend, I am
heading to Seattle to see my friend’s daughter’s Senior Photography Exhibit at the U of Washington, catching up on my 30 Days= 30 Poems, finishing Copper Sun by Sharon Draper, and going to book club to discuss Maisie Dobbs.
How about you? Happy Reading.
MsMac
Poetry, Poetry Friday | Comments (2)Poetry Friday: A Cloudy Day
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
Kidlitosphere, Poetry, Poetry Friday, School, Uncategorized | Comment (1)Poetry Friday: Valentine’s Day Fun
I knew that my Poetry Thursday group would be over the moon about today being Valentine’s Day. In fact, several wanted to know if we were still meeting today because it was Valentine’s Day. So I decided for fun and taking a suggestion from last week, we did not write in our journals today.
I gave students a couple of those candy conversation hearts. They had to come up with a sentence that included the words on the hearts. They could work together with their friends. When the sentence was created, it was added to the list:
A Valentine Poem
New love
You want me to do good
Love me, don’t let us kiss
New heart as well as you know me
It’s true
Have a wonderful day, Valentine
You are all mine
We dream up cloud nine, it is love
I hope for real love
I smile on Valentine’s Day
Hearts and love the symbol
I can be your Valentine friend
Dear one, let’s sweet talk
I am dreaming a beautiful read heart
Be good. Love me. Please do, love bird.
You are too good, my sunshine
Today is a day of love
Hearts all day
A day of thought
Always love.
–by the Poetry Thursday Poets
Sometimes a day to be silly and have fun is needed.
Preparing for April: National Poetry Month.
Would you like to be part of a postcard poem exchange during the month of April? Please let me know. Our project for National Poetry Month Project will be to send poems on postcards. I am hoping that those who get a postcard would send a postcard in return with a favorite poem on it or an orginal poem. I need to start gathering interested participants. So if you are interested, please let me know. I will be addressing the postcards so students will not have access to addresses.
The Poetry Friday Round-up is at Hip Mama Writer.
Happy Reading.
MsMac
Libraries, Poetry, Poetry Friday, Uncategorized | Comment (1)