All posts in Shoesmith

Empowering voices from 5th & 6th graders

For our 6th week of poetry, 5th and 6th graders explored slam competitions and spoken work poetry. A slam competition is where poets perform spoken word poetry in front of a live audience and […]

Through the looking glass with 5th & 6th graders

For our 5th week of poetry 5th and 6th graders explored opposite personas. Persona is when a poet takes the voice of a person, place, or object. Together we read Haugan 8th grader Ingrid […]

Weird Things

For our 5th sessions, Shoesmith 4th graders talked about out-of-the-box thinking, invention, and imagination. We moved into our “Swan of Bees” poetry lesson, which asks students to make a mash-up of outlandish ideas, such […]

Dream Big

Last week at Shoesmith, several students were dressed-up to present at the school’s Black Activist Wax Museum! I was super excited to meet Black Activists from the present and the past. Frederick Douglass, Nikki […]

Shhh….. 5th & 6th graders create secret identities!

For our fourth week of poetry 5th and 6th graders took on new names and identities. Names give us a sense of self and expresses who we are as individuals. But most students wish […]

It’s celebration time for 5th & 6th graders!

For our third week of poetry 5th and 6th graders celebrated using odes. An ode is a poem that celebrates and gives praise to people, places, and objects. I asked students why it is […]

“Trees Are Like Old Grandparents”

When I arrived to work with Shoesmith 4th graders, they were enjoying having a Q & A (Question & Answer) period with donors who had brought them a gift of books!! We talked about […]

5th & 6th graders find new ways of looking at things

For our second week of poetry, 5th & 6th graders were challenged to look at living things and ordinary objects in unique ways. I had brought in objects that I owned to show students: […]

Sounding Board

“Are listening and hearing the same thing?” asked Shoesmith 4th grader La’Wonn. For my 2nd sessions with Shoesmith 4th graders, we took the time to close our eyes, quiet our mouths, and listen to […]

Wishes on the 100th day of school!

When I arrived at Shoesmith for my first session with 4th graders this year, there appeared to be a number of senior citizens, some stooped over and walking with the help of their canes. […]

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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