In Residence: Once Again, with Feeling!

Greetings, Writerly Friends.

I am continuing my series of posts from Northfield Elementary School, where I am in residence this month.

In writing poetry with elementary schoolers, I'm looking for every opportunity *I* have to compliment the students. Their rough drafts might include a descriptive detail that the reader can visualize, an imaginative idea, onomatopoeia that pops, or a jazzy rhythm. Today I'm sharing three Northfield poems that stood out for their energy.

What is energy in a poem? It's a combination of an enthusiastic voice and natural rhythm. I can't teach that. The poet has to hear it in his or her head.

But first, let's talk about stanzas.

One of the most useful tools -- and possibly overlooked -- tools in poetry is the stanza. Not only are stanzas a way of organizing our thoughts, they can also be used to create rhythm, and to make a poem visually interesting by balancing print and white space on the page.

Try this next time you're revising a poem: rewrite the poem in couplets, then tercets, then quatrains. You might find a stanza length that works well, but this technique can also reveal places where your language needs tightening up, or highlight internal rhymes.

The Northfield third graders are focusing on the stanza as tool for organizing their poems. We keep it simple, writing opposites poems that have two stanzas.

The model poem for this lesson is Elizabeth Coatsworth's "Swift Things Are Beautiful." You can visit this post to read a poem walk -- which gives details on how I guide students through a discussion of the poem.

If you'd like to read a full description of my stanzas workshop, here is Teaching Stanzas Part One and Teaching Stanzas Part Two (with poem walk).

Imaginary and Real Animals
by Hayley R.

Real animals are beautiful.
A dog on a silent moonlight night.
A panda eating bamboo all day long.
A hamster spinning on its wheel.
A monkey swinging on a tree.

Imaginary animals are beautiful:
Pegasus flying in a great story.
A dragon has fiery breath.
A vampire's white face turning into a bat.
A phoenix, that red fiery bird, flying through the night.

"That red fiery bird, flying through the night."

Read about this mythological bird at Wikipedia.

Jacob's poem is an example of how feeling and energy make a poem fun to read.

Up and Down
by Jacob B.

The clouds are up.
The birds are up
The sky is up at the top.
The tree goes up too.

We are down on the ground.
A house is down too.
Animals are stuck down here too.
Clouds drop down with the rest.

"A house is down too."

Orchard House, home where
Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women.

Connor chose such a unique topic for his opposite poem, I had to share it with you. I love the sense of humor here.

Sizes
by Connor B.

Being short is fun:
You can hide in hide and seek,
crawl into bushes and get the ball,
sneak around and steal a cookie,
and get to the front of a group easier.

Being tall is fun:
You can look over people,
run faster in races,
kick harder in kickball,
touch people out in swimming,
and keep the ball away from anyone you want.

"Sneak around and steal a cookie."

Have you tried this recipe?

Thanks once again to the Northfield educators and families for giving me permission to share the students' work.

Tomorrow, we'll look at opposite poems about animals.

Dishes for a Poets' Tea

High Tea at www.whatscookingamerica.net

Today is our Poets' Tea at Northfield Elementary. The third graders get to share their residency poems with visiting family, friends, and with each other. It's always cool to watch a student read a classmate's poem and say, "Wow. She's a good poet." The residency can change how kids view themselves and their peers.

I've got some tasty poems on the menu! One of our workshops was on food memories. You can read the full lesson here. It features Sandra Cisneros' "Good Hotdogs" -- a poem just meaty enough for elementary schoolers to dig into.

For this workshop, we spend a lot of time talking about the students' traditions with food. Some go out for ice cream with their soccer teams after every game. Other children like to talk about special holiday foods their families make. I have had students tell about everything from stewed goat's head to candy-corn coated cinnamon buns. The point made through this discussion is that food is more than food. Just as in the poem "Good Hotdogs," food can reminds us of people, experiences, and memories.

Thanks to Northfield's wonderful third grade team for another year of poetry, our sixth! And thanks to the students' families for allowing me to share their fine work.

We are serving breakfast, a traditional Jewish treat, and dinner out at the Poetry Cafe.

Pancakes

by Lily S.

I woke up to a buttery smell.

I get up and put on my robe

When I walk down, I see a sign that says,

"Happy birthday, Lily" in big letters.

Right when I go in the kitchen

my dad is making my favorite,

Pancakes! for me and also my family

was there to hug me. Then they

put it on a special plate that says

all of my friends on, even my brother

and sister. Then in the middle it says

Lily's 8th birthday and the 8th is in

a birthday cake. Then my dad

puts the pancakes on with melted butter.

Then syrup goes on and looks

like snow falling down a mountain.

Then mom puts the candles on

and lights it.

Apples, Crunchy and Honey, Sweet

by Ariela P.

For Rosh Hashanah celebration

Thick and syrupy in your  mouth

In a house with lots of kids

And parents all over the place

Honey made by bees in jar

To sell in the stores

Apples crunch in your teeth

Gloopy and sticky

Shiny, coming in all colors

Slippery, holding it in your hand

Sweet, tender smells with tints

Of sourness and bitter

You can read more about apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah here.

Chicken Lo Mein

by Max K.

Mom asks me where we

can go for dinner. I say

Pei Wei. Everybody agrees.

When we get there, I

eagerly go inside. I wait

patiently to get my chicken

lo mein. When we sit down

edamame is served. I have

some with sauce, some with

nothing. Then, the main

course arrives. It tastes

better than chocolate. Maybe

a little hot at first. It smells

a little like steam. It looks

like a salad. It feels pretty

hot. It sounds a little like

bacon. I eat it as fast

as a train. Then we get

fortune cookies.

www.kraftrecipes.com

Sunday Treats

by Anya R.

I leap up from my chair,

my homework done and packed

away. Sunday is today

and that's always a treat.

We get to go out to dinner

and tonight is my choice. We're

at the Japanese restaurant

in not time. We order.

Our drinks hit the table

with a clink.

My hot, steaming rice

comes second. It tastes

so hot and nice

in my mouth with  my favorite

sauce on top. Then I see our

waitress coming our from

the kitchen as my dad's

soup comes to rest right in

front of him, I breathe in

the sweet smell of my noodles.

I'll post more food poems after this afternoon's tea. See you there!

Poetry Friday: Mummy of Lady Teshat

It's a very happy Poetry Friday for me. By the time you read this, I will be in Florida, meeting my brand new nephew, Jagger Max. Jagger was born on April Fool's Day which, to anyone who knows my brother, shows that our newest family member already has a sense of poetic justice.

For the past week, I have been blogging about my portrait poem workshop. This is one of the most powerful lessons I do with kids. Encouraging students to write from a stranger's point of view works magic on their brains.

Today, I'll share a story from the poetry classroom, along with a student poem.

During April and May, I was in residence at Swansfield Elementary in Columbia, MD. On portrait poem day, the school's wonderful art teacher provided us with dozens of fine art posters. PTA President (and residency organizer) Jen Mallo put the artwork up all around the classroom. When Ms. Salazar's students walked in from lunch, there were walls full of faces looking back at them.

If you want to try the lesson (I've used it for grades 3 through HS), you can read my full portrait lesson here. After I shared the model portrait and poem, the fifth graders had a few minutes to select a work of art.

Malaika N. chose this:

Mummy Case of Lady Teshat
worldgallery.co.uk

I usually circulate around the room while students are writing. Malaika was quite absorbed in her work. When you read her poem, notice that it follows the structure I modeled. It begins with what you can see in the image -- the "facts" of the portrait. The point of departure, "what I can't see," begins with the word "Inside." From that moment, Malaika's imagination was working deep into the heart of the mummy.

Malaika stood and read this poem to her classmates as the period was ending. The room was silent. We all felt something amazing had happened. With words, Malaika made a strong emotional connection between herself, a 3,000-year-old mummy from approximately, and her audience.

Mummy of Lady Teshat

by Malaika N.

Mummified lady.

The casket resembles her.

Triangles and designs are all over.

She has dark hair and big eyes.

Inside, she screams to come out.

The gathering anger of 10,000 years

with a powerful kick will set her free.

Now she roams free.

She also roams unseen.

Now she is as weak as a baby bird.

She crumples to the ground.

Her dust finds it way back.

She is forever trapped in what she calls

the box of the afterlife.

Lady Teshat "lives" at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts

I took a second to check in with Malaika before I left for the day. When a poet connects with an audience, the words take on energy as she speaks them. It is a physical sensation, hard to explain but unforgettable if you have experienced it (either as a poet or as an audience member).

"You felt that, didn't you?" I asked Malaika. She did. It was a transformational moment for her, but also for her classmates.

The Swansfield fifth graders have been revising and typing up their poems. I know Malaika worked on "Lady Teshat." I can't wait to see what she's done with the poem. You can read up on this work of art here.You can even share information about the mummy's recent CT scan with your science buffs.

Thank you to Malaika's family and to the Swansfield team for allowing me to share this poem.

Have a great Poetry Friday. I'll be posting more student poems next week. For now, please visit Linda at Teacher Dance for more poetry posts.

Anything You Want

Yesterday, I gave the Northfield third graders magic pockets. They could put anything in the pocket -- the only limit was their own imaginations. (Find the lesson, model poem and poetry prompt here.)

I love using this writing exercise, because it often reveals what a child is passionate about.

For Sarah S, it's art.

I have a jacket,
a jacket made of pockets. In pocket
199, I have a magic art
studio. It is stacked and
packed with art! Art
supplies, famous artists and
Ms. Kramer! I can take
them out and they
can teach me art!
I would LOVE that
because I LOVE
Art. I would make
a plaster sculpture
that would last a
MILLION years!

Adam L's passion is sports. I love this magic football helmet, that grows with him.

I have a jacket,
a jacket made of pockets.
In pocket 86 I have
a magical football helmet.
It fits on my head
no matter how big my head gets.
It is a Ravens helmet with stripes.
It includes a face mask.

My football helmet makes me throw
super far.
I set world records.
I am better than any pro.
The Ravens invite me
onto their team.

If you're trying this lesson, and your students are stuck, try this frame:

First three lines:
"I have a  jacket,
a jacket made of pockets.
In pocket ___, I have a..."

Followed by:
a description of what is in the pocket, use all five senses if you can.

Then:
what does the object do?

Finally:
Why do you want this thing? You can begin this section with, "I take it out when I..."

Tomorrow is Poetry Friday. I have a BIG announcement to share! See you then.

Opposites Poems

Writing opposites poems is one of the best ways to teach young one stanzas. My third grade students at Northfield Elementary are revising their poems, getting ready for Friday's Poets' Tea.

An aside -- stanza is the Italian word for room. When you read a poem, imagine it's like walking through the rooms of a house. Each stanza is a different room, with its own color scheme and knick-knacks, but still part of the whole home.

Opposites come in pairs, so our opposites poems have two parts -- two stanzas. The poetry comes from which details the author chooses, as Jack does with his amazing sensory imagery in "Day and Night."

Day and Night
by Jack S.

In the day, the sun is bright
and the birds soar gracefully, high in the sky.
As I look up in the air, the clouds look like ships battling.
The city is busy. The shopping spree is on.
There are so many cars on the road, I can barely get across.

The moon is so bright, shining down upon my little head.
Bats fly brave out in the dark, open night.
The stars in the sky reflecting off my eyes.
Not a word is heard in my ears as the city grows quiet.
The roads are scarce, not a car in sight.
As you can see, day and night are so different, yet both have
one thing in common. They are both so pretty.

You can find my full lesson on opposites poems here. The model poem is Elizabeth Coatsworth's "Swift Things Are Beautiful." Here's a nice clip of a child reading the poem.

In looking for a photo of bats, I came across these guys all wrapped up in little sleeping bags. Is that the cutest? You can read about these orphaned night-flyers and the Queensland animal shelter that rescued them here.

If you'd like more opposites poems to share with children, check out Donald Hall's book, "I Am the Dog, I Am the Cat." There are also several fun versions of Richard Wilbur's opposites/riddle poems.

Tomorrow, I'll be posting Pocket Poems by Northfield third graders. Be prepared -- we'll be letting our imaginations run wild!

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.

Weather Tanka

Here are two more tanka poems from Northfield Elementary third graders. Both happen to be about the weather. Not surprising -- that's all we've been talking about here in central Maryland.

You'll notice that Sean and Lowen paid attention to the form's rules. The upper poem in a tanka includes detailed observations. The lower poem expresses emotion.

See the previous post for my full tanka lesson.

Rain by Sean C.

Trapped inside my house,
I stared out the wet window.
Rain, the plainest taste.
It seemed to be prolonging...
I feel lonely as can be.

"Rain, the plainest taste" -- what a vivid and evocative image. The  next poem is also full of sensory images. I love how Lowen used onomatopoeia without explaining the meaning -- that allows me to picture what's happening in my imagination.


Snow
by Lowen D.

White covers the ground.
When my mom says, "School's out,"
it's cold and it hurts.
I love snow. Shh shh burr burr.
It's so fun to play in.

Thanks, once again, to my students at Northfield and their families. I enjoy sharing these wonderful poems with you -- but I couldn't do it without their permission and enthusiasm for poetry.

Amok in Tanka

If there's one thing third graders know how to do, it's fill the paper edge to edge.

That presents a challenge when we're writing poetry. The stillness, pause and "wait for it" drama you can create with a poetic line and line breaks -- not their natural skill set.


This week, we're trying Tanka. If you'd like to learn more about this ancient Japanese form, visit the Tanka Society of America. The form is popular with poets who favor the spareness of haiku, but want to extend beyond that moment-in-time image into metaphor or emotion.

My first attempt didn't go so well. The concept of five lines was difficult for some children to grasp, so the poems looked paragraphs.

I put my teaching cap on and created a frame. The new lesson works like this:

The children are in small groups of two or three (cooperative learning warm-up). I put a word up on the board: SNOW. We brainstorm all of the associations, feelings and images we can think of. No editing allowed! If I say "monster trucks," it goes on the brainstorming. Maybe my family goes to see the monster truck show every winter.

Next I give each group a word: bird, grass, shell, moon. They do the brainstorming activity on their own. We might share a few with the class after five minutes.

We spend about 15 minutes reading and discussing sample tanka. We try counting syllables, although I tell them the syllables needn't be exact. I explain the upper and lower poem -- a challenging concept that we can continue to work on in later drafts.

And here is the tanka frame, with a student's brainstorming and initial poem filled in.

Much better! I love how this student captures the mixed emotions a powerful animal can give us. Check back for more third grade tanka tomorrow. There is a lesson on teaching students how to create line breaks here.

Details, Details

"A poem is a window that hangs between two or more human beings who otherwise live in darkened rooms."  -- Pulitzer Prize winning poet Stephen Dunn


One of my favorite things about writing poetry with children is the details they share. They write about things I have never done, like ski racing, using vocabulary and facts that are new to me.

Each time this happens, the young poet is opening a window -- for me, but also for teachers and peers. In their poems about sports, dance recitals, or just sledding with a parent, these young authors are opening a window for readers, giving us a broader view of who they are.

See yesterday's post for a description of the activity-poem lesson. Below are two third-grade responses poem.

I love how the details Helen chooses for her poem make time seem to slow down.

Piano Lesson
by Helen Y.

I sit on the bench with my big stack of books.
Mr. G reaches over the piano and takes the
metronome. I hear a drum beat and begin the piece. Tick, tick.
The keys feel like my school desk, but they look
like a huge black, white, brown zebra being groomed
by my fingers. In the small basement, I smell the
smell of summer. The sound of the door distracts me.
Jane is already here? Whoops, wrong note. "You have totally
no dynamic!" says Mr. G, laughing very hard. "Keep this
for one  more week!"

Marcus' poem is fast! Look how he uses the specific vocabulary of his sport to include the reader in the world of ski racing.

Ski Racer
by Marcus A.

I wait at the start. Racer ready?
3, 2, 1 GO! I hear my team cheering
me on and my skis scraping
the ice. feel the cold through  my
speed suit and the weight from
my helmet and jaw guard and the
gates hitting my pole guards.
The course looks intimidating. Two more
gates and I finish!

Again, thanks to Northfield Elementary staff and families for giving me permission to post student work.

Tomorrow is Poetry Friday. I'm going to take a break from student work to honor Maryland poet Lucille Clifton, who died earlier this week.

Keeping It Real -- a lesson in imagery

My annual poetry residency at Northfield Elementary began before the big snow hit. We only had time for our first session, on imagery.

Tapping into the five senses keeps it real for the reader, but kids are so accustomed to school-writing and BCRs (shudder), that it can be a challenge.

We warm up with a literary experiment using baby powder. (See the full lesson here.) Everyone in class gets a little bit of baby powder and creates a simile for each of the five senses. I'm always amazed, in a group of 25 people, how many different ways we can describe the same object.

Here are two imagery-of-the-five-senses poems by Northfield third graders.

Ryan H. is thinking about summer. With the weather we've had, I don't blame him.

"It's as hot as the sun out here," I say.
I want to go to the pool.
I meet my friends outside. They want to go too.
When I walk in the door
it sounds like a zoo full of elephants
and tigers. All I can hear are kids screaming,
trying not to get hit by water guns. Then
I jump in and it smells like the ocean.
I come up for a breath and it
looks like a big cup full of water. I go under
again but this time my mouth was open.
I come up and it tastes like shampoo
mixed with water. My mom gives me a towel
and says, "Time to go." The towel feels like
a pillow on my head. We get in the car
and drive away.

The shampoo simile is so evocative. Can't you smell and taste it?

The writing prompt is to describe an activity using all five senses. Often, the children's poems are about the things they do outside of school. It's a nice way for their peers to get to know them better.

Lucy F. chose her dance class.

When I walk into the room it is
as cool as September. Then I go to the
barre. It's so quiet I feel like I'm in an
empty house. I sniff the air and its a
rubber tennis shoe. Eww! I turn for
an exercise. WOW looks like a
row of buns. The air has a stale
cracker taste. Once I'm done, I talk while
putting on jazz shoes.

The empty house captures the quiet dance studio before the dancers arrive. And look at the metaphor Lucy uses for the way the room smells. Do you think these poets were successful in keeping it real -- making you feel like you are there at the pool or the dance studio?

More poems tomorrow. These were posted with permission of the poets and their families. Thanks, Northfield!

Yahoo for onomatopoeia!

Onomatopoeia -- what a delicious word.

I love hearing a classroom full of elementary schoolers say it. They relish the sound, "Onomatopoeia!"

Today, I started my annual poetry residency at Northfield Elementary School near my home in Howard County, MD. The residency is courtesy of Northfield's PTA and a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.

You can read a previous post with detail on my onomatopoeia lesson. If you try it with your students, let me know how it goes.

The third grade teachers are almost as enthusiastic about poetry as I am. We have a great time together. Here is the group onomatopoeia poem, written by Ms. Hilliard's class today:

Cafeteria

I hear screaming.

Ms. Poe says, "Five inch voices."

My friend is crunching on Doritos.

Someone clattering their coins for snack.

People are whispering,

talking, laughing.

"First call for clean up."

"Final call!"

I hear footsteps tapping.

Time for recess!

Don't you just love "clattering their coins?"

More onomatopoeia poems to come...

It's Poetry Pocket Friday

Monday and Tuesday are my last workshops at Norwood Elementary School in Dundalk.

It’s been a great residency. Because it’s my second year at the school, the teachers and I are comfortable working together. I walked in to the school earlier this month with a good sense of what to expect from the students.

Lately, I’ve been saving a fun lesson for the last day of elementary school residencies. The focus of this session is writing with imagination. The model poem is “Eliza’s Jacket,” by Calef Brown. It’s from one of the Shovan family’s favorite books, “Polka Bats and Octopus Slacks.” (Listen to an amazing review of this book by Daniel Pinkwater on NPR.)

Eliza’s Jacket Eliza has a jacket, a jacket made of pockets. The pockets all have numbers, numbers on the jacket pockets. Pocket three has bees inside, sixteen contains their honey. Number eight has cracker crumbs and wads of Turkish money. Twenty-three is filled with gum (all unchewed I hope), while right next door in twenty-four is kept a one-inch piece of rope. Thirteen is packed with useless facts, and four has melted snow. What’s in the rest you’ll have to guess. It’s not for us to know. By Calef Brown Used with the author’s permission.

After reading the poem, we talk about all the cool lines.

Some kids like the idea of having bees in one pocket and honey in another. We talk about the melted snow (why doesn't he just say "water"?) The line "all unchewed, I hope" plants the yucky image of chewed up gum in our minds, even if that's not what Eliza has in her pocket.

Our writing exercise is to guess what's in Eliza's other pockets -- or what would be in them if the jacket belonged to us. The prompt: If you could have anything in your pocket, what would it be?

Kids come up with amazing ideas for these poems. Super powers, magical maps, a favorite teacher who will spend the summer with you – going to movies, reading together and hanging out.

If you’re interested in doing the poetry pocket craft pictured here, please visit my poetry website for kids. You’ll find detailed instructions and a sample response poem from a third grader at Northfield Elementary in Ellicott City, MD.

My kids love Brown’s wacky humor (which also shows in his artwork) and his off-beat rhymes.

The 8-year-old has several of Brown’s poems by heart, like “Olf” the terrible pirate. Olf isn’t awe-striking terrible, more like really pathetic terrible. He has a carrot instead of a parrot – you get the idea.

My favorite Brown poem is “Kansas City Octopus.” Who can resist a disco-loving octopus in tight, red bell-bottoms? Not me.

Brown has a new blog intended for children. Check it out at http://polkabats.blogspot.com/

Enjoy some poetry with your Thanksgiving leftovers. Poetry Friday is brought to you by Under the Covers this week.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend. I’ll be spending it with family and friends…at a wrestling tournament.

Amok in Third Grade, Day 4

Animal Similes

When I announce that we are writing animal poems, the crowd goes wild.

This poem came to me through the New York City Transit’s Poetry in Motion program. What could be better than reading this during your subway ride:

Hedgehog

He ambles along like a walking pin cushion,

Stops and curls up like a chestnut burr.

He's not worried because he's so little.

Nobody is going to slap him around.

Chu Chen Po (9th century)

Translated from Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth

The lesson:

We warm up with a Zen drawing exercise. Sounds fancy, but it’s simple and serves several purposes.

Each student has a piece of paper and a crayon or marker. The task is to draw an object (their own hands) in one continuous line – no picking up the marker once they start. To turn off that “inner critic,” we draw without looking at the paper. That’s hard! Everyone wants to peek.

The drawing isn’t the important thing here. We end up with squiggles, bumps, scribbles. But when I write on the board, “It looks like…” everyone gets excited. Suddenly, our scribbles look like camels, turtles, baseball mitts, coral, cacti, ghosts.

The purposes of this warm up: turning off the inner critic, using art intelligence (if you’re into MI), and using simile.

We compare seeing shapes in our drawings to seeing shapes in the clouds. 

The kids start to understand that making similes is something they already do. Comparing things, even when they aren’t really the same (my hand is nothing like moose antlers), helps us make sense of the world.

On to the poem. Before we read, we share what the students know about hedgehogs.

Then we read and draw out the similes. I bring my pin cushion for those kids who don’t have one at home. It’s easy to see why “a walking pin cushion” is a good simile for a hedgehog. I’ve also got a little jar of sweet gum burrs, which we use in place of the chestnuts in the poem. These, I pass around for tactile learners. These items are prickly, round and small. The burrs are brown like a hedgehog.

We also talk about the third line. The poet (1200 years ago!) compared a hedgehog to a type of person. I ask, “Do any of you know someone like this? A kid who might be small, but no one picks on her because she knows how to stand up for herself.” Many hands go up.

The last line – there’s so much to talk about in this little poem – we focus on the word “slap.” I ask students to hold up a hitting hand. Most of them make fists. We imagine how it would feel to hit a hedgehog. Ouch.

But the poet used the specific word “slap” on purpose. We open our hands like a slap and I watch the faces change. Students wince and say “ooowww.” The poet wanted us to imagine what those spikes touching our sensitive palms would feel like. It would hurt!

Next post: Animal Simile Writing Exercise