All posts in Poems

Bravery Poems

In Ms. Reed’s third grade class, we read Maya Angelou’s “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All.” We talked about how bravery doesn’t mean that you’re never afraid, it just means that you figure out […]

‘To be hapcited’: Emotion Poems

Students talked about and then wrote poems about emotions using personification and other poetic devices. Some students created new emotions to write about by combining two existing emotions. Lesson Note: “Developing creativity in students […]

Rickety Doors and More

For our most recent session, we read and discussed Justin Danzy’s “A rickety door, a back one or side, not stable.” At the midpoint of the residency, this poem is the first to include […]

Odes over Everything

This week the young viking writers explored odes and other poetic forms of praise. We read Lucille Clifton’s “won’t you come celebrate with me” and Chicago poet Jessica Walsh’s “When My Daughter Says I […]

Curious Questions

For our 9th poetry session, the theme was questions. Why do people ask questions? Does every question have to have an answer? The O-School students gave great responses to these questions. Most students mentioned […]

Grissom Elementary School | Acrostic Poems: Allow Us to Introduce Ourselves

We introduced ourselves to each other by reading acrostic poems we wrote about ourselves. How would you introduce yourself in an acrostic poem? Can you find our names written within our poems? _______________________ The […]

‘I take a big, deep breath’: Meditation Poems

Students participated in a short meditation and breathing exercise. I read I Close My Eyes by David Ignatow.  After the meditation, they were asked to write whatever came to mind. Classwork was conducted in […]

Erasure Poems

This week we took a look at some examples of erasure poetry. Students saw many different forms, using the page they were given for their own poems to make a variety of poems with […]

What I Like: Acrostic Poems

We wrote Acrostic poems to introduce ourselves and some of what we like. What would you add to an Acrostic poem about yourself; can you read our names within our poem? We will soon […]

Poemas Sobre Música | Poems About Music

¡Estos son nuestros poemas sobre la música!  ¡Y pensamos que la voz también es un instrumento! These are our poems about music!  And we think the voice is an instrument too! ____________ No Music […]

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“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.

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-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
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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