THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY
April 12, 2016

Monday, May 4, 2015

In Residence: List Poem Workshop

May the Fourth be with you.


Star Wars poem from www.funnyand.com
I am spending the month with third grade poets at Northfield Elementary School. The annual poetry residency is sponsored by the school PTA's cultural arts committee, and by an Artist-in-Residence grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. Thank you!

We kicked off our month of poetry last week with a list poem workshop. You can read my initial plan for this lesson at Today's Little Ditty. The third grade teachers at Northfield fell in love with Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Words in My Pillow," so we decided to use that for our model list poem.


Naomi Shihab Nye's poem
"Words in My Pillow"
is in the list-poem anthology
Falling Down the Page.
I wrote my own "Words in My ___ Poem" to close out our National Poetry Month series on poems about clothes. It was titled "Words in My Closet." You can read it at this post.

Because the model is really a poem about words and language, the third graders and I spent a lot of time talking about juicy words. A poem called "Words in My Dog" might include specific nouns (TREATS, WATER, TONGUE), descriptive adjectives and verbs (BARK, FLUFFY, FAST, LICK), but it might also have "states of being" -- things we can't really see (LOVE, COMFORT, KINDNESS).

Because this was our first lesson, I encouraged the students to stick as close to Naomi Shihab Nye's poem as they wanted to. I am SO excited for you all to see what the third graders did with their poems. They hit it out of the park with their list poems.


Words in My Pet Goldfish
by Rachel S.

Words live in my pet goldfish.
Words that are watery –

SLISHY
SLOSHY
SWISHY

No one, not even you can find them,
only me, but they wait for me, and
I know it. Just like the food swishing
around in the fishy’s bowl. Now one can see it, but
I know when it’s there—

WATER
PELLETS
SCALES
FLIPPER
FILTER
WAVES
TANK

Water stuff is in there.
A fishbowl is in there.

The words are doing the backstroke
in water, when I’m thinking
them.

WHISK
PADDLE
SWIM
WAVY!
is in my goldfish

My friends the words
Go to snooze before I
Go to sleep.
But they never swim

away, to practice the fishy stroke.

Don't call him "common," Wikipedia.
We love our goldfish.
Words in My Bed
by Alexis K.

I hide words in my bed,
words that like to sleep.

PILLOW
DREAMS
STUFFED ANIMALS

No one can see them, but I find them
waiting for me, like the inside of my head is hiding
inside my body. No one can see it,
but I know what’s in my head.

SLEEP
ZZZZ
YAWN
NIGHT
READ

The words are playing together
when I am saying them or thinking
them while I sleep

BLANKET
ENERGY
SLEEP
YAWN
are all in my head at night.

My friends are the words. They go to
sleep before me. But in the morning
I know they are there waiting for me.

The Sleeping Gypsy, by Henri Rousseau
Words in My Life
by Paige R.

I hide words in my life.
Words that are
my best friends.

VACATION
BLUE SKY
WARM

No one can see them, but I find them
waiting for me. Like the smarts
hiding inside me.
No one can see it, but I know what’s in there.

FUN
SCARY
EXCITING
SURPRISING
DISAPPOINTING
SILLY

Emotions are in there. Questions are in there.
The words are playing together
when I am saying or thinking them.

PLAYGROUND
KITE
SPORTS
FUN IN THE SUN

The words go to sleep before I do,
but when I  wake up they are ready to go!

Thank you to the Northfield ES community for inviting me back again this year. I appreciate having the permission to share the third graders' amazing work this month.

Readers, my third grade poets love hearing feedback from you. Please leave a comment about our list poems.

3 comments:

Donna Marie Merritt said...

Wonderful poems!

Penny Parker Klostermann said...

Laura and 3rd graders...these are so much fun! I really enjoyed them. Keep writing!

pollysparkles said...

This poetry is stunning!