All posts in Poems

The parts of me I love

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the theme for our eighth session this week the O-School students thought about things that they loved about themselves. I showed a few black and white photos and words from […]

Blackouts and Erasure Poetry

This week the young viking writers escaped the cold through playing with blackout and erasure poetry. Our source text was back issues of Tin House magazine and I’m so proud of how they changed […]

Would you like to see…?

As usual, when working with 2nd graders – many of whom have never had a creative writing practice – the first 5 sessions are meant to introduce students to how poems look on the […]

Comic Poems!

This week in Ms. Smallwood and Ms. Hernandez’s classes we read an excerpt from Cartoon Dialectics by Tom Kaczynskki and discussed how something can both be a comic and a poem. We came up […]

A Rainbow of Memories and Feelings

Today, we read “Green” by a 4th grade student named Malik. We thought about how colors can remind us of memories and experiences and feelings. The kids were full of energy and enthusiasm and […]

‘For 100s of sleep unders and overs’: Letter-Poems

Students wrote letter poems called Epistolary poems after reading Kobe Bryant’s poem, ‘Dear Basketball.’ Lesson Note: “When you make art, and you don’t know what’s going to happen, you’re involved in the mystery that […]

Blackout! Blackout!

This week Lawndale tried their hand at Blackout poetry. Using Aesop’s fables, song lyrics, and the full text of the national anthem, poets explored how to tear something up and put it back together. […]

Power of Voice

Today in Mrs. Siciliano 7th + 8th grade class, we looked at Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s poem, “Like Totally Whatever.” We learned about tone of voice, and the power of using it in poetry, particularly in […]

Chicago Born and Raised

This week Hyde Park’s poetry club read “Where I’m From” by Willie Perdomo, a poem about the people, lessons, and experiences that define our “origins.” Enjoy these poems by two Chicagoans about the push […]

Poetry as Play

Today in Ms. Reed’s 3rd grade, we talked about play and surprise. We talked about how poetry can give us tools to express some of our deepest emotions and thoughts, while also giving us a […]

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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