Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
A couple of weekends ago, I spoke at the Minnesota Kindergarten Association annual conference. For an hour, I shared with 2–300 teachers why poetry matters, what the process is behind my poetry/science books, and other poetry books wonderful for K classrooms (fun to share so many writer friends’ books!).
I also shared two poetic forms great for the K classroom: Things to Do poems and Biopoems. Click to see lesson plans.
Here are our two group, first-draft poems written during my session:
Things to Do if You Are a Firework
Wear rainbow colors
Dance in the sky on the 4th of July
Wish for sunny weather
and
Summer Biopoem
Child of bonfires and sunshine
Hot, bright, relaxing vacation
who lives with mosquitoes and ticks
It was fun, as always, to encourage teachers to bring poetry into their classrooms! And for lots of wonderful poems, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with Kiesha at Whispers from the Ridge.
13 Responses
Fun! I really like the Firework poem.….I wonder if I could kick off summer vacation with some of these in the library. You give me good ideas!
Oh my goodness, what fun it would be to speak at a kindergarten teachers conference!! I adore working with kindies, they’re just so full of so much energy, enthusiasm and curiosity, making them just perfect for poetry. 🙂
Would love to have been in your workshop. I can’t imagine teaching Kindergarten without poetry!
Thank you for sharing these warm summer breeze poems, Laura! I really like “child of.” It’s like a really simple way into George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” lesson. I think I might be “child of a moving van” or “child of an overstuffed suitcase” or “child of broken dishes.” We moved a lot. 🙂
I imagine all those teachers spreading your ideas for their students, Laura. The poems are just right for welcoming summer. I like “wear rainbow colors”. Children love rainbows so that will spark their own magical ideas.
What fun poems to welcome summer. i’m ready to bring it on and will watching for those fireworks dancing in the sky!
Laura, I always love your ideas for teachers. I might try these out for the ELA Summer Institute on writing that I am teaching at the local college. Thanks for the idea.
I love the moving voice coming from these summer poems! It sounds like it was a wonderful presentation too, thanks for sharing all!
Lucky kinder teachers to be inspired by YOU!
Good stuff! No doubt those Kinder teachers walked away feeling inspired! Thanks for making your lesson plans accessible, Laura. I am facing a challenge this summer—will be doing a variety of poetry workshops through a local theater camp. It’s daunting and exciting at the same time. I’m just glad I have pros like you and Laura Shovan to learn from.
Oh, I particularly like the “who lives with mosquitoes and ticks.” Fun summer poems!
Hmmm…this would be a wonderful poetry task for sixth graders, too. Thanks for sharing, Laura!
Looks like you had a great time at the conference. Love the fun poem forms.