My photo stream for Tuesday Teatimes has dried up! If you send me your photos, with a little explanation of how poetry and tea went in your household, we send you a free already published issue of the Arrow or the Boomerang. Your choice! Send your photos and stories to: Julie.
I was asked recently why the study of poetry is important to a robust language arts and writing lifestyle and thought I’d share those thoughts here.
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Did you know that? Old hat for Brave Writer fans, right?
One of the funny things about being in the “hot seat” for writing and language arts is that I’ve become a confessor of sorts. Mothers like to corner me at conferences or in the hallways of our co-op to ask me their questions and to tell me their guilty tales of failed writing attempts. One question I get frequently is: “How do I teach poetry? Do I have to? I’ve never liked it and don’t understand it. Truth is: we never read it.”
If that’s you, if you’re wondering how to give a lesson in poetry to your kids when you never spent much time with it yourself, I’ve got some ideas for you! April is obviously just the right month to tackle it.
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Let me alert you to two great things about this email.
1) How awesome is it to have your kids bring original poetry to the teatimes? I get emails sharing this same story again and again. You just never know what will catalyze the poet in your child! Remember: the right answer is, “Yes! Bring it. Can’t wait to hear it.”
2) A scavenger hunt for your school work? WOW! Wish I’d have thought of it.
I’m finally kicking our Poetry and Tea Time back into gear for the year. I asked each kid to find two poems they liked to bring to read at Tea Time. Nathan asked if he might bring two original compositions in addition to selecting two. Um, yeah, you can do that. Wait, twist my arm. Ok, uncle. Go ahead. Write original poetry.
Here is his AUTUMN acrostic:
Azure skys, brown leaves.
Under the trees, the black bear leaves. Under the meadow,
The black bear sleeps.
Under the leaves, the jay stops his song.
Moving day has come along.
Naught but bare trees now are left, as frost steals up to make a theft.
Yesterday, as an aside in his Scavenger School (I hide their assignments all over the house, so they end up doing math in the bathtub and such), I asked him to write a poem. Here it is, an acrostic (I guess he likes those) on SEASONS:
Snowy winter
Excellent spring
April rains
Summer sunny days
Oops, time to dig out long sleeve shirts and pants
Nothing but a beautiful fall
Snowy winter again.
Blessings,
Holly
Check out Holly’s blog!
One of our local Brave Writer Moms combines writing with sewing in a million different ways. Her recent success is this poetry quilt where kids wrote poems together and then quilted them into fabric squares. For local Cincinnatians, this quilt will be hanging in the Green Hills Library all summer. Thanks to Lora Wolke and all her creative kids for sharing it with us.
If you’re tired of writing lengthy pieces and revising, now’s the time for short and sweet: Two-Word Poems!
Examples:
You.
Boo!
~Anon
bug
ugh
~Students in a classroom
Need a little help? Get a book. Pick one word then find another to rhyme it that creates a:
Here are a couple more examples:
sea
wheeeeeee!
fog
bog
Have fun!
