In Residence: The Simile Zoo

It's Poetry Friday. I'm late to the party, because I've been spending the day at the Simile Zoo.

Diane Mayr is serving today's
poetry posts. Visit Random Noodling
 for some tasty words and poetic company.

"The Simile Zoo?" you say. "Never heard of it."

My Northfield Elementary third graders learned about similes in the second workshop of our residency. Today, I'll introduce you to the angry beasts, lazy sloths, and happy birds they created -- all animals that represent emotions or feelings.

Teachers: I posted instructions for the lesson several years ago.

The Simile Zoo: Lesson Part 1
The Simile Zoo: Lesson Part 2

My warm up for this lesson is a Zen drawing exercise. We draw our hands without looking at our papers (eyes stay on the object we are drawing). It's not the drawing that's important. Instead, we put the focus on simile building. Look at those strange drawings. What do they resemble? The process is similar to finding a shape in the clouds.

Here are some hand drawings from Ms. Hilliard's class. Check out the similes students made.

It looks like a starfish flipping over.

It looks like a tooth with a chip missing.

It looks like a MONSTER!

Now, please join me and the third grade poets on a tour of the Simile Zoo.

Sabine S.

When I feel happy

I am like a penguin.

Penguins love fish, and I jump in joy for ice cream.

I slide on my sled down the hill

happily, while penguins slide down the ice

in joy. Penguins jump in their pool without a care,

and I’m in my bathtub, humming and

playing with bath toys.

Asher

When I feel lazy,

I am like a sloth.

My face is blank.

I don’t get off the couch. I stay in one spot.

I move very slow.

I hang of the couch.

I am very slow.

I feel very light.

Cecelia D.

When I am hungry, I am like a wolf.

I sneak food, but I must be quiet.

My face turns a grayish-pale.

My stomach grows like a wolf does.

I get VERY MAD because it hurts

to starve. And I do NOT sleep because I had

no food. A wolf feels this way, too.

Evelyn D.

When I feel scared,

I am like a cat.

I run away from my fears

as fast as I can.

I feel helpless with

my cute meowing,

for my fears are the

opposite of positive

to me. Sometimes

my running fails me

though, all I can do

is whine and cry.

People think I’m happy

though, because they

think it’s cute and

they don’t see tears.

I also may run away

to protection that loves

me like a mother.

From Cutestpaw.com

Than you to the Northfield ES community for hosting this annual residency. I appreciate having permission to share the third graders' poems.

Readers, the students love hearing feedback from you. Please leave a comment about our simile zoo. More animal poems are coming soon.

National Poetry Month Issue 9/10

One of the easiest ways to teach children how to use similes and metaphors is through animals and insects. You can read my full lesson on animal simile poems here.

I'm featuring two Maryland poets for this weekend's National Poetry Month post -- Barbara Morrison and Fernando Quijano III -- both with poems about bugs.

I love bugs. When other moms were grossed out by cicadas in their hair, I was chasing my kids with a whirring bug in my hand saying, "It has red eyes! Isn't that cool?"

If you're working on similes and metaphors with young poets, ask them to look for commonalities between themselves and a specific insect. If a teen can find a connection with a gypsy moth or a butterfly, he or she can write a simile.

In the poem, "Gypsy Moth," notice how the poet uses form. The opening stanza is observation/description, which makes the simile in stanza two both eerie and surprising.

Gypsy Moth
by B. Morrison

Their sound is like the lightest
sprinkling of rain tapping the leaves
somnolent and steady, eerie only if you know
that what you hear are tiny jaws
consuming leaves and dropping tiny
hard brown beads: Gypsy moths.

Yet the words themselves hold no horror;
they might describe me:
the gypsy, the moth, restless and wise
unable to take even the best of men
and stay with him, moving on when
a town goes stale  you've seen me at dances,
my skirt flying, my eyes held fast
by my partner's, but fickle like a gypsy--
look around and I'm gone.

Posted with permission of the author.

In Fernando's poem, "Orange Eye," watching butterflies is a meditative act. The bugs become a metaphor for finding joy in simple things (a theme we've already touched on this April).

Orange Eye

by Fernando Quijano II

I don’t have to write

this poem

it writes itself

how could it not?

At ten

the monarchs come to feed

on the purple orange eyes

outside

the kitchen window

as I wash dishes

monarchs & bugs that look

like little hummingbirds

fan tails and all

buzzing bud to bud

to suck on the sweet nectar

At three

the brothers come

butterflies wearing tiger skins

with iridescent blue

spots for wings

dangling upside down

with their black

winged cousins

to catch

the undersides of the buds

that previous bug

gourmands have missed

The tigers patiently probe

each bud

with their probosci

while the jet

butterflies flutter

frenetically before moving

on, looking for the easy meal

I could wash this dish

for days

I don't have to write

this poem

The Universe wrote it

for me

long ago.

Posted with permission of the author.

MS/HS Writing Insect Poems Exercises:

1) Use Barbara Morrison's form to write an insect simile poem. Choosing a bug with a cool or evocative name is a good place to start. Stanza one is for observations and sensory description. Stanza two is where you introduce the simile and compare the insect to yourself.

2) Write about a time when you were watching an animal or insect and became lost in the act of watching. What were you doing at the time? Describe what you saw in detail -- the more closely you observe, the more your reader will understand how deeply you were paying attention.

I'll be back tomorrow with a satirical bug poem from Maryland poet John Hayes.

Poets' Tea Friday

I've been out of the loop for a few weeks. It seriously has been a frenzy of teaching, editing and parenting. Plus, it's Shovan birthday season (4 birthdays, 5 weeks, 109 candles -- not counting ones to grow on).

I haven't seen my friends at Lisbon Elementary School in almost a month. The fifth graders have had time to polish their poems, practice their public speaking skills, and get ready for the big day ... today's Poets' Tea.

Parents and administrators will stop by to hear the poets read their work. We'll have some treats to celebrate the end of the residency and all of their hard work.

Here is a sampling of poems I hope to hear this afternoon. This group is from a simile lesson, "Animals are like Feelings." You can find the lesson posted here (please excuse the squished formatting -- Blogger ate my spacing).

When I Feel Mad

by Josh G.

When I feel mad,

I am like a red and

angry bull, throwing people

off that want to ride me, looking

mad and fierce. I run

in a ring chasing a

person.

I know we can all relate to that feeling. Other people's problems and emotions weigh us down. It's safe to write about wanting to explode and rant in a poem. This writing prompt can help kids put a little distance between themselves and out of control feelings.

Hyperness

by Gloria M.

When I feel hyper,

I am like a white mouse.

My tail is wriggling around

With a mind of its own.

I look around eager to bat

Something side to side, then smash it.

I jump from table to dresser,

To desk.

Flailing around like there

Is a cat behind me.

My tail whacks a vase off

A table.

It makes a bang when it

Hits the floor.

The two-leggeds yell at me.

I don’t care, I flail, and

Whack and run and smash

And feel happy.

The response from her peers was great when Gloria read this poem. They loved the image of a mouse bouncing from one piece of furniture to the other. I like how Gloria's mouse is aware that it's acting hyper, but chooses not to stop itself.

Our next animal is also hyper, but for a reason. Logan's little squirrel is so busy preparing for winter, he can't focus on simple things. I know I've felt that way before.

Busy

by Logan G.

When I feel busy, I am like

A squirrel. I rush place to

Place trying to find food

Before my hibernation. I can’t

Think and I forget things

Like where I’m going. I just

Want to get home and rest

For hibernation.

I like the specific animal that Caitlyn chose for her poem. Manatees move more slowly than whales and dolphins -- a good choice for "relaxed."

When I Feel Relaxed

by Caitlyn K.

When I feel relaxed

I feel like a blue manatee.

I gracefully swim around

The calming ocean.

I slowly eat away at my

Sea grass.

I follow my mom around

As she swims through

The blue, calm water

That flow around me.

Thanks again for the staff, administrators, and families of Lisbon Elementary for supporting the arts through our residency. Also, for giving me permission to share the students' amazing poems.

This week's Poetry Friday host is Carol at Rasco from RIF. She has a fascinating post about poet Phyllis Wheatley -- the first African American to have a book published. Stop by and take a read.

Poetry Friday: Poet-in-Residence

I'm starting the year off with a teaching bang. Throughout January, I am in residence at Lisbon Elementary in Howard County, MD.

One perk of my job is seeing how differently children around the state experience school. At Lisbon ES, when the door opens for recess, the view is farms and open fields surrounding the black top. In their poems, my students have mentioned sheep pens at home and riding horses.


It's remarkable that my own children's very suburban schools (Subway in a strip mall across the street from our ES) are just 20 minutes away from these rural scenes.

Here is a sampling of poems from the 5th graders I'm working with. Thanks to teachers and parents for permission to share these wonderful pieces of writing.

I'll include a link to the related lesson if I have previously posted instructions.

Poet:        Jim Bob S.

Workshop on Animal Similes

When I feel tired

I am like a bison sleeping in a meadow,

not caring if a native is near with an arrow

and the soothing wind in my ear

or the soft pillowy grass underneath me

I will just sleep in peace

not afraid of my surroundings

because with all the weight I have on my back

it is nice to relax and lay low

away from school work.

What a peaceful feeling Jim Bob captures, despite the power of the animal he chose. In fact -- the animal is so powerful that the peacefulness comes across as a conscious choice. Nice!

Poet:                     Melissa K.

Title:                      Finger Foods

Workshop on Food Memories and Traditions

We go shopping.

Look, there’s the root beer,

Pizza bagels, Doritos, mini hot dogs too.

I go shopping with my mom.

We were supposed to leave an hour after noon.

We get home. We start preparing.

Pizza bagels, mini bread sticks, mini hot dogs

All go in the  oven.

Ding done.

Time to eat we say.

We eat and watch a movie.

11:45 now.

Change the channel please.

We watch the ball drop.

Me, Mom, Dad, three of my four brothers,

On New Year’s Eve.

Wait hold on it’s …

NEW YEAR’S DAY

Hooray! We say!

We still go back for more

Tan mini bread sticks.

It still smells like a restaurant.

It still looks like a mini Thanksgiving

Junk food Thanksgiving.

Getting sleepy now.

Happy New Year!

That's a tradition we may have to adopt at the Shovan household. I love Melissa's observation that all of these appetizers and finger foods are a "Junk Food Thanksgiving."

More fifth grade poems to come as our residency progresses...

I often show kids Laura Purdie Salas' book, STAMPEDE, when we're writing those "animals are like feelings" poems, so it's fitting that Laura is our host today.

Stop by Writing the World for Kids for the Poetry Friday roundup.