All posts in Darwin

I am the wind through the sky — Delight Songs @ Darwin Elementary

This week we read, The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee, by N. Scott Momaday. I asked the students how different elements of nature could be used to describe their own emotions and powers. I encouraged […]

What Is It Like To Be Roared At?!

This week at Darwin Elementary! The second graders read Blake’s, Tyger, and considered his metaphor–that a tiger is so powerful, it seems as if it was made in a metal forge. Then I asked, […]

Sleepy Poems @ Darwin

This week we read Li Po’s “Quiet Night Thoughts,” a great poem for setting a scene and sharing one’s quiet thoughts. Enjoy! Ms. Garcia 2nd Grade Untitled Christopher R. yo miro estrellas en mi […]

I Relax With The Wind: Odes to Place @ Darwin Elementary

This week we read Ode to Enchanted Light by Pablo Neruda, both in its original Spanish, and translated into English. Students wrote about a beautiful place that makes them feel fulfilled when they picture […]

Happy Holidays from Darwin!

This week the students learned about Odes! And, instead of collecting their poems at the end of class, they are taking them home as poetry gifts for their family. I took a few pictures: […]

A Hat of Kisses: Strange Poems @ Darwin Elementary!

This week we discussed mistakes, and why they are great. You can’t try new things without mistakes! You can’t push yourself without making a mistake! And sometimes those mistakes make something beautiful that we […]

Yo sueño que soy un caja: I Dream that I am a Box @ Darwin Elementary

This week the students and I discussed dreams: funny dreams, scary dreams, nonsense dreams. We talked about how we can use all of our skills (adding sounds and comparisons, using short poetic lines) to […]

Mi mamá escuchando la radio: The Sounds We Hear @ Darwin Elementary

For our third poetry session, the Darwin second graders and I discussed… bum ba da bum… sound! We talked about how using sounds can create a richness in your writing, and is another way […]

The Ocean is Like the Wind: 2nd Grade Similes at Darwin

For our second poetry session together, the second graders and I worked on similes. We spent a while discussing what makes a simile exciting: that the two things don’t seem the same, and we […]

I Wish My Crayons Could Talk: Darwin Poetry Week 1!

The residency begins! The first week we have lots to talk about—what is a poem, anyway? Why are poetic lines different? The Darwin second graders had a great conversation about what poetry is, and […]

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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