In Residence: The Words We Carry

My Northfield 3rd graders have finished the first drafts of their list poems. Before we move on to the next lesson (animal similes), let's evaluate the list poem workshop.

This was a new workshop for me. I appreciate the third grade team at Northfield. They're always willing to let me try something different! So, what went well?

From Steve Vernon, Storyteller

1. This was the first lesson of this residency. The children liked being able to focus on the basic element of a poem: words. Of course, we always focus on words in poetry. But Naomi Shihab Nye's model poem is about the words we carry around in our heads. She asks us to think about words we love. Starting with something so basic and important on Day 1 provided a strong foundation for future writing.

2. This is the first time I've encouraged students to plug into a model poem. Some of the third graders took the model poem "Words in My Pillow," crossed out the lines and words they wanted to change, and wrote their own words into those spaces. They responded well to having this structure for our first day of writing together.

3. "Words in My Pillow" can adapt to any topic! Because what we're really talking about is language -- words -- the poem could be called "Words in My Dinosaur," "Words in My Garbage Can," or "Words in My Suitcase." We have the structure of the poem, but also the freedom to come up with a topic the poet cares about.

Read on for the final two "Words in My..." poems from my students. As an extra treat, stop by educator Margaret Gibson Simon's blog, Reflections on the Teche. Her students wrote some wonderful "Words in My..." poems last week too!

Words in My Swim Bag

by Arielle L.

I hide words in my swim bag,

words that are WET

GOGGLES

SWIM CAP

TOWEL

All of these

words help me

win a race.

I have sounds

in my bag.

BEEEP!

GO!

SPLASH!

I have memories

in my bag too!

MEETS

HEATS

WINS

SCORES

But when the season

is over, my bag goes away

but all my words stay!

Retro swim cap, anyone?

Words in My Backpack

Aditya B.

I hide words in my backpack,

words that taste good.

PENCIL

MESSY

HOMEWORK FOLDER

No one can see them,

but I find them waiting for me.

like my brain hiding inside my body.

No one can see it,

but I know what is in there.

MATH

READING

UNFINISHED WORK

VIDEO GAMES

The words are playing together

when I’m saying or thinking them.

WRITING

NEAT

BLACK

is in my backpack.

My friends, the words

stay in my backpack longer than I do

but they never go away.

In Residence will be an ongoing series this month. If you missed previous posts:

Planning the List Poem Lesson at Today's Little Ditty

First Student Responses: "Words in My Pet Goldfish," "Words in My Bed," "Words in My Life"

In Residence: Poetry Friday Words: Poems by Laura S., Jason Y., Jeffrey G., and Isa L.

Thank you to the Northfield ES community for what I think is our 9th year together. Wow. I appreciate having the permission to share the third graders' poems.

Readers, my third grade poets love hearing feedback from you. Please leave a comment about our list poems. (Thanks to all those who sent us a compliment on Poetry Friday!)

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.

Poetry Friday: Don't Be Listless, Part 2

For this middle school (and up) lesson in list poems, we've looked at a "found" model and a list-poem by master poet Laura Boss. See the previous post for these models and instructions.

Now it's time to write!

Here are the steps for your students:

1. Prewrite. Choose a topic and brainstorm loosely.
2. Find a rhythm and/or poetic order to your ideas.
3. Build to a surprise ending, or leave your reader with something to think about.
4. If you're stuck, go back to the first line. Use it as a refrain and begin a new idea or stanza from there.

Starter ideas:

• Things I want
• I remember
• I'm not/I have never
• I used to be, but now I am

I am partial to "not-poems." Teens get the idea that telling others what or who we are not is as revealing (sometimes more so) as stating who we are.

If you try the lesson, let me know how it goes. Hope your students enjoy it as much as mine did.

Thanks again to the wonderful Laura Boss for agreeing to share her poem. I hope you'll check out more of Laura's work.

Our host for Poetry Friday is Amy at Art of Irreverence.