four&twenty

Crafting a Poem of Thanksgiving

I shrink in the company of Sarcasm. I’m admittedly deficient, two steps behind when it comes to her volley of shrill phrases. When she enters the building, I chuckle a bit but rarely participate. I acknowledge that, on edge of her spectrum, chatter is light-hearted, friendly. Still, try as I might, I can’t quite squeak a giggle in the midst of her raucous presence.

Recently two students in my guild moved on to explore new education paths. Both students had been part of the guild for many years. My idea was to provide an opportunity for closure by challenging writers to craft a farewell phrase. I decided to incorporate this exercise into our regular writing workshop. What better way to put my “writing is a gift” motto into action?

So we began, “Let’s craft kind words to encourage our friends as they set out on a new adventure.” Sounds simple, right?

As I watched the card I provided move from writer to writer, I anticipated reading the messages before posting them the old fashioned way. But later that day, when I sat down with a cup of tea excited to read the phrases inscribed on the card, my heart sank. There she was, Sarcasm, smirking in all her glory, “Have fun wandering the halls,” and “Happy Easter (jk),” and “Yeah, whatever, thanks for leaving me behind,” and “Life is good (not),” …not a single kind word. There were careless spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors.

Decibels peaking, Sarcasm crossing over to the caustic zone, I wanted to shrink. At one point in the reading, I wanted to cry. Our guild is not a typical classroom where children come and go annually, most of these children have been learning together for many years. These children are respectful of and grateful for friendship. Still, not a single phrase in the card was crafted vulnerably. What in the world? I knew that this group would really miss their friends who had moved on. I knew this must be something else. Maybe they did not know how to craft vulnerable words.

Haiku for a Change in Season

Haiku are the little powerhouses of the poetry world! They are a fun challenge involving the best of word play, mixed with a little finger counting to get the syllables just right! Here's a brief "Haiku 101" to help you and your kids get started.

1. Haiku poems consist of a three-line stanza that has a total of 17 syllables written in the following pattern:

Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables

 *Slight variations in syllabication is appropriate as this helps the poet maintain "one thought in three lines"

2. Haiku poems are observations of nature, often making reference to the seasons. 

3. Haiku poems are like photographs, which capture moments in time. A  "haiku moment" describes a scene that leads the reader to a feeling. 

4. Haiku poems were originally written as introductions to longer works of poetry and should be written as one thought in three lines.

Consider these haiku written by the Japanese poet, Matsuo Basho:

Yellow rose petals
Drop one-by-one in silence:
Roar of waterfall.

Within plum orchard,
Sturdy oak takes no notice
Of flowering blooms.

Ready to write? Try crafting three original haiku inspired by any of these photographs. Share them with us in the comments section, we'd love to read them!

No Rules Animal Poetry

Douglas Florian is a poet and artist extraordinaire!

Winner of the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award and recipient of an ALA Notable Children’s Book Award, he is the author and illustrator of many delightful children’s books.

Douglas Florian believes there is only one rule when it comes to poetry, that there are no rules.

Your youngest students can explore scientific and silly facts about creatures of all kinds with our Douglas Florian Earlybird Guide, and even try their hand at writing their own animal poetry. The results are fantastic!

 
Shark

Ate a thousand fish

In the white bathtub

In the night when the people were sleeping

To grow as big as the house

- Jedd, age 5

 

Whale

Jumped and did a back flip

Under blue and white water

At snack time

To have fun

- Cameron, age 6

 

Seahorse

Met a friend

At the light blue drop off

Early in dark morning

To not have to wait as long

- Maddie, age 6

Salon des Artistes

The most inspiring and fun-filled day of the whole school year is our annual Salon des Artistes. Reveling in all that been created throughout the year we celebrating and affirm the work of each young poet, filmmaker, artist, and writer. AMAZING!!

 

The Poetry of Words

Writing begins with words.

Enacting poetry is a great way to get excited about words.

Rainy days were bittersweet when I was in elementary school. While the playground was sorely missed, watching the rain run like a waterfall down the side of our classroom that was mostly made of glass was poetic. And of course, there were the rainy day games to brighten the atmosphere. I remember one teacher in particular who introduced us to the best rainy day game of all: Dictionary. She would choose a word that none of us had ever heard and then have us write our made-up definition for the word on a slip of paper. We dropped the definitions into a basket, then she randomly read them out loud and we voted for our favorite. When she read the real definition from the dictionary, she planted, seed by seed, an appreciation for words that has not left me these many years later.

Once, while teaching poetry on a rainy day, I remembered that teacher and the classroom with the glass wall, and with a dictionary in hand, began my own lesson. We were reading a poem by William Wordsworth, I began by having my students think of the poet’s last name as a really great compound word. I went on to share my rainy day memory and began exploring vocabulary from “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802,” Wordsworth’s famous sonnet.

We were about to embark on a game of Dictionary with a twist. I would attempt to take my students on a field trip across that bridge, enable them to compose their very own poem. When I gave them the first word to tackle, their definitions were non-specific, close to the real thing, but not precise. I opened the dictionary, flipped then ran my finger down a page, “Infuse, to fill; pervade.” I read the second definition, “To release flavor or healing properties while being soaked,” and then I infused tea in a glass mug of steaming water. The students liked this so much that we experimented. We infused darkness with light by closing blinds to slits and watching light stream in, by lighting candles in dark corners.

After our little game of Dictionary we took a few steps across the bridge, time for the real lesson to begin. I had them close their eyes and listen to the word infuse, encouraged them to let sounds seep into their ears, “The sounds of words matter, so does the shape.”

Now the students in my workshop were curious, “Shape?”

“Yes, shape.” Writers of all ages often forget the vital connection between words and image.

I led them into another room, to a table laden with jars of glitter, paint and brushes, drawing pencils, chalk pastels, scissors, glue sticks, stacks of newspaper and magazines, and a basket of Dymo label makers. It was time for my students to “find” poetry and in the process discover the power of words.

I showed the students how to begin with a random block, “Rip out a chunk of words from a page of newspaper or magazine.” I instructed them to read the block of words out of the context of the article, “Now the poet must think about the specific meaning of the words being read to discover a new, personalized, context to place the words into.” I showed them how to paint out certain words to make their new context emerge and to move from there to an original poem. Then I set them free to explore the supplies on the table. They didn’t need much instruction beyond, “Create a poetic collage.”

I am devoted to connecting writers to words by teaching them to crave what all good writers crave: Specificity.

Taking time to consider words is an undervalued skill, is often considered a tedious task. Taking the “boring” out of something ultimately involves changing the attitude about the task. Exploring words is an adventure. Learning to use a dictionary, the kind that you hold in your hands, is the skill that over time will allow young writers to infuse the worth of words into the world.

– Kim

Poetic Potential

If you really stop to think about it, it's more than miraculous that a humble, hard-shelled little thing called a seed, once buried in dirt, watered, and warmed by the sun, transforms into something beautifully alive, growing, and life-giving.

Spring Into Poetry

This time in the school year can be particularly difficult—a sort of doldrums. Everyone has been working hard for many months and summer still feels quite a ways off. You're starting to feel the pressure of all that you haven't accomplished...or wanted to. Standardized testing may be looming. The weather around Southern California becomes a confusing mix of sweater days and t-shirt days and at least for me, the urge to purge kicks in strong with garage sale season right around the corner.

With April being National Poetry Month, why not infuse your last weeks of school with a focus on the wonder of words. Poetry is at the same time economical and extravagant. It has the power to unlock a child's voice and encourage writing skills in ways that prose and essay writing simply cannot. My own daughter has a stunning gift for poetry that would never have been unearthed had we not delved into reading and writing poems at a young age. Don't be intimidated, jump in, be creative and have fun. Try to incorporate a little something into everyday.

• Revisit past four&twenty posts for some ideas. A personal favorite uses chocolate bars as inspiration for writing poems about place and taste!   

• Participate in Poem In Your Pocket Day on April 14. I love the idea of having a poem on hand to sponatneously share with family and friends throughout the day.

• Great Poems to Teach lists important poems, some with audio readings. Poetry 180 also has a compiled list of poems geared towards high school students—one for every day of the school year. Both are helpful for getting to know famous poets and various forms.

• Start a book club with friends using our poetry-focused, litertaure discovery guides. Younger students can explore animal poetry with our Douglas Florian guide while Love That Dog and Locomotion both tell profound stories through the use of verse.

• Use technology to share poetry with the world! Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, PowerPoint, Flickr, iMovie, digital cameras....the possibilities are endless.

• Here are some really creative ideas for word play from The Crafty Crow. Click through to Austin Kleon's inventive newspaper blackout poems. What a great exercise in eliminating words to find the poem that was hiding there all along.

• Embark on our Exploring Poetry unit. Read about it here from a blogger-mom who did!

• For a creative lesson idea, read The Poetry of Words recently written by Kim for Heart of the Matter.

• Plant a PoeTree.

Most of all, enjoy learning, exploring, discovering, and creating with words!

– Tracey

Delicious Poetry

I didn’t really need anything from the market that day. What I really needed was a diversion from my work. Sad but true, Trader Joe’s did the trick.

All was going according to plan until I noticed a display near the frozen aisle. There, right before my eyes were stacks and stacks of enormous chocolate bars imported from all over the globe.

A normal middle-aged woman might have responded, “C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e! Yes!” She might have cracked open a bar and taken a big bite. But not me, no, I’m a teacher. So I grabbed a handful of the luscious bars and got in line, while simultaneously crafting a lesson for the next day.

This would be a cross-curricular writing lesson. I would begin with a session of chocolate taste testing, gathering sense words and phrases with the group along the way. Then, after my students chose their favorite variety from the tasting, I would direct them to a mass of geography books, the ones I was on my way to pluck from the shelves of my local library on my way home from the trip to Trader Joe’s (the trip that was supposed to divert me from my work). My students would then research the country from which their favorite chocolate originated. After they gathered some notes, they would craft a poem of place and taste! By the time I pulled into my driveway a thought crossed my oddly refreshed brain, “Tomorrow will be grand!”

– Kim

The result of that lesson is delicious:

Swiss Chocolate (Taylor, age 14)

It melts in my mouth

            silky,

like velvety Swiss hills

gleaming in the morning sun.

 

Sweet milk awakes my

            taste buds

like the cry of an alpha

horn in the alps.

 

But it doesn't last long,

            no,

like a fiery sunset

it melts away

revealing a moony relish.

Poetry to Enliven Prose

Holding up a red box adorned with a red satin bow I remind my students, “Great writing is a gift.”

I’ve discovered that the Japanese form of poetry, haiku, is a perfect way to teach students that practicing poetry will improve their prose.

Any sentence can be transformed to a haiku:

Three lines, word picture in seventeen syllables, haiku are small poems.    

Three-lines, word picture 
in seventeen syllables,                                                            
haiku are small poems. 

5 syllables + 7 syllables + 5 syllables = 17 syllables

We begin our brainstorming:

“What do we see on the outside?”

red box
enormous satin bow
sunshine gleaming

“What do we imagine?”

something small inside
something special

I open the box to reveal a single folded piece of notebook paper. The students’ eyes are wide. I unfold the paper and show them the gift is a poem.

Basho Haiku

Basho wandered by foot through medieval Japan, kept a diary of his journeys—prose woven with haiku. There is sublime simplicity in the poet’s observations:

 A hundred years!

All here in the garden in

these fallen leaves

 With plum blossom scent,

this morning sun emerges

along a mountain trail

Basho’s work echoes the ordinary, revels in simplicity, and invigorates the soul.  

This time, be creative with haiku form. After all, Basho warned his students, “Do not simply follow in the footsteps of the ancients; seek what they sought…abide by the rules, then throw them out!”

Concentrate on crafting lines with a designated number of words instead of syllables:

five words

s e v e n  w o r d s

five words

But, keep in mind, three lines should be woven to one thought:

 

and I wait for the

scent stewed with honey, mottled with sun,

to ripen at room temperature

Explore Basho together and have fun writing some haiku. Use this image of pears in a bowl as a jumping off point or create your own still life. We'd love to read your poems so please share them here.

For more about Basho take a look at this wonderful book.

 

Poetic Justice

Cloe was a budding poet from the time she could hold a pencil and has grown into a teenager who poetically describes the value of cultivating imagination.

boldness fuels creativity
longing for its sweet honey
dreaming of liberation
imagination
drowned in a stagnant pool
is a prisoner of war

Here was the third grader who recited Emily Dickenson barefoot to a mesmerized schoolroom of boys and went on to receive national recognition for her own poetry five years later. Cloe was a contemplative student most content inside a great story. So when I read her response to the following standardized test question I burst out laughing:

According to the passage, how would you best describe the Library of Congress?
a. cold
b. austere
c. cozy
e. dark

To Cloe, the description of the 200-year-old federal cultural institution, an enormous library housing shelf upon shelf of rare books resonated with pages straight from her imagination. I know this because I had been working with her to revise those pages:

Perched on a sturdy willow branch I watched fireflies dance in between gowns. I found myself completely bored until an hour before midnight when I wove my way into Lady Cordial’s library. There I sat silently clutching my plate of half eaten trifle, reading the many nonsensical books she had collected over the years of training to be a versifier. Hours quickly passed until the library bell loudly reminded me that it was one o’clock. I tiptoed downstairs and was met by the ridiculing eyes of Maliesa. Not wanting to talk about how amazing she was and how horrible I looked in my potato sack of a dress. I escaped by accidentally dropping my dessert plate and running to fetch a broom. (excerpt from Cloe’s, “Pins and Needles”)

There was absolutely no doubt in Cloe’s mind that the passage about the Library of Congress described a place providing a feeling of comfort and warmth, that the question was best answered, “c” a “cozy” place. There is no doubt in my mind that according to the writers of the test, “b” an “austere” place was the desired response.

Quite simply, reading and writing poetry expands the boundaries of the imagination and the intellect. Students who engage in writing poetry will develop a broader understanding of the power of vocabulary, increase confidence in their voice, and strengthen their ability to communicate new ideas and observations about their world.

Blackbird & Company’s Exploring Poetry guide gives students an opportunity to delight in the reading of great poetry and discover the craft of writing poems, incorporating both analytic and creative exercises to spark the poet inside of your student.

Created for middle and high school students, Exploring Poetry is appropriate for 5th grade and beyond and is designed to work for a range of writing abilities. 

The bundle includes a seven-week poetry guide that can be expanded to 14 weeks, a personal writer’s journal, art cards and three required books.

If you are interested in opportunities to explore poetry with your younger students take a look at these poetry-based literature discovery guides:

Our Earlybird Douglas Florian Author Unit takes 1st and 2nd grade students through five illustrated read-aloud books of educational and delightful animal poetry. This guide follows the same format as our other Earlybirds while providing opportunities for your youngest students to explore writing poetry on their own. Books included: In the Swim (water creatures), Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs (reptiles), Mammalabilia (mammals), Insectlopedia (insects), and On the Wing (birds).

For older students, another great way to introduce poetic forms and the power of poetry to tell stories is through our Love That Dog and Locomotion guides.

Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech is a poignant and masterfully crafted story written entirely in verse, through the eyes of Jack, a boy who reluctantly discovers the poet within himself. Although this guide is a Level 1 (grades 1-3) title, it can be used through 4th grade when appropriate for the student's reading and writing level. Love That Dog includes many of the same elements as our other Level 1 guides, such as vocabulary, comprehension and discussion questions, but each week, students will be encouraged and guided in writing poems in the same styles and forms that Jack is writing. Exposure to several classic poets such at William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost are creatively woven into the story.

Locomotion, by Jaqueline Woodson, also written in verse, is about Lonnie C. Motion, a boy who has had some tough breaks in his life. As Lonnie’s fifth grade class is learning to write poetry, suddenly, he is finding the words to tell about his family, the fire that took his parents away, his little sister, and his world. In this Level 3 (grades 5-8) guide, students will work though exercises on charcter study and comprehension, as well as poetic devices such as simile, metaphor and personification. Students will read and make observations on Lonnie’s poems, while also writing their own that mirror the forms and topics that the story introduces.

Exploring Haiku & Tanka

What better way to whittle away the sunny summer days than by writing poetry? Even if you don't fancy yourself a wordsmith, haiku and tanka are two short forms that can provide a fun, creative, and addicting challenge.

Haiku and Tanka are very old forms of Japanese poetry. 

Haiku are 17-syllable poems that paint a single image in three compact lines. Haiku were created for beginnings to a longer work of poetry. Haiku rarely rhyme.

Haiku is simple: one short line, one long line, and another short line

first line begins five
a b o u t   7   s y l l a b l e s
end the poem with five

crickets, well I have
a lizard named nick who loves
crickets at midnight

          - Hunter (age 15)

Tanka are 31-syllable poems that paint a single image in five compact lines. While Haiku were created for beginnings, Tankas were created for endings. Tanka rarely rhyme.

Tanka is simple: one short line, one long line, another short line then two long lines

first line begins five
a b o u t   7   s y l l a b l e s
use five for line three
a b o u t   7   s y l l a b l e s
a b o u t   7   s y l l a b l e s

dark clouds curl above
sails thrusting through a summer storm
an unexpected
sunset drops behind the splish splash splish
splash splish sounding of the waves
                            - Jonathan (age 12)

Now pour your children a glass of lemonade, find a shady spot and have fun with haiku and tanka. Their poetry can be about anything at all, just have them take a look around and write! After they have filled a page or two, pick a favorite and share it with us here by leaving a comment.

If you are interested in exploring these fascinating forms of poetry more with your children, we highly recommend the following two books:

Haiku (Asian Arts and Crafts For Creative Kids), by Patricia Donnegan

Cricket Never Does: A Collection of Haiku and Tanka, Myra Cohn Livingston

For a strong introduction to the forms and fundamentals of poetry for 5th grade through high school students, check out our Exploring Poetry unit.