Poetry

I am a huge fan of poetry and I love to find new ways to use it the classroom. Here are two templates that I came across that I thought I would share:

1. Diamonte Poem

______________________
(noun)

______________________________________
(two words, nouns or adjectives, describing the subject)

________________________________________________
(three verbs ending in "ing" telling about the subject)

_________________________________________________________
(four words, the first two describe the subject the last two describe its opposite)

________________________________________________
(three verbs ending in "ing" telling about the opposite)

_____________________________________
(two words, nouns or adjectives, describing the opposite)

________________________________
(opposite noun)

2. Bio Poem [this poem template would be great for the first week of school]

(first name)

(four words that describe you)

Relative of (list three close family members)

Resident of (place where you live)

Who reads (four books)

Who likes (three things you like)

Who loves (three things you love)

Who wishes (three things)

Who admires (three people)

Who needs (three things you need)

Who aspires to (at least two aspirations)

(last name)

check out this site to find more poetry templates and ideas for lessons: http://www.cape.k12.mo.us/blanchard/hicks/Poetry/Poetry.htm

To close, here are some fun poems that I found:

I've Been Sitting in Detention
by Bruce Lansky
(Sing to the tune of “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”)

I’ve been sitting in detention

since the end of school.

I’ve been sitting in detention

just because I broke a rule.

Throwing meatballs in the lunchroom

wasn’t wise, I fear.

I was aiming at the trash can,

not my teacher’s rear.

Teacher let me know

when you’ll let me go.

Please don’t keep me here all ni-i-ight.

I apologize— throwing food’s not wise.

Don’t keep me here all night.

I am going to sneak out of detention

if you will not let me go-o-o-o.

I am going to sneak out of detention,

so, teacher, let me go.

My Class Has Got a Know-It-All
by Ted Scheu

My class has got a know-it-all— the kind who likes to tell the proper way to sit and walk and count and speak and spell.

My class has got a know-it-all— the kind who always knows the stuff that happened yesterdays or even long agos.

She’s constantly correcting me if I’m a little wrong, like when I bring a bug to class or when I sing a song.

You wonder why a rooster crows? Exactly how a flower grows? And who invented radios? Or even if a glowworm glows? (I can't believe it, but she knows.)

You wonder why the sky is blue? And how your paper airplane flew? Just if a fact is false or true? Or when our book report is due? (I can’t believe she knows that, too.)

You might think I’d be angry with this showy, knowy creature. But someday I will be like her: I’m going to be a teacher.

Shared writing at my Tuesday Experience

I was so excited when my class gathered at the carpet to share what they had been writing in their journals with their peers. I wish the our whole Language Arts class could have been there, the stories that were read were creative and very funny. The prompt was "If I was four inches tall". One of the stories of the student was about his little sister finding him and using him as doll for her dollhouse and dressed him girlie clothes, which I found to be very humorous. The classmates were very respectful when listening to the story and provided some great feedback to their peers. The teacher had very little to do with process, she reworded some of the students questions for clarification purposes, but for the most part the students were in charge of the shared writing time.
I was excited that I was able to see this in practice in my classroom, I hope everyone else has had the opportunity to see some of what we have been learning carried out in their field experiences.