Our Wonderful World.10

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

10. The Channel Tunnel

The Song of the Overworked

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
We thought it would never appear.
We toiled and we moiled ‘til we thought we would drop.
When we saw it we gave out a cheer!

Now we know we can make it the whole way.
Our steps have new vigor and zeal.
We’ll skip and we’ll prance and we’ll sprint to the end.
We can outlast this wretched ordeal.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

The Channel Tunnel is a fascinating feat of human engineering. I love that cross-section that shows how deep it goes. 

But my poem for today refused to be about this exact tunnel. First it wanted to be about earthworms and moles. Then I got the phrase "There's a light at the end of the tunnel" stuck inside my head. Maybe because it's been such a long week. Maybe because our state's "blessed event" is within sight at the end of this month. Maybe because I am starting to plan out my professional development and travel plans for the summer. 

No matter what you're working your way through, this poem is for you -- I hope you can see the light at the end of your tunnel.

Kevin has a visual poem today.

Carol's found poems for the Taj Mahal yesterday are at Carol's Corner.

Our Wonderful World.9

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

9. Taj Mahal

W is for Wonder

From the far end of the reflecting pool

the Taj Mahal is a W.

Unanswered questions carved in white marble:

What? Where? When? Why? and are you able

to fathom the love the emperor felt

when he had this tribute built?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

Kevin's Taj Mahal poem is about the blues singer of the same name.

Carol and Catherine have Leaning Tower of Pisa poems from yesterday at Carol's Corner and Reading to the Core.

Our Wonderful World.8

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

8. The Leaning Tower of Pisa

A Note From the Architect

I didn't mean

for my tower to lean --

my work is usually not sloppy.

At least I know

that history will show

my creation will never be copied.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

A note about the architect: there is actually controversy about the architect of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Imagine that. No one made sure to leave concrete (pun intended) evidence that this mistake was his.

Be sure you go over to Carol's Corner and read her poem about the Hagia Sophia from yesterday. Wow.

Kevin used a Google tool to make his Leaning Tower poem today. It's at Kevin's Meandering Mind.

Our Wonderful World.7

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

Wikipedia

7. Hagia Sophia

The Hagia Sophia began as Greek Orthodox church, then it became a mosque, and now it's a museum in Istanbul, Turkey.

The whole time I was swimming my mile yesterday, I was thinking about religions. About how different religions fight to say that theirs is the true one, about the wars throughout human history that have been waged in the name of religion. There are many places (case in point, the Hagia Sophia) that have been declared holy by one religion, and the invading culture says, "Yes, this is holy...but now in OUR religion." Holy can't ever seem to be a shared holiness. Humans and our civilizations are fairly new to the planet and maybe the things we think are so important that we would kill for them are actually as fleeting as a cloud passing across the sun. It is that idea that gave me the image for my haiku today.

clouds block the sun

spires and domes are shadowed

brief darkness passes

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

Carol's lovely and heart-wrenching poem for the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing yesterday is at Carol's Corner.

Kevin's poem for today is at Kevin's Meandering Mind.

New Possibilities with Padlet

I'm participating in a Heinemann webinar series that Kristin Ziemke is doing . She is my new favorite person and I've learned so much from her over the last few weeks.  Her classroom is amazing and she embed technology in thoughtful and authentic ways.

One thing Kristin showed was a Padet she created for participants of the webinar series (http://padlet.com/wall/CompandTech). I know Padlet and I've used it lots. But I've used it in a very simple way. I've used it for kids to put sticky notes up as a way to think collectively I had no idea it could be used as a conversation starter with videos, images, padlets on padlets and more. Her Padlet gave me new visions for what Padlet can do. I didn't know you could change the background. I had missed so much about this tool. 

So I played around with a few ways to use Padlet as a way to begin conversations and as a way to collect our thinking. I also think it will be a great way for kids to access learning and to continue the conversation at home.

I played with a board to think about how I might use Padlet in Read Aloud.  We are currently reading How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor.  I created a board with the cover of the book, a book trailer and a link to Barbara O'Connor's website.  We have had so much success with Corkulous as a way to stretch and collect our thinking around read aloud that Padlet seems to add even more options.  I can see adding a board within a board to do the things we are doing on Corkulous. And since it is web-based, it can be accessed from home and school.

We also played with a board to collect and add to as a class.  We have a bird watching area at our school and we've been spending time there for some of our science and math work.  The Padlet board shares the ways we are using various tools to collect information.  This is a site that will help us see how different tools can be used for different purposes. Hopefully it will start a conversation around tools that really help you observe and collect data in efficient ways.  

Today, I attended the Literacy Connection Event and Ruth Ayres spoke about Writing Celebrations.  She talked about the importance of writing celebrations--both the process and the product.   I'm thinking now of ways I can you Padlet for writing celebrations. I am thinking we can share lines we've written,a board of  links to finished products, a board of student writing with room for response. I am going to play some more to see where this thinking might go.

I have been playing with lots of tools over the last few years but, I so love finding one tool and thinking of new possibilities for use.  I am going to focus on this one tool for a while and think about various ways to use it, play around with what the tool can do and grow some possibilities!  Thanks Kristin for stretching my thinking about using this tool for more than one thing!

*For more posts on Digital Literacy, visit Reflections on the Teche for the Link Up!

Our Wonderful World.6

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

6. Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

Unmuseum.org

The Eight Gratitudes

I hope you won't think I'm wasting

one of my eight

by choosing daffodils.

They hold hope

in their cup-and-saucer blooms.

If I choose

books -- 

the ones I bought yesterday,

plus the ones that line nearly every wall of every room --

can they also stand 

for the authors,

and my fellow readers,

and a quiet afternoon 

spent curled up on the couch reading?

Is that cheating?

How could I not

include chocolate?

Or my mug of hot tea 

first thing

in the morning?

When I close my eyes

and think of home,

I picture my mother, 

looking out the window above the kitchen sink,

calling me 

to come and see

the sunset.

Yes, that's worth three:

home, mom, sunsets.

Number eight is silence,

which was broken just now

by the train's whistle,

and earlier

by the robins and wrens 

singing in the dark.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

As I read about The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, trying to find a starting point for a poem, I came across these names for the pagoda: "Bao'ensi, or "Temple of Gratitude," and I learned that the base of the tower is octagonal. That's all I needed. My poem would be, "The Eight Gratitudes," which is a poem I could probably (should probably) write every day of my life with eight different gratitudes per day. After all, there's a growing body of research that shows an "Attitude of Gratitude" is actually good for your health.

The original tower, built to honor either the Emperor's parents or just his mother, was destroyed in the 19th Century, but was rebuilt in 2010.

Amy has been writing about her mentor poems in her process notes for her daily poems at The Poem Farm. I didn't have a particular poem in mind as I wrote, but I tried to imitate the conversational tone of Billy Collins' or George Bilgere's poetry.

Kevin's Notegraphy is here.

Be sure to visit Carol's Corner to read the fabulous abecedarian Carol wrote about The Great Wall of China yesterday.

March Mosaic

March was a great month for photos.

We start and end March with birthday celebrations. The March 2 Chocolate Cake was the traditional recipe, but by request, the March 29 cake was made with coffee buttercream frosting. It was probably the best cake I've ever made. I'm drooling just remembering it.

We ate some amazing cinnamon rolls at Sunday Brunch at Natalie's (see that empty plate?!), and I'm trying to get better at taking time to play around with my photos using some of the many apps on my phone. I had a LOT of fun with that picture of Jack Nicklaus and the lampshade reflection that makes him look like he has on a tutu.

The fractal broccoli took me by surprise at Whole Foods. I wrote a Fib once upon a time about fractal broccoli, but I've never seen it in real life.

During spring break we went antiquing in Clintonville, and we went and saw the Bruce Munro light exhibit at Franklin Park Conservatory (with yummy hot chocolate in the Short North after).

Also during spring break, we had a mini-blizzard. Really. This has been The Winter That Will Not End. But spring is springing, whether it is out in the garden (covered in snow) or in the potato bin in the pantry.

Spring break was a great time to try out my new (old) desk I got when we went antiquing (and a good time to take illustrated notes with a few TED talks).

We went to (near) Lancaster to Rockmill Brewery for a tour and tasting. And even though I was on spring break, and on my way to a craft beer tasting, I was noticing an example of erosion to show my students. You can take the teacher out of school, but you can't take the school out of the teacher!

Happy March, even though I'm a week late!



Click to enlarge, or you can see all of these pictures on Flickr.

Our Wonderful World.5

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

5. Great Wall of China

Wikipedia

My Uncle's Getting Married

My uncle's getting married

in the church at Broad and High.

He's wearing a tuxedo,

cummerbund and bolo tie.

After all the boring stuff,

it's off to the party house.

We'll eat a fancy dinner

and we'll toast his brand new spouse.

The fun will really start then,

the groom will dance his bride,

we'll do the Macarena,

chicken dance, electric slide.

We'll boogie woogie, bump and grind,

we'll limbo way down low.

We'll shimmy, shake, we'll shuffle, swing

we'll do our best disco.

And when the bride says, "One more dance!"

the conga line she leads.

We ribbon all around the room,

we curve, we swerve, we weave.

A snake of happy revelers,

the young and old alike,

connected hand to waist to back,

we dance away the night.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

I'm giving myself permission to have more fun with this project. I don't think I can write 25 more poems that are exactly about the wonders. So anything at all about the wonder that inspires me is fair game. 

Can you tell how I got today's poem from the image of the Great Wall? I hope you can see the conga line in the photo!

Here's Kevin's beautiful poem, Walls Won't Hold Us.

Here's Carol's poem about the Catacombs from yesterday, at Carol's Corner.

Our Wonderful World.4

The details of my Poetry Month project can be found here.

4. Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

Tripadvisor.com

We All Wait

What's a forgotten catacomb to do?

My tunnels sprawled,

my columns endured,

my stairways persevered.

What's a forgotten catacomb to do?

I cradled the bones of the dead

in silence.

My statues stood guard

in secrecy.

And I waited.

We all wait.

Sometimes

we even know why,

or what for.

Never

in all my centuries

would I have imagined

what would break the monotony 

and end my waiting.

What's a forgotten catacomb to do?

A thousand years I waited.

Then a donkey fell through my roof

and the silence, the secrecy, and the waiting were over.

Who would have guessed?

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014


This is the first wonder I knew absolutely nothing about. Based on my experience yesterday, I knew we would need to do a bit of research before we started writing. I showed my students the image above and we brainstormed the questions we hoped to have answered by our research:

What are catacombs?
Are there traps?
Can tourists go there?
Are there kings, or treasure?
Where are they?
How old are they?
How big are they?
What are they used for?

My reading minilesson plans called for us to think about how we can determine the speaker in a poem (or a text), and in writing, we would try to write from an interesting point of view.

Turns out this was the perfect wonder for personification. You could write from the point of view of the catacombs themselves (as I did) or from the point of view of the donkey that fell through the roof in 1900, leading to the rediscovery of the catacombs. You could be a serpent guarding the doorway, a statue, a dead person buried there, or one of the shards for which the catacombs are named: "Mound of Shards." You could be the desert around it, the sky above it, or the water that's flooded the lowest level.


Carol has a Colosseum poem from yesterday at her blog, Carol's Corner.

Kevin's poem today is multimedia.

All of my Poetry Month posts can also be found on my new poetry website.

Amy has the Poetry Friday roundup today at The Poem Farm. She's certainly one of the wonders of the world!

Hi, Koo! A Year of Seasons

I had not taken the time to look Hi, Koo!: A Year of Seasons until spring break. It was on display at Cover to Cover. I didn't plan to love it, but when I opened it up, I did! I fell in love immediately.  My poetry shelves are too full these days so I am trying not to add lots more poetry until I take time to weed. I have hundreds of poetry books and so I'm being very picky about the ones I add to the shelves. But this one was a must-have.

I love great Haiku for kids. I find that it is a fun type of poetry to play with--a comfy way to get them to move beyond rhyming poems and still have a ball.  I also think there is so much learning when you are playing with writing a haiku.  Syllables, word choice, message in so few words are all amazing writing lessons. So, when I find a great book of haiku that is accessible to young children, I am happy! And who could not love the cute panda? This book makes me happy.

The poems in this book (one per page) follow the seasons through a year.  A few poems per season capture the things outside as well as common activities for the season.  There are haikus that are more serious and some that are more humorous.  The variety of poems in this book will naturally create invitations for young poetry writers.

Love this book and can't wait to share it with kids. I have not been so good about embedding poetry this year and this book reminds me why it is so important and fun to make time for poetry.  So glad I finally took a good look at this new favorite!

Our Wonderful World.3

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

3. Colosseum

Wikipedia

COLOSSEUM

Broken soup bowl,
tarnished crown,
gaping eyeholes,
center of town.

Shaken, crumbled,
still you stand.
By history humbled,
yet you're grand.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014



Carol Varsalona has a Colosseum poem for today on Notegraphy. Kevin's Colosseum Fibonacci poem showcases HaikuDeck.

Carol's poem from yesterday about Stonehenge is at Carol's Corner.

Kevin wrote a Stonehenge poem in Notegraphy yesterday. (I can't wait to give this app/website a try!)



It was in my plans for us to write similes and metaphors about the Colosseum as a possible way into our poems. Good thing I tried that before I had my students do it -- I learned that you can't write much when you know next to nothing about your topic.  (DUH.) So we started with some quick research.

Bless you, KR. I knew I was ready to pull them all back together for some brainstorming when K said aloud, "I wonder how much cereal it would hold? It looks like a bowl!" We had our first simile.

Then, as they fed me facts they had learned, we worked together to bend them into similes or metaphors. Here's we came up with:

•The colosseum is a bowl. How much cereal would it hold?

FACT: It is big.

•It is as big as the moon. (Nice example of hyperbole!)

FACT: It is old, made in 70 AD.
•The Colosseum is nearly as old as the Pyramid of Giza. (We had a good conversation about why this isn't a simile. It is simply stating how old the Colosseum is. And it's not even true. The pyramid is WAY older.)

•My teacher is nearly as old as the colosseum. (Now that we're comparing two unlike things, we have a simile. And hyperbole, please!!)

•The colosseum is like a crown on a princess’ head. (Simile)

•The colosseum is a crown. (Simile transformed into a metaphor)

FACT: It's made of concrete and stone.

•The Colosseum is as sturdy as the tree branch Ry climbed on. (We wanted a simile that compared the Colosseum to something that really wasn't so sturdy, since it is falling apart. Our read aloud is AS EASY AS FALLING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH, and Ry is the main character. You can probably guess what happened to the tree branch he climbed on!)

FACT: 500,000 people were killed and over a million animals were killed there.

•The colosseum is a graveyard.

Our Wonderful World.2

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

2. Stonehenge

Wikipedia

We stand.

Sun warms us,

wind pushes us,

people stare at us.

We wait.

Moon comforts us,

rain gouges us,

people stare at us.

We know.

Tools made us,

ancients moved us,

people stare at us.

We endure.

History created us,

future sustains us,

people admire us.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

S t o n e h e n g e

feels              hard,

can                lift,

sounds          silent

very              strong

reaches         high

to the            sky

feels             rough.

©JB, 2014

We did another two-column brainstorm for today's poems. This time we thought about what moods the picture evoked, and what sensory images we might include in our poem.

There's so much we don't know about Stonehenge. I tried to capture the solid silence of the stones, and the wonder and amazement that we continue to feel in the presence of this mighty ring of standing stones.

EDITED AFTER SHARING WITH MY CLASS: The last line of my poem used to read "people stare at us." AH suggested that perhaps since the poem shifts in that stanza to bigger themes, the last line could be "people admire us." I totally agreed and have made that change! Thanks, AH! (This is what I love about being a part of a community of writers...in my classroom!)

Carol and Kevin both wrote poems yesterday for The Great Pyramid of Giza. Check them out at Carol's Corner and  Kevin's Meandering Mind.

Little Poems for Tiny Ears

Sally shared this book with me at Cover to Cover when I visited over spring break. Little Poems for Tiny Ears is an adorable new poetry book by Lin Oliver. The book is illustrated by Tomie dePaola. It is a happy little book of poems for "tiny ears".

This book is filled with great poems for babies and toddlers.  The poems are short and very sweet.  They capture the joy of being a baby. One of my favorite poems in the book is called "I See a Baby" and it is about a baby seeing itself in the mirror.  There is a poem about walking and a poem about strollers and one about diaper time.  There is lots of rhyming so young children will love the language and rhythm even if they don't yet understand the words.  And Tomie dePaola's illustrations are quite adorable. Each child has his or her own personality and the colors are joyful and engaging.

This is one of those books that both child and parent will enjoy.  I plan on buying it for baby gifts in the future as it is the perfect baby gift. I also think it would be great to have in the classroom. I have so many students with baby sisters and brothers that they would enjoy this take on babies!

A great find--thanks Sally!

Our Wonderful World.1

Details of my Poetry Month Project can be found here.

1. The Great Pyramid of Giza

Wikipedia

TIME

Time

in the desert

is as vast as the sky

expanding across blue distance.

Ancient as sand, changeless and thirsty,

time waits, encased in a monumental tomb of stone.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

Stacking stones

all day and all night.

Just to make a pyramid

to store dead people.

This is all for naught.

But the Pharaoh wants it,

so he gets it.

©VS, 2014

This year, because April 1 is on a Tuesday, I am including my students in my writing process for this first week. Yesterday we looked at this picture of The Great Pyramid of Giza and did a two-column brainstorming activity with DENOTATION on the left and CONNOTATION on the right. Denotation is where we listed the exactly what we could see in the picture, or facts we gathered from further research. Connotation is where we listed what those facts made us think about, or feel. My denotations were big, old, triangle, sand, desert, brown. My connotations were important, valuable, knowledgeable, solid, balanced, sturdy, strong, classic, time, change, changelessness, vast, empty, silent, dry, hot, thirsty. You can see which ones made it into my poem!

It was fascinating to watch the students' writing move immediately in unique directions based on their own connotations. After 5 minutes of my own writing, I circled the room and found another pyramid-shaped poem, two acrostics (mummy and pyramid), three different voices (a slave, the pyramid, and a conversation between the pyramid and a visitor), and poems about the sand, grave robbers, and oldness. I hope a couple of them will allow me to post their poems here later today!

And (drumroll...) I am cross-posting my Poetry Month posts on my spankin' new poetry website!

Jama has a list of the Poetry Month projects around the Kidlitosphere at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Yours isn't there? Let her know!

Carol's pyramid poem is at Carol's Corner; Kevin's is at Kevin's Meandering Mind.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thanks to Jen and Kellee for hosting It's Monday! What Are You Reading!  Stop by Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers for the round up and see what others in the blog community are reading.

This does not feel like enough reading for Spring Break week but it didn't end up to be a big reading week for me. But I did find some gems.

I've loved Jenny Offill since I read 17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore so I was thrilled to see Sparky! by this author. A fun story about a girl who gets a pet sloth.

And Dan Santat has a new book out: The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend.  I received a review copy this week. A fun read! I need to reread and look more closely at his amazing art.  So much to look at!

And I was so happy to read Cynthia Lord's new book, Half a Chance. I love all of her books and loved this one as much as the others.

I am always looking for great nonfiction and Itty Bitty Kitty Committee looked like a good one. I spent some time browsing it and reading parts and pieces this week. Very cute kitties!

And I am about halfway through Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald. I have heard lots about it so am happy to have a copy. I'm loving it so far!

Celebrating Pernille Ripp with a donation to Global Read Aloud

We continue our year-long blog birthday celebration by honoring blogger and Read Aloud Activist, Pernille Ripp. Even though our blog birthday was on January 1, we are celebrating it all year! On our 8th Birthday, we decided to celebrate 2014 by celebrating others who inspire us every day. Each month, on the 1st (or so) of the month, we will celebrate a fellow blogger whose work has inspired us recently. We feel so lucky to be part of the blog world that we want to celebrate all that everyone gives us each day.

We have been learning from Pernille Ripp for many years at Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension. She is a generous, honest, funny, and both thoughtful and thought-provoking writer. She is a constant contributor to the world of teaching and learning and always advocates for doing what is right for kids. A while back, Franki did an interview with Pernille for Choice Literacy. Pernille tweets @pernilleripp.

And, if you didn't know, Pernille INVENTED The Global Read Aloud! This international literacy event connects students, teachers and classrooms from all over the world around books and reading.
Because she is a classroom teacher, she has made the whole process doable for anyone who wants to participate. Just like her inclusive classroom, the GRA has evolved. There are now lots of options for readers and classrooms at all levels. If you've never taken part, make it your goal for the fall of 2014. Mark your calendar for October 6, and make your voice heard right now: second round voting is open now for the 2014 books/authors for Global Read Aloud.

We'd like to support Pernille's work on The Global Read Aloud, so our donation this month will be to her very own cause!

Thank you, Pernille for all you do and all you inspire others to do!

National Poetry Month 2014: Our Wonderful World

This year, my Poetry Month project will celebrate the myriad wonders of our world. Every day for the month of April, I will share one of "The Wonders of the World" (selected from a variety of lists) and an original poem inspired by that wonder.

Please join me in celebrating the human-made and natural wonders to be found on this amazing planet upon which we are so privileged to ride around the sun. Leave your poem or a link to your blog post in the comments and I'll add your wonderful words to my post each day.

Here are the wonders I've chosen:

1. The Great Pyramid of Giza (the only one of the Classic 7 Wonders of the World that still exists)

From the 7 Wonders of the Middle Ages:
2. Stonehenge
3. Colosseum
4. Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
5. Great Wall of China
6. Porcelain Tower of Nanjing
7. Hagia Sophia
8. Leaning Tower of Pisa
9. Taj Mahal

From the American Society of Civil Engineers' 7 Wonders of the Modern World:
10. Channel Tunnel
11. CN Tower
12. Empire State Building
13. Golden Gate Bridge
14. Itaipu Dam
15. Delta Works
16. Panama Canal

A few of the New7Wonders of the World:
17. Petra
18. Machu Picchu
19. Chichen Itza

And 7 Natural Wonders from a variety of lists (including four of my own to remind us that there is wonder to be found wherever we look):
20. Grand Canyon
21. Great Barrier Reef
22. Mt. Everest
23. Aurora
24. Amazon Rain Forest
25. Victoria Falls
26. Polar Ice Cap
27. Sunrise
28. Chocolate Cake
29. Imagination
30. People

Celebrate This Week!

For the Celebrate this Week Link Up, visit Ruth Ayres Writes!

This week, we are celebrating a week of leisure--not of doing nothing, but of having a little bit of extra time over spring break to browse online, to read a few more posts than usual and to find some gems!  Here are the things we found online this week that are worth celebrating and sharing.

If you have not read A Snicker of Magic , it is one of my favorites of 2014 already.  I was thrilled to see that author Natalie Lloyd had a post on Nerdy Book Club this week and even more happy after I read it. It is an amazing piece that you'll want to read.  There's A Lion in My Closet.

My good friends Drew and Candis Jones created a new product for their Etsy store which I LOVE LOVE. They shared the new produce on Facebook and I was so glad I saw it right away!  I own a few too many of their necklaces but I can't imagine I could ever own too many of these bracelets! Check them out!

Then, I found this amazing Ted Talk thanks to @kylepace on Twitter. Drew Dudley's "Leading with Lollipops". Such a powerful message.  I happen upon Ted Talks I love once in a while but knew that Mary Lee had a goal of fitting more Ted Talks into her life.  So I passed it along. She loved it too.

Mary Lee here: I had high hopes for getting caught up on reading through the blog posts in my overflowing Feedly. Alas, that, and thoroughly cleaning the house one room at a time just didn't get done. I did manage to get in a TED talk with illustrated notes. Thanks for the link to Kyle's post about "Leading With Lollipops," Franki!

And I loved this piece by Tammy at Assessment in Perspective, "Practicing Until It's In Your Bones". An important message for teachers.

At Michigan Reading Association, Colby Sharp hinted that there'd be a big SharpSchu announcement coming up soon so I was thrilled to finally hear details about their new challenge!  Looking forward to hearing their thought on the Geisel winners!

My daughter and I went to see Divergent this weekend. We both loved the movie. I became fascinated by the idea that Shailene Woodley is playing the part of Tris and of Hazel in the upcoming Fault in Our Stars movie.  What am amazing actress to be able to play both of these roles well. I loved her interview that I found somehow.

One thing I like about social media is the way that it gets word out about important issues. I try to focus on positive stories but there were a few negative stories that pulled me in this week. One story that has stayed with me was the story about the runner wearing a tutu who was made fun of by Self Magazine.  I don't often repost negative stories on FB or Twitter but I felt like sharing this story was important. It is a celebration for me because once it was shared in social media, it was clear that most everyone in the world knows this is wrong.  That treating people like this is not okay.  Lots of people sharing the story as a way to take a stand against people being treated like this. A very small thing to do but small things are important.

Poetry Friday: The Roundup is HERE!

Flickr Creative Commons photo by kristin

A TIME TO TALK

by Robert Frost

When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk, 

I don't stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven't hoed,

And shout from where I am, "What is it?"

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod: I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit.

Thanks, y'all, for stopping by for a friendly visit!

Jan at Book Seed Studio is collecting a list of books that feature young poets as characters. She shares one today.

Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme has a NH Rock Garden for us today -- could be the one the speaker in my Robert Frost poem is working in!

Mrs. Bennett at Used Books In Class had her students write the narratives behind Shakespeare's sonnets. The results are brilliant!

Michelle at Today's Little Ditty celebrates spring with e.e. cummings.

Laura Salas comes to us from Teaching Authors today with a water poem by Christina Rossetti.

Buffy at Buffy's Blog shares her March Madness Poetry Sweet Sixteen poem. There's still time to vote all day today at Think Kid, Think!

Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge workshops a haiku for us today.

Beth at Tiny Readers and Writers shares one of her four year-old daughter's original poems.

Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup is hosting a vintage tea party. She's also the official collector of our Poetry Month 2014 projects and celebrations. Be sure to let her (and us) know what you'll be up to in April!

Diane has three offerings: at Random Noodling, a poem by Tess Gallagher; at Kurious Kitty's Kurio Cabinet, a trip to the circus; and at K.K.'s Kwotes, a poetry quote by Edmond de Goncourt.

Tara at A Teaching Life has a Mary Oliver tribute to her dog Sophie, who makes her pause.

B.J. at Blue Window also has a third round poem in March Madness. Good luck, Authletes!

Irene at Live Your Poem has a Poetry Friday gift for us -- a group SoundCloud page where we can record our poems! How cool is that?!? (As soon as I'm caught up with the roundup, I'll definitely check it out!)

Linda at TeacherDance shares a sweet alphabet poem.

Keri at Keri Recommends ends her celebration of Laura Purdie Salas' Water Can Be... with her favorite spread and a give-away.

Bridget at Wee Words for Wee Ones has a pithy comment on the seemingly endless (snow forecast here YET AGAIN for tomorrow) winter.

Jone at Check It Out is playing with pantoums.

Margaret at Reflections on the Teche writes about her student-voters in the March Madness competition. She took it to another level when she had her students use one of the Authlete's words in their own poems!

Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference has poetry from the herbary today.

Carol at Carol's Corner shares her favorite spring daffodils with us.

Donna at Mainely Write has bedtime stories and grandparenting on her mind today.

Travis at 100 Scope Notes is back at it with Book Spine Poems! Dump your shelves and make one to submit for his gallery!

Crystal at Reading Through Life shares spoken word poetry, poetry in music, and a few poetry book recommendations.

Dori at Dori Reads has a cinquain from Myra Cohn Livingston.

Charles at Charles Waters Poetry has a smorgasbord of offerings today!

Lorie Ann at readertotz shares a Jane Yolen book of poetry for your little ones, and a haiku at On Point.

Supratentorial recommends a book with poetic text that explores the concept of memory.

City Muse Country Muse shares a poem by Peter Everwine.

Shannon at Van Meter Library Voice tells about a fabulous project two schools created that incorporates Rainbow Loom research and Joyce Sidman's poetry!

Kathleen at What's Next? weaves a Louis Armstrong song with her own words.

Amy at The Poem Farm shares a poem of address, a school visit, and a Poetry Month Project announcement.

Jeannine at Views from a Window Seat shares her thoughts about the new verse novel Miss Emily by Burleigh Mutén, and remembers a conversation about poetry with the author.

Sylvia at Poetry for Children shares the line-up for the Texas Library Association Poetry Roundup session. What an amazing 10-year legacy AND a great line-up for this year!

Little Willow plants seeds of hope with a line or two by Gertrude Stein.

Sherry at Semicolon Blog features Dante Gabriel  Rossetti.

Myra at Gathering Books has a Maya Angelou poem for us today.

Cathy at Merely Day by Day is wandering today.

Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town is thinking about the life of words (thanks to a student and Emily Dickinson).

Becky at Tapestry of Words is gearing up for National Poetry Month AND celebrating her 100th post!

Greg at GottaBook announces his plans for 30 Poets/30 Days this year, and shares an original poem from earlier in the week.

Joy at Poetry For Kids' Joy shares a bus ride poem.

Janet at All About the Books shares the rhyming book Animal Snackers.

Catherine at Reading to the Core offers an original poem filled with wonder.

The Artist and the King by Julie Fortenberry

The Artist and the King
by Julie Fortenberry
Alazar Press, due out April 7, 2014
review copy provided by the author

Daphne is an artist, but her art -- an honest portrait of His Crabbiness -- does not please the king. Daphne's punishment is to wear the picture, rolled up, as a dunce cap, instead of her beloved red artist's beret.

Almost immediately upon donning the dunce cap, Daphne's Art kicks in. She begins to add decorations to customize the cap. "Soon she was getting compliments." And she began to sell the hats. They became all the rage.

Which enraged the king.

He banished all dunce cap wearers to the wilderness. Even his own daughter, who threw the extra cap she was carrying at his feet and walked with the others into the woods.

Daphne goes back to rescue the flung cap and discovers the king crying. They share a moment of apology and self-realization, then discover that the cap was intended as a gift to the king from his daughter. Together they bring all the villagers back from the woods, and Daphne is given back her beret.

In the current (March/April 2014) issue of The HornBook, the final essay (Cadenza) is "Reading Picture Books 101" by Robin L. Smith. I'll walk you though her seven steps with The Artist and the King.

1. Look at the cover. The cover illustration of The Artist and the King lets us know it's a windy day. This is absolutely necessary for the plot development.

2. Take the paper jacket off and see whether the board cover is different. Nope.

3. Now examine the endpapers. Plain blue.

4. Peruse the title page. The story actually starts here (I love books that do this)! Daphne is painting a picture of His Crabbiness, and the villagers who are her audience are appreciating her art.

5. Read the book all the way through without reading the words. Pay attention to page turns, white space, and pacing. This is a fascinating way to read a picture book -- thinking about the design process, movement in the illustrations, artistic decisions made by the illustrator. The story absolutely is told coherently through the pictures in this book!

6. Read the book with the words. Think about how the words and pictures work together. There are two places where the words in the illustrations interact with the words in the story. I might not have noticed that if not for this list of steps! When read on its own, the text has a nice flow, with long and short sentences and accessible vocabulary peppered with words perfectly chosen for the story: regal, mockery, banished.

7. Go back and check every gutter. Now that's something I'm SURE I've never done, but how smart to make sure that the art matches up across the gutter and that nothing important gets lost there where the left page turns into the right. In The Artist and the King, when the gutter is not used to divide the pages into separate scenes, there is very intentional movement from one page to the other across the gutter. Fascinating!



These seven simple steps make me want to dive into a study of picture books with my students! One savvy reader noted recently that hardly anyone reads from the picture book shelf in my classroom. This may be a way to get some buy-in from fifth graders who are "too cool" for picture books!

The Artist and the King will definitely have a place in my classroom library, as well as in a study of picture books, and in our discussions about theme. Three cheers for a character who stays true to her passion, her art, and who helps the unfair and crabby king to soften up and be more accepting!