All posts in Poems

“A poem that runs out of ideas”

For our 4th poetry session, students thought about different kinds of dreams and wrote Dream Poems. For our 5th session, we began with a game of rhymes, before talking about coming up with crazy […]

“I am (Umm good cool and stuff)” Self Reflective Poems with South Loop Poetry Club

This week at South Loop Elementary School, we listened to “Everything at Once” by Lenka to talk about similes and comparisons. The young poets then began to think about their selves and answer the […]

“I am as creative as an artist” Figurative Language at Dulles

In Mr. Bridges’ Poetry Specials, we talked about using similes and metaphors to make comparisons in our poems. For examples, we read through translations of Issa and Buson’s haiku, and Francisco X. Alarcon’s On […]

Food Poems

First graders at Brenneman had an exciting first poetry lesson! We read the poem “Fried Chicken,” by Kwame Alexander, who writes that his grandmother’s fried chicken is so good it tastes like pieces of […]

Life is Full of Suprises!

This week at Smyser, just before the break, The 4th-graders looked at a poem that has a surprising ending, which is emphasized by the final line break. I reviewed what we’ve been learning about […]

‘I’ve been thinking about the way/you helped’: Kindness Poems

Students wrote and talked about kindness before reading the poem, ‘Small Kindnesses’ by Denusha Lameris. In crafting their own poems students focused on one idea, one stanza and small ways they have been kind […]

Sit Back, Relax, & Write

Sometimes its hard to be a poet when life is lifing. Earlier this month, our poetry club opted to take it easy and free write instead of our usual themed prompts. Check out a […]

Oh, This Ode Thing?

Last week was a journey with my favorite poetic form: odes. Students began the day with check-ins before we watched and read some poetry together. First we read “Ode To People Who Hate Me” […]

‘Good Morning / Good Afternoon/ Good Night’: Small Kindness Poems

Students wrote and talked about kindness before reading the poem, ‘Small Kindnesses’ by Denusha Lameris. Lesson Note: Kindness has health benefits. Kindness not only feels good, but it can also boost the giver’s well-being. […]

Writing About our Pets

When I visited Ms. Tze’s 4th-grade class at Dulles, we first spent some time getting to know each other with a name game, then I heard from them what they’d been learning so far […]

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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