All posts in Shoesmith

Twinkling Star at Midnight

This week we read “sonnet-ballad” by Gwendolyn Brooks and students wrote Shakespearean sonnets. Some students were able to write all 14 lines, while others made it a little more than half-way by completing 8 […]

Trees Will Grow Like Butterflies

This week we read “The Eagle” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Students rose to the challenge of writing poems in iambic tetrameter and following a rhyme scheme. The poems are about spring, which we are […]

Word is Rhythm

This week students performed their original poems at the Word is Rhythm Poetry Festival at the Logan Center for the Arts at The University of Chicago. Students performed solo, with a partner, or in […]

Blue Wall

This week we had a Sharing Day. Each student chose one poem from their portfolio to read aloud to the class. Many students chose their most recent poem written in response to the translations […]

Inside This Jar

This week we read two translations of a poem by Kabir titled “The Clay Jug.” Students compared the choices that the translators (Stephen Mitchell and Robert Bly) made related to diction and structure. Then […]

Tree Branch Shadows on My Bed

This week week we read “Quiet Night Thoughts” by Li Po. Students wrote poems about what they think about before they fall asleep and gave their attention to practicing using line breaks and stanzas. […]

Sharing Day

This week we had our first Sharing Day. Every student selected one poem from their portfolio to read aloud. Students practiced giving specific feedback by writing down and sharing lines that they related to […]

The One-Armed Snowman Winter

This week we read “Nothing but Drums” by Oscar Hijuelos. Discussion of the poem concentrated on metaphor and writing with descriptive language. Students chose one noun to focus on for their poems. Ms. Wesson […]

Dandelion in a Field of Roses

This week students read “Clock” by Kinereth Gensler and practiced creating images using metaphor and simile. Some students focused on writing about an object of personal significance. Ms. Wesson 5th Grade Group 1 Tamia […]

a leap frog always in hand

This week we read excerpts from “I Remember” by Joe Brainard and talked about using descriptive, sensory language to create images. Students shared their favorite lines and identified which sense was being activated in […]

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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