Ahhhh...poetry!
The Diamond Miners have been working for a long time on a research project about rain forest habitats and the animals that live there. With the help of
PebbleGo and some other resources, we worked together to research the rain forest and practice taking notes. Then each child chose a rain forest animal and worked more or less independently to choose only the most important words to note down, later recomposing those words and phrases into complete sentences for a trifold brochure complete with a variety of text features.
We were just about done with that project when I rediscovered a really awesome book called
Rejoice! Poetry Celebrating Life in the Amazon Rainforest. It was written by 3rd graders and reminded me of my own advice from last year: poetry is a way into and out of all learning. We had make time to write poems!
Rejoice includes almost all the animals my students had chosen, but we didn't read those poems first; instead we read other poems and noticed some of the tools that the young poets used to make their poem sound good to your ears and feel good in your mouth. Our three days of work were quite meaningful, with evident effort from many Diamond Miners to write about their animals in a "juicy" way that was different from the reporting of facts in the brochures. How freeing!
There may be factual inconsistencies at work which will be addressed at a later time (and some English learner issues, too)--but not yet, with our first foray into writing poetry.
And now here they are, attributed to pseudonyms to protect identity...
spider monkey
by Angel
four long thin legs
like a spider
climbing trees
like a spider
climbs webs
black and hairy
like a spider
Attack!
by Montana
Black spots
Yellow fur
Attack Attack
Attack jaguar Attack
look out or else it
Attacks you.
Suffocate
by Brogan C.
squeeze their prey
squeeze look out
he will squeeze you
tightly
so look out
he will attack
when he sees you he
will
suffocate his prey
and then eat his
prey
eat hisssssssssssssssssss
Ring-Tailed Lemurs
by Ronan
Ring-tailed lemurs, leap through
trees, come in twos,
or threes. they have fights,
maybe
in nights.
if this animal was
a fool, I would have
chosen it as
not cool!
sneaky cat
by Brogan R.
sneaky wildcat
sneaks through the rainforest
sharp teeth
purrrrrrr
pounce!
Poisonous Thief
by Siti
Big scaly
reptile smooth
skin longer
than a
car
sinks its
teeth
into any
body
so watch
out.
Poison Jewels
by Ms. Mordhorst
shiny red
shiny blue
tiny curvy spotted black
smooth wet skin
like a jewel water drop
don’t touch
Porcupine’s Enemies
by Gigi
Quills as sharp
as nails the
enemy jumps
to eat its prey
quills shoot out
the porcupine wins
the enemy doesn’t
dare to come near
this monster again
Brown as a deep
hole it sneaks
into the night
up in the trees
down to the ground
it walks
sloooooooooowly
it walks safely
through
the dark night
Jaguars
By Jory
Jaguars climb trees
they are good
climbers
they sleep in trees
Deer is here
Deer is there
by Adina
Deer is here
Deer is there
Deer is running from the prey.
Deer is here
Deer is there
Deer is hiding from the prey.
Deer can run
Deer can hide
Deer can eat
Deer can run, hide and eat all day
long.
furry animals
by Mathew
Brown furry
animals that walk
slow
they eat
plants on a branch
sloths also eat
fruits.
Attack!
by Callie
Watch out for
the blending-in
wildcat
Slow and quiet as
it creeps up on you!
Watch out it
blends in
What’s it called?
The jaguar!!!
Buggy
fur
by Sam
parasites lurk in the sloth’s
fur so
they can camouflage
the
sloth’s fur they
constrictor
by Jophy
Big
squeeze their
prey
brown skin
black spots dark as a
shadow rats
don’t stand a chance
against the
boa constrictor
Fuzzy Sloth
by Sally
Grip Grip
slow as slow.
Fuzzy as
can be.
They find food
at night.
Furry as grass.
Climb so slow
Grip Grip.
Isn't the variety wonderful? Almost as rich as the rainforest itself!
The Poetry Round-Up today is with
Buffy at her blog--refresh with the poetry freedom.
