Poetry Friday -- Playing With Poetry

I picked up a few poetry toys at nErDCampMI last week.

With Instant Poetry, poetry forms meet multiple choice. You might want to try a nursery rhyme, a poem in the style of William Carlos Williams or Emily Dickinson, an ode, free verse, or more.

 

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I've been wanting to try writing a sonnet, so I chose the Shakespearean Sonnet (bottom left in the collage above).

Before the Fates (b) cut in this checkout line
Let all who (a) brought some queso dip please stay
And find our (c) kids out back making green slime.
Neither king nor fool (a) returns their lunch tray.
Though time (b) cares not when chickens come to roost,
We hear the (a) band at least will take the stage.

Ok. I'm going to stop there. There are others that have options that string together with more sense. Let's try the Nursery Rhyme (top right).

Mary, Mary, quite contrary
(a) loved sarcastic commentary.

scribble-out poetry (aka blackout poetry) has a lot more poet-ential. This spiral-bound book has 45 bits of text ready for you to modify by scribbling-out the words you don't want with your permanent marker and leaving behind your poem. The text comes in different shapes (see top of collage) and amounts (see bottom of collage). Sources for the text bits include Frankenstein, The Count of Monte Cristo, War and Peace, and Pride and Prejudice, just to name a few. Each page is perforated and includes "to" and "from" lines and the attribution for the original text on the back so that you can gift your poetic creations!

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I scribbled-out a bit from Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (top right in the collage). This poem goes out to all the teachers who are enjoying their last weeks of living-and-learning-at-a-relaxing-pace.

Great 

fortune 

if you teach.

You contribute to the happiness of

life,

consume the

daily

pleasure of being

a good

instrument.

Scribbled-out by Mary Lee Hahn, 2019

Carol, at Carol's Corner, is just one of those teachers for whom this poem was written! She's got the Poetry Friday roundup this week.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors
by Drew Daywalt
illustrated by Adam Rex
Balzer + Bray, 2017

First of all, this is the most fun read aloud ever. (Fun for both reader and audience.)

Second, in the aftermath of reading it aloud, this happened: Pearl, Shark, Bomb. (Pearl beats Shark by choking him when swallowed, Shark defuses Bomb under water, and Bomb blows up Pearl.)

And last, I give you this episode of The Big Bang Theory:

Who Done It? by Olivier Tallec

I saw this book somewhere a few weeks ago and knew I wanted to keep my eye out for it. Then this week, I got a review copy from the publisher in the mail and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

WHO DONE IT is by Olivier Tallec, an author/illustrator who I've loved since I read THIS IS A POEM THAT HEALS FISH.

This new book is quite fun.  Each two page spread features 10 characters who are doing their own thing. The line on each page asks the reader to look for something in the illustration. For example:  Who played with the mean cat?  The reader has to look at the illustrations for clues to find the answer to the question on each page.  It is quite fun and each page is amusing in its own way. The answers are obvious but not totally-it takes a bit of looking to find the person on each page. (And there  is an answer page in the back if you need it!)


I see so many possibilities for this book. First of all, it is a great book for young children.  It will start great conversations and provide great interactions. The text is also predictable and simple so it seems great for early readers.  I also know my 3rd graders will love it and it will be a great book to use when we talk about visual information and getting information from visuals.

Really this book is much too fun. You will want a copy for sure!

Circle, Square, Moose

Circle, Square, Moose
by Kelly Bingham
illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Greenwillow Books, September 23, 2014
review copy provided by the publisher

Did you love Z is for Moose? Moose disrupted Zebra's presentation of the alphabet in that book. He's back, this time causing problems in a shape book.

Zebra comes to the rescue to extract Moose from the shape book, but that doesn't go so well.

Leave it to Moose to patch up his friendship with Zebra AND end the book with a rhyme.

Want to hear Paul O. Zelinsky speak? Come to the Dublin Literacy Conference on February 21, 2015! Consider presenting about your literacy best practices!

Sunshine Awards!

Winter Sunshine by Mary Lee Hahn

SUNSHINE AWARDS

The rules:

Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
 Share 11 random facts about yourself.
 Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
 List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
 Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.)

My first nominating blogger was Vicki Vinton! Three cheers for Vicki: one for her book (with Dorothy Barnhouse) What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making, one for her blog, To Make a Prairie, and one for her boundless enthusiasm for learning and wondering.

Next, I was nominated by Julianne Harmatz (To Read, To Write, To Be) a new "friend in my head" who I can't wait to meet at NCTE 14.

Then, this whole Sunshine thing went viral under a new name on Twitter--PLN Blog Challenge--and I was nominated by @KirstenFoti (My Life as a Middle School English Teacher).

Thank you all! 

Here are my 11 random facts:

1. I have swum in three one-mile open water swims.

2. Lynne Cox and Diana Nyad are my swimming heroines.

3. I wanted to be an architect when I was in high school. Or a classical guitarist.

4. When I was in middle school one of my hobbies was re-reading sad books on Sunday afternoons.

5. Once when I was a kid I got trapped in the middle of a goathead patch with no shoes on.

6. I love to listen to audio books on the way to work and back.

7. My favorite constellation is Orion. 

8. I have dressed as Orion for Halloween many times. (People think I'm the Big Dipper...sigh.)

9. I love caramel more than chocolate.

10. I'm a pretty amazing baker.

11. I don't love the beach or hot weather.

Here are my answers to a few of Vicki's 11 questions:

What did you learn from your mother?

I learned to love trying new foods, to eat lots of vegetables, to be creative, and to be an avid reader.
Where do you write?

At the kitchen table, at my desk, in the park, on the porch, at the library, with my students, in voice memos on my phone, in a journal, on my computer, on scraps of paper...
Where do you find joy in your classroom or work?

I find joy when the classroom routines are well enough established that my students begin to function independently and I can follow as much (or more than) I lead.

What do you do to recharge?

Swim, walk, garden, bake, travel, fly fish.

Here are my answers to a few of Julianne's 11 questions:

What is your next challenge?

Getting more of my poems published!
What technology has made your life better?

Air conditioning. I lived in Ohio without it for about 10 years, and I hope I never have to go back. I don't deal well with heat. (And, of course, pencils, computers, smartphones, the Internet, etc...)
Why teaching?

It's what I'm really good at. I realized this when I taught swimming lessons in high school and college.
How have you grown in the last year? How do you know?

I am a better teacher. I have a new principal who challenges me (in a good way) and a great team who has supported each other through a whole boatload of changes this year. I have tweaked my best practices to make them better and added new tools to my toolbox. I jumped into Bring Your Own Device with both feet and continue to learn new ways to integrate technology into my classrom.

And here are my answers to a few of Kirsten's 11 questions:

Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

Barnes & Noble occasionally, Amazon compulsively, and our local independent children's book store as often as possible.
Paper books or ebooks?

Paper books AND ebooks AND audio books.
On a scale of 1(weak) -10 (hardcore), how intense is your addiction to Twitter?

Before #nerdlution, I would have said 1 on an ordinary day and 8 at conferences. Now I'm probably 4 and 8.

How many hours of sleep do you average a night? Do you wake up thinking educational thoughts in the wee hours of the morn?

I need my 8 hours. I pretty much sleep from 9p-5a every night. And yes, I often wake up thinking about teaching, think about it during my morning walk, and think about it in the shower. One of the reasons I like listening to audio books between home and school is that is shuts work out of my brain for 40 minutes a day!

Here are the bloggers I'll nominate to carry the sunshine to new corners of the blogosphere:

@AnnieWhitlock A Year of Writing
@JenSchwanke Going Big
@TonyKeefer Atychiphobia 2.0
Deb Tyo @ChocolateAir  Chocolate Air
@Katsok Read, Write, Reflect
Ann Hagedorn Read...Write...Talk
@ColbySharp SharpRead
PatrickAllen @ColoReader All-en-A-Day's Work

Ann Marie Corgill @acorgill AM Literacy Learning Log
Kara Newhouse @Rogueanthro Rogue Anthropologist

Donalyn Miller @donalynbooks Donalyn Miller

And here are my 11 questions:

1. What's one thing you're going to make this year?
2. iOS or Android?
3. What's your favorite new organizational trick?
4. Where were did you grow up and how has that place made you who you are?
5. What is your favorite junk food?
6. Who is your hero?
7. What superpower would you pick?
8. Where would you travel next if you could?
9. What frustrates you most?
10. What's one favorite memory of childhood?
11. What's your favorite instrument in the orchestra?

Sunshine Awards!

On November 30, the wonderful Suzanne Gibbs of the blog Finding Fourth Grade awarded me with a Sunshine Award. I was so excited an honored. It took me a while to pull together the answers to the questions, etc. but here they are--a month late.  

Here's a little info on the Sunshine Award:

This is a way for bloggers to get to know each other and one of the cool things about it is that there are limitless "winners"! The Sunshine award gives others an opportunity to learn more about me as a blogger and then, in turn, I will send sunshine the way of 11 other amazing bloggers for you to get to know! Here are the "official" rules:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
4. List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. (You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you.

So, here goes!

11 Random Facts About Me

        1 -I cannot sing.  At all. In our 5th grade program, the teacher asked me to
 mouth the words and by 6th grade they gave me a
“special part” as head angel which took me out of the choir.

2- I used to love roller coasters until
I married my husband who hates them.

3- I was married in the same church
as my mother and my grandmother.

4-My favorite kind of ice cream is grape from Handel’s.

5- My husband met my extended family on Thanksgiving Day
 a long time ago. After dinner at both grandmothers’ houses,
he thought I would grow up to cook like them. He was wrong.

6-I have attempted to find hobbies for years with no luck.

7-In 2nd grade, I threw up on my shoes
at the end of the school day so the teacher sent me home
 with a box in case I threw up again.  (I walked home.)

8- My favorite holidays are those that involve presents.

9-When I was in elementary school,
I ran a big carnival in my backyard to raise
money for a children’s home in our city.

10- I have not read the Harry Potter books

  11-Michael J. Fox, Joan Jett and I
have a movie credit in the same movie. I was an on-set tutor
for one day during the production of Light of Day which earned me a credit.

The Answers to Suzanne's Questions to Me:

1  Why did you start blogging?

Mary Lee suggested it and I trust her.

Do you prefer warm or cold weather? Any reason for that?

Warm because I want to cry when I am outside in the cold! Honestly, I prefer being indoors no matter what the weather. (Is indoor a kind of weather?)

Have you (and/or your family) decorated for the holidays yet? Why or why not?

Yes, every year while I am at NCTE, my husband decorates for the holidays.  Not sure how this tradition started but we like to enjoy the tree for a while before Christmas and then we take it down right after. 

Whom would you say is the ONE person in history you admire the most and why? 

I am inspired by all of the women in history who did things outside of what was expected/allowed at the time.

What's your favorite beverage?

Venti Awake Hot Tea from Starbucks

If you could recommend only one book to someone to read, what would it be?

Glass Castle

What is one thing on your "bucket list" not many people - or maybe no one - knows about?

 To live in a big city.

What's the most relaxing vacation you've been on?

Disney World

Who brings you the most joy in your life?

My family

If you could give a lot of money to one organization, which one would it be and why?

Ronald McDonald House

What's your favorite color?

 Yellow-it’s bright and happy

11 bloggers Who Deserve the Sunshine Award 

(And if you are too busy this time of year to post about this, that's fine--just wanted to give you a shout out!)

1-Stephanie Shouldis at Books, Interventions and More!

2-Ruth Ayres at Discover, Play Build

3-Stella at My World, Mi Mundo

4-Betsy at Teaching Young Writers

5-Karen Terlecky at Literate Lives

6-Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner

7-Tony Keefer at Atychiphobia 2.0

8-Maria Caplin at Teaching in the 21st Century

9-Dylan Teut at Mile High Reading

10-Mandy Robek of Enjoy and Embrace Learning

11-Cathy Mere of Reflect and Refine

11 Questions for the Bloggers

1     1- What is the best thing that happened to you this week?

2     2- What is your favorite book of 2013?

3     3-Which TV shows do you watch regularly?

4     4-What is the thing you are most excited about for 2014?

5     5-Do you have any pets?

6     6-Is your favorite meal breakfast, lunch or dinner? Why?

7     7-What’s was a favorite childhood book?

8     8- Do you make New Year’s Resolutions?

9     9-What’s a favorite movie?

1     10- What’s one thing you love to do when you have free time?

1     11- Who is an author you’d love to meet?

Poetry Friday -- Bracketology

Last Friday, we introduced the Battle of the Books to our 5th graders and showed them the tournament brackets that will be posted in the hallway.

Every 5th grader will enter a favorite book into the tournament by writing and presenting a summary of the book. This coming Friday, each of the four classes will vote the entries down to the 16 books that will enter the brackets. Competition will continue with head-to-head paragraphs about the books' main characters, the settings, key events in the stories, secondary characters, etc. The day before we leave for spring break, the entire grade level will vote for the overall winning book.

So tournament fever was in the air when we began Poetry Friday last week. One of my students made this bracket for his 16 favorite poems in David Elliott's In the Sea

The poem that wins the book for this student is

The Sea Turtle

Swims the seven seas
for thirty years,
then finds the beach
where she was born --
by magic, it appears.

How can she know to come upon
that far and sandy place?
Rare instruments of nature,
fair compass in a carapace.

© David Elliott, used by permission of the author



In his response to my request for permission to use this poem, David wrote, "...it's also my favorite poem in the book. One of the things I like about it is the juxtaposition of far and fair and how just the addition of one letter can change a word completely. I wish I could say that was a conscious decision on my part, but I'm not sure that it was. (Uh . . .can't remember.) Happy accidents can sometimes make a writer look much better than he is."

I got the "Bracketology" in the title of this post from Burkin and Yaris' post, "March Madness in the Classroom."

To try Bracketology in word study, check out this post at Thinking Stems.

Heidi has the roundup at my juicy little universe. Welcome back to Poetry Friday, Heidi!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

An Old Irish Blessing

May love and laughter light your days, and warm your heart and home. May good and faithful friends be yours, wherever you may roam. May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures. May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours!

Check out Dublin's Blogging Irish Dance Team. It's been two years since we made our famous video, but we're all still goin' strong. Dancin' up a storm and livin' the grand life in the Land of Shamrocks (Ohio version).

Top of the day to ya!

Thought for the Day

ART IS A GUARANTY OF SANITY
Phoenix Convention Center

Really?

You Are a Question Mark

You seek knowledge and insight in every form possible. You love learning. And while you know a lot, you don't act like a know it all. You're open to learning you're wrong. You ask a lot of questions, collect a lot of data, and always dig deep to find out more. You're naturally curious and inquisitive. You jump to ask a question when the opportunity arises. Your friends see you as interesting, insightful, and thought provoking. (But they're not always up for the intense inquisitions that you love!) You excel in: Higher education You get along best with: The Comma

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Here's a comma, a colon, an exclamation point, another colon, and another question mark. I wonder what it takes to be a period? Or maybe I don't want to know.

Fun Finds

Daemon roundup is at Wands and Worlds. 17 Kidlitosphere Daemons gathered in one spot. Some have not settled down yet. Mine has. If only her name was Charlotte, she might not seem so creepy. Go here if you don't have one yet. What are you waiting for?

Cool time coming up: At three minutes and four seconds after 2 a.m. on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07. This will never happen again.

At Worldometers you can see world statistics updated in real time. Watch the tickers spin on how many calories have been consumed this year and the dollars spent on dieting in the U.S. Change your computer's clock to some year in the future (they suggest 2050) and check out the projected statistics.

' “Your IQ has really no relationship to your wealth,” says Jay Zagorsky of Ohio State University...' Anybody want to try to answer this one: "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" Maybe this graph from Indexed holds part of the answer.

Fun Finds

Fruity Cocktails Count As Health Food, Study Finds. "The study did not address whether adding a little cocktail umbrella enhanced the effects." Monica has a fun piece of fiction (I hope?) inspired by a quote in the New York Times. You can make your own comics at Make Belief Comix, and at ToonDoo. If you make your comic at ToonDoo, you can share it with the world on your blog! Voila! 

Fun Finds

At Chicken Spaghetti I learned that Deborah Wiles has a new book coming out in August! YAY!

At Mo Willems Doodles I found out about the Pigeon's new website. Love the voices and sound effects!

At Lois Lowry's Lowry Updates I read the beginning of the new Gooney Bird Greene book that will be out this month!

I clicked over to the SLJ website from Amy Bowllan's Blog to find out if I'm a "real" teacher (couldn't find the list; didn't need to, really) and found that a more accountable Encyclo-Wiki is starting up -- Citizendium.

And finally, via The Bonny Glen, and just in the nick of time for Poetry Month, I found out what poetry form I am:

I am the sonnet, never quickly thrilled; Not prone to overstated gushing praise Nor yet to seething rants and anger, filled With overstretched opinions to rephrase; But on the other hand, not fond of fools, And thus, not fond of people, on the whole; And holding to the sound and useful rules, Not those that seek unjustified control. I'm balanced, measured, sensible (at least, I think I am, and usually I'm right); And when more ostentatious types have ceased, I'm still around, and doing, still, alright. In short, I'm calm and rational and stable - Or, well, I am, as much as I am able. What Poetry Form Are You?