Learning from students: Acrostic poems

Here's another example from my adult students sharing poetry with young people in my "learning from my students' students" series. 

We're looking at how they interacted with You Just Wait: A Poetry Friday Power Book using each PowerPack to see how young writers responded.

Here, Lauren S. got the students involved in PowerPack 7 of You Just Wait and I think you'll enjoy what she did with it.

Lauren created original digital poem postcards for both of the response poems by Janet Wong in PowerPack 7.

Then, she shared the response poems (acrostic poems) the students wrote in relation to the mentor text poems.

Finally, Lauren also recommended additional books of acrostic poetry that students might enjoy in her final resources slide:

School Library Month

April is National Poetry Month, of course, but it's also time to celebrate LIBRARIES with both School Library Month and National Library Week, April 9-15, 2017. So what better way to combine all these than with a poem about the library? Here's one of my favorites:

It's from The Poetry Friday Anthology (K-5), so it has a Take 5 mini-lesson to accompany the poem (just like ALL the poems in the book). Here are those steps:

1. Arrange a quick visit to the library or bring a pile, bin, or cart of library books on a variety of topics. Show students your public library card and have applications available. Then read this poem aloud. Slow down to enunciate each item in lines 5-16.

2. Read the poem aloud again, and invite students to read the last three lines in unison.

3. For discussion: What is your favorite book you’ve read (so far)?

4. Help students find the rhyming pairs of “words that sound alike.” Ask students: What are the words that rhyme? (These include: door/more; quakes/snakes; beans/machines; bats/cats; book/look/cook; poem/home; about/out.) Read the poem aloud again, but pause before the second word in each rhyming pair and wait for the students to chime in with the correct response (more, snakes, machines, cats, look, home, out).

5. Look for “Poems Are Out of This World!” by Charles Ghigna (page 55), or a poem from Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis.

And you can find more poems about libraries (and reading, books, and school) in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations.

Even More Poems about Libraries

Poets have been writing about the power of reading, libraries, and books for generations. With a focus on books and reading, these poems are the perfect way to open up a storytime, lesson, or read aloud session. In fact, a favorite book-related poem can become the ritual that gathers the children together, brings a lesson to closure, or welcomes parents and adults. Here is just a sampling of selections from The Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists.

Bagert, Brod. 1999.  Rainbows, Head Lice and Pea-Green Tile; Poems in the Voice of the Classroom Teacher. Gainesville, FL: Maupin House. 

Dakos, Kalli. 2003. Put Your Eyes Up Here: And Other School Poems. New York: Simon & Schuster.

George, Kristine O’Connell. 2002.  Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems. New York: Clarion Books. 

Glenn, Mel. 2000. Split Image. New York: HarperCollins.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2004. Wonderful Words: Poems about Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. New York: Simon & Schuster. 

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2011. I am the Book. Holiday House.

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 1990. Good Books, Good Times! New York: HarperTrophy.  

Lewis, J. Patrick. 1999. The Bookworm's Feast: A Potluck of Poems. New York: Dial.

Pearson, Deborah. Ed. When I Went to the Library. Toronto: Groundwood Books. 

Prelutsky, Jack. 2006. What a Day It Was at School! New York: Greenwillow.

Rich, Mary Perrotta. Ed. 1998. Book Poems:  Poems from National Children’s Book Week, 1959-1998. New York: Children’s Book Council.

Salas, Laura Purdie. 2011. BookSpeak!. Ill. by Josee Bisaillon. Clarion.

Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn. 2009. Steady Hands: Poems About Work. New York: Clarion.

And for a list of poems about libraries:

Vardell, Sylvia M. (2006). A place for poetry: Celebrating the library in poetry. Children and Libraries. 4, (2), 35-41 and Vardell, S. M. (2007). Everyday poetry: Celebrating Children’s Book Week with book-themed poetry. Book Links. 17, (2), 14-15.

Now the lovely Irene Latham is gathering our Poetry Friday posts, so don't miss her blog post today HERE.

Learning from students: Concretely

Here's another example from my adult students sharing poetry with young people in my "learning from my students' students" series. 

We're looking at how they interacted with You Just Wait: A Poetry Friday Power Book using each PowerPack to see how young writers responded.

Here, Lauren got the students involved in PowerPack 6 of You Just Wait and I love what she did with it.

First, here are all the components of PowerPack 6 in her opening slide:

Next, she tried the PowerPlay activity with students. The student described what the inkblot looked like and then created a new inkblot and described what that represented. Here: 

Then Lauren created original digital poem postcards for each of the three poems in PowerPack 6. First, here is her slide for the "anchor" poem by Joseph Bruchac:

Then, she created a digital postcard for the response poem by Janet Wong:

She created another digital postcard for the mentor text poem (also by Janet Wong):

Then, she shared the response poem the student wrote in relation to the mentor text poem-- in the shape of a donut! 

I think it's a pretty great poem by the student (a concrete poem WITH rhyme!) AND a fun, visual interpretation of it in the slide MY student, Lauren, created.

Finally, Lauren also recommended another book of concrete poetry that students might enjoy in her resources slide:

Pause for a poetry Twitterchat

If you're on Twitter or want to try Twitter, First Book is holding a Twitter Chat tomorrow, Thursday, April 6 at 6pm (Central) focused on how poetry can help build a sense of community. There will be several poets participating including Alma Flor Ada, Joseph Bruchac, Nancy Bo Flood, Isabel Campoy, Irene Latham, Charles Waters, and Janet Wong. It can be a fun way to hear from a lot of different people in a very short time (and in short nuggets of info too), so come join us if you're so inclined. Just be sure to look for and use #FirstBookChat in all your tweets. See you online!

Learning from students: Dracula

Here's another example from my adult students sharing poetry with young people in my "learning from my students' students" series. 

We're looking at how they interacted with You Just Wait: A Poetry Friday Power Book using each PowerPack to see how young writers responded.

Here, Adriana got the students involved in the PowerPlay prewriting exercise for PowerPack 5 of You Just Wait with amusing results. 

Then she also created fun digital poem postcards for the poems. Here's one she made for "Dracula" by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand. 

Finally, she gathered some other collections of "monster" poetry that students would enjoy as they explored this topic. 

Learning from students: Cinquains

Here's the next installment in my series featuring my students sharing poetry with THEIR students. 

Here, Charlotte focuses on PowerPack 4 of YOU JUST WAIT and shares the mentor poem she used and her students' writing efforts in response to that mentor text. Plus, she includes related poetry books that offer additional resources for student writers.

First, here's the poem by Janet Wong, "Any Tongue," and the digital picture postcard that Charlotte made to accompany the poem:
Next, here are response poems by two different students as they think about Janet's "Any Tongue" poem. 

Texas
A wonderful
place for great burritos
and an awesome place for tacos
Yummy!

Donuts
Sweet and yummy
Everywhere there's donuts
Sparkles, icing, different flavors
Donuts!

And finally, Charlotte recommended these additional poetry books, so that students could have more examples of poetry about food and about place.

Learning from students: Number poems

Here's the second installment in my series on learning through my students and THEIR students. 

Here, Karis uses YOU JUST WAIT with young Hayden who experiments with writing a "phone number" poem. In this form, you write a phone number vertically with each number starting the line of the poem. Then, each line of your poem has as many words as that number. For example, 4 would have 4 words, 7 would have 7 words, and so on, all presented vertically like an acrostic poem. 

First, my student, Karis, created a visual image for the mentor text poem by Janet Wong:

Then, Karis's student, Hayden, created a phone number poem:

My dog is
named Cooper
He barks at my Mom
and at
Dad.
He thinks
he 
is the best guard dog.
But he is not always brave.
When the phone rings, he runs and hides.

Sometimes the form or structure of the poem (number limits per line) pushes us to choose each word carefully while still building the story we want to tell or moment we want to share. Hayden communicated quite a bit about her dog, Cooper, in just 35 words!