Friday, March 29, 2013

BUILD A POEM



Happy Poetry Friday! Mary Lee is hosting over at A Year of Reading today. 



We got a head start on Poetry Month at our library with a three-session BUILD A POEM workshop in March. The children were so receptive and shared their deep wells of creativity. We probably didn’t change any lives, as Ms. Mirabel did in Word After Word After Word, but spending this time with six kids from my town was a gift to me. I encourage other poets to step out and share your love of writing poetry with kids. Here are some photos and samples poems generated by 4th and 5th graders. Our focus was strong verbs and words that feel good on your tongue.

We started with a mask poem, becoming the tree that was living before it became the wood we wrote on. 


William Carlos Williams’ poem “This is Just to Say” was our model for apology poems.

I’m sorry I ate the last                                  I’m sorry for stuffing you
piece of strawberry pie                                 in your cat carrier
which was probably for dessert,                   and leaving you for an hour.
but the crust was so flaky                             I’m sorry for forgetting you
and the inside so red                                      and for missing your dinner.
and juicy.
Please forgive me.


We experimented with the Six Room Poem exercise from Georgia Heard’s Awakening the Heart to write about a special place.


At each session, we wrote on wood and boxes and built a Poem Center for display. 




The culminating activity was a cupcake poem about spring!





15 comments:

  1. Joyce, this looks like it was a lot of fun! I couldn't get the video to play, but I love the idea of the cupcake poems - I may do that with sugar cookies for this weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You accomplished so much in three sessions. I love the boxes idea and the cupcakes, too! Yum!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hands-on, 3D poetry! So many great ideas here, Joyce--thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful ideas, Joyce. And what young poet wouldn't want to end with a cupcake poem!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loved reading about your workshop. I'm, er, a little partial to the strawberry pie poem and the cupcake poem . . . very cool idea!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wish I could have been there. What fun. I can tell from the photos that the kids had a really good time writing their own poetry. Thank you for making poetry a celebration for children.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Why weren't you my teacher? This looks like so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  8. There are some great ideas here! I really enjoyed the poems on wood idea.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fabulous workshop! Writing on wood, boxes, and cupcakes - unique! The cat in the carrier apology poem tickled my funny bone - poor kitty! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Brilliant ideas, well executed. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love Sara's poem! Also, the cupcakes! You're giving me ideas -- thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh, I want to hug this post! What a beautiful beautiful time you must have had! I love what you shared at Tamara's about giving poems at church too. And on wood here....wow! I would like to try this. Thank you for the inspiration this morning! a.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I appreciate everyone's comments and glad that my workshop may spark some ideas for your own workshops. I did have a great time with this. Thanks for visiting!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wonderful ideas! I could hear the little writers excited about their poems. I love the writing on boxes and the building of a display. I will definitely be stealing/borrowing ideas here. And then delicious cupcake poems. Yum! Thanks for stopping by my blog so I was directed to this post.

    ReplyDelete
  15. What fun, Joyce. I love Sara's poem on wood, and I'm imagining the voices, the excitement, the ideas! Yay!

    ReplyDelete

Comments welcome.