For our first residency session at Swift for the 2022-23 school year, we got acquainted by talking about using our senses, imaginations, feelings, and creative ideas when reading and writing poetry. We looked at examples of poems that other 2nd graders have written, and talked about not being afraid to begin writing, even if we think our spelling isn’t right or our writing looks squishy on the page! We agreed that having fun with words, making an effort, and practice are what counts.
I loved that when I asked what they have been loving to learn about lately, students in Ms. Urquiza’s class talked about Martin Luther King Jr.’s courage in speaking out against unfairness and prejudice; and students in Ms. Amato’s class brought up learning about verbs and animals!
Before reading the Gwendolyn Brooks poem, “The Tiger Who Wore White Gloves OR What you are you are,“ students shared things they know about tigers such as “they can leap 30 feet!” and “they are the biggest cat!” and “they’re carnivores!” They also imagined creative reasons why a tiger might want to wear white gloves. When I read the poem, students had a great time participating by acting out some of the verbs in the poem, and making jungle sounds whenever it was appropriate!
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