All posts in Poems

Poets Become Time Travelers

Shoesmith 5th & 6th graders became time travelers for their 3rd week of poetry. We explored how to use our five senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight) to recall memories. Week 3’s theme […]

I Am Poems

This week we got started with a second session of afterschool workshops at Clissold and our group has grown to include a few kindergarteners and 1st graders. I was really excited to introduce our […]

‘and then your heart will/ start to hear like a drum’: Open Mic Poems

Students wrote poems in the ‘Open Mic’ style after reading the poem by Black poet and playwright Zetta Elliot’s piece, ‘Mic Check.’ Lesson Note: Making your own work is really important. [We] made work […]

‘Because everyone has a right to…’ Because-style Poems

Students read Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s poem ‘Learning to Love America’ before they wrote their own ‘Because’ poems. Lesson Note: Born in Malacca, Malaysia, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim was raised by her Chinese father and attended […]

Magical Recipes

For their 7th poetry session Hamline 6th graders dappled with magic and spells. I asked if they could create a magical potion, what would you use it for and why? The majority of students […]

“The sun is super hot just like my mom’s cooking pot”

During our fifth poetry workshop for the 5th graders, we talked about space poetry a couple of weeks after watching the eclipse. We first learned all about the United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s […]

“I Have Great Eyes like Night Vision Goggles”

This week, we read (in our best Hulk voice!) an excerpt of “Hulk Smash!” by Greg Santos and “Forest Walk” by Kristine O’Connell George. We talked about how to write a persona poem in […]

Erasure Poetry (8th)

Today, we read and listened to Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach’s “Mir in Ukraine.” We talked about why she chose to write a poem about Ukraine by erasing Putin’s words instead of starting from scratch. The […]

Erasure Poetry (5th)

Today, we read and listened to Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach’s “Mir in Ukraine.” We talked about why she chose to write a poem about Ukraine by erasing Putin’s words instead of starting from scratch. The […]

5th Grade Seasons & Senses

For our 2nd sessions, Twain 5th graders talked about smells, tastes, sounds, and textures. We also made lists of words we could substitute for the word “happy” in our poems. Before brainstorming, we read […]

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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