All posts in Leslie Reese

The Color of Poems

In this blog post I share Color Poems from Kozminski 4th graders; as well as poems written by 5th graders, inspired by views of poetry videos by Nate Marshall and Jamila Woods. Ms. Manning4th […]

Acrostically Yours

For our 15th sessions, Swift 2nd graders sat on the rugs in their classrooms, and put on their imagination hats while I read aloud from Rob Gonsalvez’s Imagine a World. Students marveled to see […]

Memories of Feeling Free

For our 12th sessions together, Kozminski 4th and 5th graders discussed how it feels to be wild and free. We talked about ways that children and animals are tamed of “wild” behavior. Then we […]

“Where Red is From, Where I Am From”

For our 9th sessions Shoemsith 4th graders returned to writing their color poems. The first group had a visitor who came to talk to them about HBCUs, but before that, students had an opportunity […]

Whisking and Mixing Recipe Poems

For our 14 sessions, I showed up on Tuesday instead of our usual Thursday – a fact that did not go unnoticed by Swift 2nd graders! I brought with me a few kitchen items, […]

“Unreal”

For my most recent visit with Kozminski students, I asked students to reach into their imaginations to come up with ideas to surprise themselves and me! We looked at the student poem, “Someday I […]

Monster Class

For our 13th sessions, Swift 2nd graders had fun with Dennis Lee’s poems, “I Eat Kids, Yum Yum.” They played with voices and imagined long lists of monsters and their characteristics, before writing their […]

“Look of Poems”

Upon my return to Kozminski after the spring break, I had the opportunity to meet with 4th, 5th, and middle grade students! We read poems published on the blog; we read and discussed Maya […]

Coloring in and out of the lines

Between testing dates and spring break, it felt like an eternity since I had spent time with Shoemsith 4th graders! It felt good to return to Ms. Lehner’s classroom for our eighth sessions. Students […]

“I’m Strong Like My Family”

Upon our return from spring break, Kozminski student poets discussed diversity, and how it can be found in people, geography, the natural world, colors, and languages. We read “Face It” by Janet S. Wong, […]

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I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET