Thursday, February 2, 2012

Happy Ground Hog Day!   For breaking news, see http://www.groundhog.org/

Self-Starter:

Picture Prompts -- Children's Books?  

Finish Me-Bags

Create a Storyboard for your child's book.

View a slideshow.

Computer Lab 201
Look on the internet for poems to present.  Use the links below, or look up favorite poets.
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/poetrycollections.html


Poetry Resources for Teens  
http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/394

http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/youngpeople/

Funny Poetry for Kids
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

http://www.emule.com/poetry/?page=top_poems

Scroll down for poems to recite:

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/86

Poetry Links for Middle School Students:  (Notice that some of these are intended for teachers and others for students.)

http://www.vrml.k12.la.us/cc/poetry/poetryms.htm


Middle School Poetry
http://middleschoolpoetry180.wordpress.com/the-poems/

Poetry 180 -- aimed at high school students
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

Poetry from Scholastic: 

http://teacher.scholastic.com/poetry/

Look at Shel Silverstein's official site.

http://www.poetry-archive.com/collections/

More:
Selections from a book of poetry about middle school: 
http://www.kristinegeorge.com/swimming_upstream.html

Gary Soto (Look for a book of poems by Gary Soto in our classroom:  A Fire in My Hands
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/230

A poem about poetry:
http://www.educationalrap.com/song/poetry-for-life.html

And more --
http://poetry.eserver.org/
http://www.poemhunter.com/

http://brodbagert.com/pages/view/303/Unpublished-poems-Brod-wants-you-to-have

November 30, 2010

Today students wrote Tritinas. These are free verse poems, each with a particular format.
Tritina comes from the Latin word for three. The poet selects three words that can hold much meaning. Those most important words are placed at the ends of lines in a specified pattern.
There are three stanzas and an envoy.
Find instructions for writing a tritina at http://www.baymoon.com/~ariadne/form/tritina.htm

Example:   from http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2007/06/beach-tritina.html

Beach Tritina

Rain, Sea, Sand

Mist rises up the beach at the edge of rain.
Surf fingers draw long scrolls of foam from the sea.
Three friends come from the city to walk across the sand.

It’s no mystery why they want to bury their toes in the sand,
Why they will drive for hours in the rain,
Why they are drawn to the sea.

Eyes fixed on the curling edge of a bottle green sea,
These three walk toward the surf over the shell-strewn sand,
Believing the sky will lighten, believing the end of rain.

They stand on the sand in the rain, staring longingly at the sea.

-Andromeda Jazmon
June 2007
 _______________________________________________

A Tritina  for Mom
You've always made time to check on me at bedtime
and to be there whenever I worry.
And I knew I could definitely count on a great dinner.

All right, so maybe I didn't always love the dinner.
And it's possible that you weren't there for every bedtime,
and there were plenty of times I made you worry.

But then, isn't it part of a mother's job to worry?
To alwayscome through, breakfast, lunch, and dinner?
And then, at the end of a long day, to be rewarded with a hug at bedtime?

I'm sorry I made you worry and haunted your dreams at bedtime, but I love you (and dinner, too).
-- by Marica Conley Carter -- from Nancy Atwell  -- Lessons That Change Writers



Another site for tritinas.

November 30, 2010

We read/listened to more poetry and students had time to discuss their children's books.

November 19, 2010

Found at http://johnjudyc.blogspot.com/2010/09/fractured-nursery-rhymes.html

Bell Ringer:  "Inspired By" Nursery Rhymes 

Today we are in Computer Lab 223.  This is your chance to finish typing your story for the child from Legacy. 
Also, I have added the photos I took that day to our wiki as images.  See the front page of our wiki for how to access them.

November 3, 2010

1. Bell-ringer:  Make a list of as many children's books (books for preschool and elementary age you have known and perhaps loved) as you can.
We shared lists.

2. Examples of Children's book and possible types of books

3. About our fieldtrip to Legacy on next Tuesday, November 9. 

4. We practiced interviewing.
 
5. We began reading Love That Dog to learn more about poetry.   We got through Frost's "Stopping By Woods. . . "
   Students have written two imitation poems in their composition books -- one for "The Red Wheelbarrow" and the other for "Stopping By Woods. . . "

October 6, 2010

1. Bell-Ringer: Create a Halloween poem using five words or phrases you draw from the envelope.  You may add words, and use the words in any order.
2. Receive Word Bank Packets -- add color words if appropriate
3. Share poems (Return word slips.)
4. Read (in small groups) short stories from The Haunted House: A Collection of Short Stories edited by Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg
5. Turn in poems.
6. Discuss Word Choice:   Dead Words and Wonderful Words
7. Collecting wonderful words
8. Write a short scene inspired by great words -- one from each category except Dead Words  -- Make sure you don't use any dead words.

Scary Short Story due October 22.  We will be able to use the computer lab October 12 and 20 to get these done.

Discuss books for children.

November 29, 2007

November 29, 2007
Today we had a mini-lesson on effective word choice -- choosing the best words for anything we write.

Students worked on their books for the kindergarteners. These books are to be finished and handed in by December 7.

November 16, 2007

November 16, 2007
Bring children's books today. We'll look at them to get ideas for the books we'll create for the kindergarten children.

Also, today we will be in the lab to finish the stories about "A Day As a Bird."