Powerful Tanka

My third grade students at Northfield are finished with tanka.

Here's a last one, by Ethan H. I like the way we don't know the shark is speaking until the fourth line of the poem.

Shark, by Ethan H.

King of the ocean.
Very strong and painful.
Hammerheads, too.
I feel nothing can stop me.
Prey is terrified of me.

Children love writing about animals. Using the animal, they can describe their own feelings from a little bit of a distance. It's a great way to get kids to open up about emotions that might otherwise feel scary.

You can find a full lesson on comparing emotions to animals here.

Next, Northfield students share opposites poems. But we'll take a break for Poetry Friday and a recommended picture book by poet Carole Boston Weatherford.