I'm teaching acrostic poetry to my students today. That fact, coupled with the present Word Up/One Little Word Challenge involving the word ONE, I decided to mesh the poetry and the OLW Challenge together. Word Up - One, originally uploaded by teachergal. This week Poetry Friday is being hosted at Sarah Reinhardt's Blog. However, if… Continue reading An Original Acrostic Poem for Poetry Friday
Category: poetry
Making Mentor Poems Accessible At Any Time
Mentor Poems Bulletin Board, originally uploaded by teachergal. I realized the other day that it was unfair to only provide extra mentor poems, from my mentor poems binder, to kids when I conferred with them. Hence, in addition to handing out a packet of mentor poems after each minilesson, I also put together this new… Continue reading Making Mentor Poems Accessible At Any Time
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Teaching Figurative Language with Mentor Poems
I was conferring with one of my students in Writing Workshop yesterday and quickly found, as I researched, my compliment (meaningful line breaks while drafting) and teaching point (using figurative language, specifically similes). I started to demonstrate what similes were by reviewing the concept of comparing two things with the words like or as. However,… Continue reading Teaching Figurative Language with Mentor Poems
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Poetry Friday: An Original
The Climbing Tree Branches sturdy old A deep hole for your foot As you hoist yourself upwards you can see all the buds blossoming --Stacey, May 2008 This week Poetry Friday is being hosted at Wild Rose Reader. (Also, I have the 'narrative makings' of another poem over at Crafty Creations. I'll be writing this… Continue reading Poetry Friday: An Original
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Tomorrow’s Mid-Workshop Teaching Point will be about…
LINE BREAKS!!!!! So important and so mystifying for kids who are just starting to write poetry. They see them all the time, they know what they are, but they don't use them when they're drafting! I found "You can break a line" mini cards I gave my very first class a few years ago. Hence,… Continue reading Tomorrow’s Mid-Workshop Teaching Point will be about…
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Poetry: 50 Stories Above the Surface
Prudential Center: Skywalk Observatory Originally uploaded by teachergal The entire fourth grade went high on Friday. What did we do? We went up to the Skywalk Observatory at the Prudential Center in Boston. (We didn't hit any traffic AND no one got motion sickness.) Kate and I gave our students a packet for them to… Continue reading Poetry: 50 Stories Above the Surface
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Writing-Related Birthday Gifts
Writing-Related Birthday Gifts Originally uploaded by teachergal Yesterday was my birthday and I received two writer's notebooks: one from my best friend and one from one of my students. (Do you think people realize I'm obsessed with writing? I think yes!) The pink and brown notebook that my best friend got me started with a… Continue reading Writing-Related Birthday Gifts
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Building a Living Poetry Anthology
Pat suggested that I work with my students to create a Living Poetry Anthology (I believe Georgia Heard first presented this idea in one of her books.) during my first year of teaching. As the overzealous person I was in my first year of teaching, I did it. My students each recopied three - five… Continue reading Building a Living Poetry Anthology
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Close Observation Yields Remarkable Object Poems
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Poetic Devices I Think Elementary School Kids Can Use (& Should Know About)
A Poet's Toolbox Originally uploaded by teachergal We read Valerie Worth's "Chairs" Poem today prior to Writing Workshop. Before my kids filled out the revised Responding to Poetry Form, we spent time really talking about tools poets use (i.e., they keep all of these in their toolbox and take a few of them out when… Continue reading Poetic Devices I Think Elementary School Kids Can Use (& Should Know About)
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“Responding to Poetry” – Form Evolution
Kate and I have been going back-and-forth with "the best" format we can use for getting our kids to start responding to poetry. After something didn't work as well with my fourth graders (as it did with my fifth graders), we worked together to recreate the fifth grade sheet I had so that it would… Continue reading “Responding to Poetry” – Form Evolution
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What do you notice about this poem?
Brainstorming About "Pencils" by Barbara Esbensen Originally uploaded by teachergal Since I came back today, my kids only had one day's worth of formal poetry instruction. Hence, I wanted to spend some time doing some noticing of the tools one poet used in their poem (in this case, Barbara Esbensen's Poem "Pencils," which I've used… Continue reading What do you notice about this poem?
