Poetry Collaboration

How did Poetry Month slip away so quickly? April was National Poetry month and once again we celebrated poetry in the library. Unfortunately I didn’t get our poems published on the blog during April. A little late is better than never!

penguin

The theme this year was “Wild about Poetry” and most of the poems students wrote had an animal theme. We wrote some specifically for our friends at Benfer Elementary in Klein, Texas. This is our second year collaborating with our 1st graders for Poetry month. Last year we wrote acrostic poems and PaperBag style poems for each other. PaperBag poems are a mystery style poem. An object is placed inside a paper bag and students have to use describing words as they touch and feel the hidden object. Acrostic poems are written both vertically and horizontally.
bulldog
Written by the students at Benfer Elementary.

rock poem pic
Written by the students at Bell Elementary

This year the students at Benfer continued the tradition and wrote some new PaperBag poems for us. We shared poems through social media and our blogs.

benfer 1 benfer 2 benfer 3We also wrote our Wild Animal poems for them.

combo animal1

Mrs. Camp and I both think our first graders did a great job in using describing words in their poems.  I wonder what we will write next year.

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Furry Inspiration

Our kindergarteners are using little furry friends as inspiration for writing list poems this week. As they came into the library today, I handed each one a stuffed animal and a blank poetry paper. We talked about adjectives and ‘describing” words and within a few minutes each student was writing a poem about their furry friend. There are no minimal age limits to being a poet.

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It’s All in the Bag

What does a rock, a feather, a mask, a rubber chicken and a bag have to do with one another?

bag poem

Poetry of course! I wanted the second graders to use their touch sense as the only method to describe an object hidden inside a bag. First I hid an object in the bag. Then volunteers came forward, covered their eyes with the mask, reached inside the bag and touched the object. Using one word, they had to describe what they felt, without using a word already used by a student previously. Squeak, hard, rubbery, soft, smooth, light, heavy. As fast as I could, I wrote down their words in a list.

After a few minutes we switched gears. This time, the students had to look at the list and see what the words had in common, to try to guess the hidden object in the bag.  How could something be both rough and smooth, hard and soft? The library got pretty loud with all the giggles and laughter as they realized that what they were describing was a rubber chicken! Yes, even rubber chickens and rocks deserve their own poems! Here are two of the poems written by our second graders. Poetry can be fun! A big thank you to Mrs. Daly for sharing her awesome mask, Mrs. Butler for the white feather,  and Mr. Haeck for donating his rubber chicken to us for our poetry lesson.

chicken poem

rock poem pic

A few years ago, I did a similar lesson called Paper Bag Poems. Another librarian, Mrs. Camp, in Klein, Texas saw the post and also had some poetry fun with her students. You can read about her Paperbag Poems on the Bobcat Library Blog.

What poems have you written lately? Leave a comment and let us know!

 

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Kids Write Poems

We are back from Spring Break and continuing with our Fabulous Poetry Month Lessons! This week the younger grades are creating class poems about some of their favorite things. The lesson is based on Regie Routman’s book Kids’ Poems: Teaching First Graders to Love Writing Poetry.
kids poems

Here are some of their creations!

dogs poem

pizza poem

Stop back again for our next post about Paperbag Poems. You can read about Paperbag Poems on the Bobcat Library Blog

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April is National Poetry Month

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April is here. Winter is over. Birds are chirping. Flowers are blooming. Days are longer.

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 It’s the perfect time of the year to celebrate poetry.

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National Poetry Month is a month-long celebration of poetry established by the American Academy of American Poets in 1996. We are celebrating all month as well with special poetry displays, lessons, and book features.

poet tree

Each day a poem is read on the morning announcements, and a copy is on display on the library door. We began our poetry lessons before spring break. Here are some poetry highlights. The first photo shows 5th grade Blackout Poems. The second set of Tiger Poems were written by some second graders.

black out poem collage

 tiger poems

 

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On Poem in Your Pocket day, April 24th, we are having our First Poetry Café during lunch. When I was looking for ideas, I saw that the students at Barrow Elementary Media Center would be having a Poetry Café at their school and thought it was a terrific idea!. Now that we have a stage and a microphone in the lunch room, we have all the equipment needed for performance poetry.

Students will read or recite an original or favorite poem up on the stage. during lunch. This is a completely optional event. Students can perform solo or with a partner. It’s going to be an awesome celebration of poetry at school and I encourage anyone to sign up and give it a try! Come to the library to sign up. Poets from kindergarten to 5th grade are welcome. Families can come and watch as well. All performances will be during lunch: K-2 (11:50-12:10) and 3-5 (12:20-12:40) Spring Break is a perfect time to visit your local public library and find a book of poems. You can also find wonderful poems online. Be sure to ask your family for help. You create a poem with interactive websites. I have links on our school library catalog page. Look for the Poetry section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Flipbook of Photo Poems

Poetry Month may be over,but enjoying poetry is something everyone can do all year long. Sometimes, all you need is a really great photograph! Make sure the photo you choose is one either you took yourself, or is a Creative Commons photo. Insert it onto a Powerpoint slide, add some text and you are a poet! Super easy!

We hope you will enjoy this mini FlipSnack book of poems from Mrs. Adair’s students.This link will take you to the full class version.

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What kind of photo would you choose for a poem?
What would you write about?

 

 

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Poems

Our students have been celebrating National Poetry Month by writing some of their own poems. I hope you enjoy their efforts!

Kindergarten – We played with nursery rhymes and twisted a few with new verses.

Jack and Jill went up the hill

Riding on a truck.

They ate some lunch

With a chicken and a duck!

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Hickory, hickory dib.

a cat ran up a bib.

He scratched my back

and never came back!

Hickory, Dickory dib!

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First Grade – We wrote list and triangle poems based on descriptions of common object.

Tiara Crown

It’s hard

Sparkly

Meant for your hair

Sharp

It’s for girls!

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Dolphins

Dolphins jump

high in the air

from the warm ocean water.

By Mrs. Hovis’s class

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Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs fight

dangerously and fiercely

in grasslands near volcanoes.

by Mrs. Daly’s class

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King cobra

The kind cobra sliters

loudly hissing

with sharp venomous fangs.

by Mrs. Olsen’s class

2nd grade – They wrote acrostic style poems – poems that describe something both vertically and horizontally.

DOGS

Does like water

Often playful

Good

Sometimes funny

by Danny

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CATS

Clearly cute

Also play games

That drinks milk

Seems cute

by Sarah

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3rd grade – The 3rd graders have been working on Photo poems. These will be published in a separate blog post.

4th and 5th – They read poems in class and on Poem in Your Pocket Day.

6th grade – These students used Instant Poetry maker to help them create their poems.

 I Remember

  I remember I remember going to the beach

 I remember I remember my face burning

 I remember I remember the cold water touching my feet

 And sitting by the water

 I remember my dog rolling around in the grass

 I remember I remember the smooth orange sand going through my feet

 I remember eating ice cream that was melting in the sizzling sun

 Even when I fell of my chair

 I remember leaving the beach and I was so sad.

 But my favorite memory’s yet to come

 by Ana

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What If

What if I was rich?

I might buy all the cars in the would

What if I own my own state?

I could buy my own monkey named Oscar

What if all my friends lived with me?

I would have my own skate park in my backyard

Can somebody get me some nachos?

By Dakota

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I Remember

I remember when school was easy

 I remember math without letters

I remember getting A’s on every test

 And I especially remember finishing my homework early,

 so that I can play outside

I remember the sun and the blue skies

 I remember when the water was clear

I remember less polution

even no war and no hate

I remember making this poem

But my favorite memory’s yet to come

by Matias

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She is….

She is a muddy soccer ball in a grassy field.

She is quiet but loud.

She is crying while she laughs.

She is a littlest pet shop talking.

She is Glen Coco.

She is ostrich.

She is sparkly shoes.

She is playing spy on her dog.

She is ninja.

She is my best friend.

by Rowan

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Forget It!

Forget it

you must be kidding

I can’t think of anything

I don’t like poetry

this is hard

my head hurts

this is taking too long

this is really boring

I hate writing

this is stupid

Time’s up? Uh oh!

All I have is a dumb list of excuses.

You like it? Really? No kidding.

Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

by Mason

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What if?

What if I barfed?

I might be sick.

What if there was a zombie apocalypse?

I could survive.

What if a bomb hit the school?

I would die.

What if poems became true?

by Tom

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Excuses

Forget it

You must be kidding

I can’t think

I’m hungry

I’m tired

I’m bored

How am I supposed to know how to write a poem?

I’m busy

Why do I have to write a poem?

I’m asleep

Time’s up? Uh oh!

All I have is a dumb list of excuses.

You like it? Really? No kidding.

Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

by Taylor

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I Remember

 I remember when I went to Lake Chelan

 I remember going swimming

 I remember going wakeboarding

 And falling on my face

 I remember eating ice-cream

 And the brain freeze it gave me

 I remember the hot sun

 Even the sun burn it gave me

 I remember having a great time

 But my favorite memory’s yet to come

by Kalle

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Forget it!

Forget it

You must be kidding

i don’t know how to rhymn

all i think is “BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH”

the words are confusing

makes my brain explodes nuclear bomb

gives me a giant knife in the face

I hate anything that involves “HAVE TO”

poem makes me want to choke somebody

I can’t understand what poem means, WHAT DOES IT MEANS?!!

Time’s up? Uh oh!

All I have is a dumb list of excuses.

You like it? Really? No kidding.

Thanks a lot. Would you like to see another one?

by Thuan

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My Shadow

My shadow wears

a red polka dot dress,

purple heels,

and a blow in her hair

and she knows’

the order of things

her hair is like

a pig tail, curly.

My shadow is like a rainbos,

happen then…

gone. Just ina second….GONE!

happy and shy and hidden. No one will ever really know me.

by

Cassy

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Mask

I am a mask

I am purple and blue and green as a cave

I stare through hollow eyes

I’ve seen joy and sadness

I can be worn to tell stories

I can be worn to dance

I am a mask.

by Max

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Finding Poetry in Rap

On Friday, the 5th graders welcomed Aleca Gleser to our library to share her form of poetry. Aleca writes a rap style of poetry. And as Kris commented, “Poetry + Rap = Prap”! She is a Prapper!

 

Aleca finds writing a way to release her thoughts and emotions about subjects important to her. In this excerpt from her poem, The Tragic Mulato, she raps about what it is like to be bi-racial, and not completely accepted her ethnic cultures.


She got the idea for her next rap when she was learning about different styles of poetry in class.

It’s always interesting to hear how writers get their ideas or begin the writing process. Because Aleca’s writing completely rhythmic, she relies heavily on the alphabet! At the top of each rough draft she writes the alphabet, which helps her to think of rhyming words for her pieces.

Like Katherine Applegate, she keeps an idea box, but it’s a slightly different style. She stores ideas on her phone! If she hears something that triggers an idea, or sees something, her phone acts as her storage device, ready at any given time.

Aleca writes free verse, preferring socially and politically movitated verses, similar to the origins of west coast hip hop in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Drawing attention to racial inequities or social injustice is the essence of her work. In her last rap, she talks about elevating the game, pushing a battle to rise above commercialism.
 


 

Thank you Aleca for visiting our school for National Poetry Month! We hope you keep writing!

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Have you ever listened to rap poetry before?

What topic would you write about?

 

 

 

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Famous Artist Poems

Our 5th grade students have been learning about the research process in library through our Famous Artist biography Project.

Claude Monet, photo by Nadar, 1899

 

In their art class with Mrs. Lustgarten, they learned about a variety of artists. Then in library, they chose an artist as the focus for their research. We got the idea for this project from Mr. Avery in Massachusetts. You can see some of his student videos here.

Students used books and websites to find out out the answers to these questions:

When and where was the artist born?
What interesting event happened during the artist’s childhood?
Did the person ever get married or have children?
Where did the artist live for most of his or her life?
What kind of art is the person known best for?
What other interesting story happened during the artist’s adult life?
What painting did the researcher like the most?

The last step of the project was to create something about the artist. The 6th grade classes made biography videos. Ms. Breier’s class wrote biography comments. We got that idea from a post Mrs. Yollis had on her blog. However, we did something different in  Mrs. Coffey’s class. They wrote poems about their artist using the website Instant Poem Maker. You can make your own poem here:

 

I chose this particular assignment to correlate with National Poetry Month. Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

Many students find writing poetry to be nerve-wrecking. They worry about syllables and accents and proper this and proper that. The rules get in the way of creativity. However, when you use Instant Poem Maker, the stress is gone, and the creativity can come shining through. All you do is select a type of poem. In this case, I selected a Biography Poem. Then these blanks come up for you to fill in as you can see below.

After you fill in the blank, you press And voila, you have a poem! Anyone can be a poet! You just have to try.

Claude Monet

Born in France
Child of Claude and Louise

Lived in Paris and Giverney
Studied
how to paint outside using sunlight
Overcame
father’s wish to become a grocer
Worked as
an artist
Challenged by
criticism of his work
Personal traits
perseverance and creativity
Always stayed true to his artform
Never
bowed under pressure to conform
Best known for Impressionist Art

 We hope you will enjoy our student poems! You will find them by clicking on the comment button. Each student has logged on as their artist and written a poem. We welcome comments from our readers!

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What famous person could you write a poem about?

Who is your favorite poet?

What is your favorite kind of poetry to read or write?

 

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