All posts in Poems

Cold, Snowing, Snowy Chicago

After a long break from poetry, Brennemann’s first graders had lots of ideas to share about what happens in winter. These poems are filled with sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells from the coldest […]

Where We Belong (8th)

In Ms. Krasic’s 8th grade class, we read Francisco X. Alarcón’s “Natural Criminals.” The students had incredible and bright insights on this poem. We talked about racism and history and how sometimes people are […]

Old Photo, Same Story

Ms. Widman High School Creative Writing   This week the young Viking writers read Warsan Shire’s “Backwards”. We then looked at old photos from the neighborhood to write a poem inspired by the photo. […]

The People, Places & Things We Come From

Greetings! Last week was our sixth session with Waters 6th graders. We explored the nouns and experiences that make us who we are by writing classic “I Am From” poems. This format is inspired […]

‘it feels like a hug from the past”: Odes

Students read Ode To My Shoes by Francisco X. Alacron before penning their own wonderful odes! Lesson Note: “If it were up to me, everything I love would have a poem in praise of […]

“I give the thoughts that speak through my heart”

I was pleased to be invited to return to Swift as a poet in residence, again – this is year five! For our first session of this school year’s residency, it was all about […]

“We’re at a party” Imagery with South Loop Poetry Club!

We hope you have been staying warm in this cold Chicago weather. Last week we didn’t have Poetry Club, but the week before that we read Natasha Trethewey’s “History Lesson” to learn about imagery. […]

If I were an animal (5th)

We read Ada Limon’s “How to Triumph like a Girl” in Ms. Shah’s class today. We watched her read it and discussed how the details helped us see that the speaker wanted to view […]

Animal Poems (Kindergarten)

In Ms. Icho’s kindergarten today, we read “On Monday, I am a Dragon” by Francisco X. Alarcón. We talked about our favorite animals and what animals we sometimes feel like. We also talked about […]

Ode to all the little things!

Our first week back after the break, the Smyser 4th graders and I took some time to be grateful for the little things, and practice more descriptive language with our odes! We read Ode […]

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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