what do kindergarten poets do?

As promised last week, I'm celebrating the (endless end) of National Poetry Month today with poems by 17 kindergarten poets from North Kensington, MD!  After our (year-long) week-long poetry study, the most fun this year was noticing who learned what about poets' techniques--some clearly took in the lesson about creating strong feelings; some chose carefully where their words would go on the page; some used repetition (occasionally by accident!) and some went for juicy words or juicy rhythm.  Once again, I consider it my greatest success as a poetry teacher that all but a couple had good ideas and felt capable of writing a poem.

As the teacher I often get both the first and the last word, but today I'll go first and let Anthony have the last word.  You'll see why. 

Frog Song

tadpole  polliwog

tadpole  polliwog

   (gills   gills)

  back legs   shrinky tail

  front legs   shorty tail

    (change  change)

      

      frogpole   frolliwog

      frogpole   frolliwog

          (lungs   lungs)

                              LEAP!

by Ms. Mordhorst

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Ameera’s  Mirror

my mirror

was gone at

recess

it was alone

and shiny

by Ameera

Planes and Trains

airplane

train

the airplanes

are flying

the trains

are rolling

by Cristian

A Ballerina Dancing

a girl put on her shoes

blue dress

blue shoes

then the girl performed

then she took a bow

by Charm

Star Wars Legos

black

green

circles and squares

I made the

Death Star

by Thomas

Ice Cream

I love to eat

ice cream and

eat other colors

of ice cream!

oreo!!!

strawberry!!!

vanilla!!!

by Catherine

Space

Space oh space

how I love you

you are 1,001,000

miles away   oh

how you make

my brain tickle

by Jack

     

Maniac

The maniac

gets you and

he steals  money  

he sneaks in your

house      he steals

treasure  he steals

food        he steals all

by Jacob

    The Butterfly

the butterfly

is in the

meadow

finding

nectar!

in the flowers

by Ari

Snake

swiveling snake

shedding its skin

slithering away from

a roadrunner

by Aidan

Fish

fish live in

streams and oceans

too    fish eat

plants and insects

too

by Michelle

Cake

I have a

birthday party

I make a cake

and to have

my cake

come here

I like

my cake and

I like my cake

forever

by Jocelyn

Tiger

tiger eating

zebra

meat

by Edwin

My House

my toys are

behind my chimney

my kitchen

is in order

my room is

organized

my house looks

pretty

by Victor

My Egg Hatched

Look at my

egg    it hatched

there is a chick

this chick is

so cute that

I keep it     oh

wow!

by Hannah

Lions

lions are the

king

of the

jungle

lions are

fierce

by Nadia

Ice Cream

I eat ice cream

at my home and

my brother eats ice cream

in a cone

We like

rainbow

ice

cream.

by Victoria

The Clouds Are Nickels

the first part of it:

nickels are the right size

for a cloud 

the next part of it:

clouds are soft 

clouds are like

rice and mashed potatoes.

I will drink lemonade wow!

I am holding a cloud bank

of nickels  wow!

a lot of nickels outside

by Anthony

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When illustrating, Anthony took a nickel out of his pocket and used it for tracing the round fluffy shapes of clouds.  And truly, he knew--or created--the cloud bank image.  So much goodness wow!  Which kindergarten poems are your favorite?

The May Day round-up is with Ellen at Elementary Dear Reader--see you there!

surprise: MarCH CHallenge results

Surprise indeed!  How did it get to be Sunday, April 5th, and I haven't rounded up the MarCH CHallenge and picked a "StretCHiest MarCHer" yet?  (Not-so-surprising answer: Science Night and shed-raising and end of quarter and professional day at school + 16th birthday and kidney stones and Spring Break at home + March marching into April with all its NPM distractions--that's how.)

Here I join Mary Lee over at her Poetrepository with a PoEmotion (hee hee so clever I still love that CoIncidence).  Her emotion for Friday was surprise:

yes, sur!
I am under
the impression
that I can control
each moment
through careful
planification

but, surprise!
I am seized
each day
I am taken over
by events
of wanton
unexpectedness

oh, prise!
I am ripped
of control
and now I win
the prize
of sudden
superwonderment

HM 2015
all rights reserved

So now, having caught my breath, Happy Easter and let the round-up proceed!

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The Quantitative Round-Up*

Of course, there were also audience/commenters, who are very important to the process, and some of them occasionally shared a poem, too:  shout-outs to Matt Forrest Esenwine, Robyn Hood Black, Catherine M. Johnson, Margaret Simon and Laura Shovan!

Our steady participants numbered about 8 in total. Now, here they are, in order of the number of poems they contributed to the collection.  There were 20 official days of challenge, and then a few more words that were on an earlier list that I unhelpfully revised, so we'll call it 24 prompts in all.  I hope I have counted correctly (and next time I'll keep track in a much more efficient way!)

Jone Rush MacCulloch of Deo Writer was a regular contributor with 7 poems, and  Kate Coombs (formerly of the wonderful blog Book Aunt) arrived a little late to the party but wrote 18 poems in the end.

Carol Varsalona wrote 19 expansive poems. all of which can be enjoyed in full at her blog, Beyond LiteracyLink.

Charles Waters and Mary Lee Hahn joined in every single day wth great vigor, verve, and variety, writing exactly 20 new poems.  Mary Lee's can be found at her poetry blog, Poetrepository, and it's always fun to read about Charles's NYC life at his blog, Poetry Time.

Joy Acey and Diane Mayr contributed 20 plus a couple of extras for a total of 22, many of them illustrated.  I believe that my juicy little universe is the only place you can read them all!


Finally--and the StretCHiest MarCHer prize must go to her--Donna JT Smith of Mainely Write wrote 20 poems plus an ADDITIONAL self-assigned but generously-shared 10 -CH poems for a total of 30 poems in 23 days!!!  And this while she was also writing 31 Slice of Life posts and competing in The March Madness Poetry Tournament (I think retirement must be fun)!

CONGRATULATIONS, DONNA!

Donna will receive one copy each of my two collections of poetry, and my eternal gratitude for being one of the folks who made this challenge fun for all of us.  This same appreciation goes out to all who participated in any way--it's what makes the Kidlitosphere simultaneously such a comfortable and inspiring place to spend time! 

With many thanks once again,
Your Forward...MarCH! CHallenge Host Heidi

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*The Qualitative Round-up will happen on whichever Thursday I am home recovering from a necessary medical procedure (blecch).  I'll link to it the very next Friday. ; )

progressive poem 2015: line 3

Welcome one and all to Day 3, Line 3 of this year's Progressive Poem, curated by Irene Latham.  I'm delighted to participate again this year! I note that as an ever-changing group, we seem to like to take big risks.  In 2012 we spilled our dreams in a spice-scented Moroccan market. In 2013 we danced and dangled under the Big Top of the Poetry Circus.  In 2014 we journeyed clutching sapphire eggs into the company of a blue-eyed friend.

This year Jone and Joy have led us into the wild in so many interesting ways.  These long lines defy regular meter, don't demand rhyme, and give us a whole delta to explore.  I''m fascinated by the "she" who roams it, shoeless and netless.  Let her fend for herself,
let her body be one with the landscape...

She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium deposits of the delta.

Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.
Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows 


I see that my blogwidth is not enough to contain these lines; can we break them for today?  Then it looks like this, and what is changed, do you think?
 
She lives without a net, 
walking along the alluvium deposits of the delta.
Shoes swing over her shoulder, 
on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.
Hands faster than fish swing at the ends 
of bare brown arms. Her hair flows


Tomorrow Laura PS at Writing the World for Kids continues the poem, and I bet her blog is wide enough to hold the flow.  Not to get sedimental, but I just love this big ol' collaboration of poets...Go Us!

Follow along each day to see how our poem grows, and join Amy at The Poem Farm for a singable round-up this first Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month!

2015 Kidlitosphere

Progressive Poem

1 Jone at Check it Out

2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy

3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog

6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page

7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson

8 Irene at Live Your Poem

9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository

10 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty

11 Kim at Flukeprints

12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche

13 Doraine at DoriReads

14 Renee at No Water River

15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge

16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

17 Buffy at Buffy's Blog

18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro

19 Linda at Teacher Dance

20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots

21 Tara at A Teaching Life

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Tamera at The Writer's Whimsy

24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect

25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference

26 Brian at Walk the Walk

27 Jan at Bookseedstudio

28 Amy at The Poem Farm

29 Donna at Mainely Write

30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

 

whoo-hoo it's here!

It's National Poetry Month and the annual poetry party has begun!  There are so many great projects going on in the Kidlitosphere that I'm going to rely on Jama's round-up post for the definitive list.  I'm already scheduled to take part in two projects (see here), but that leaves quite a few days for me to play along with other challenges and enjoyments throughout April.  I'm thrilled that my Spring Break falls in a way that allows some extra time, so starting on Friday, April 2,  I'll challenge myself to visit at least 3 blog projects each day through April 12.  Here are some of the places I'll be visiting...

2015 KIDLITOSPHERE POETRY EVENTS

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Irene Latham at Live Your Poem has recruited 30 poets for her fourth annual Kidlit Progressive Poem and I'm excited to be one of them. . Here’s the full schedule of participating bloggers:

1 Jone at Check it Out
2 Joy at Poetry for Kids Joy
3 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
4 Laura at Writing the World for Kids
5 Charles at Poetry Time Blog
6 Ramona at Pleasures from the Page
7 Catherine at Catherine Johnson
8 Irene at Live Your Poem
9 Mary Lee at Poetrepository
10 Michelle at Today’s Little Ditty
11 Kim at Flukeprints
12 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
13 Doraine at DoriReads
14 Renee at No Water River
15 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
16 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town
17 Buffy at Buffy’s Blog
18 Sheila at Sheila Renfro
19 Linda at Teacher Dance
20 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
21 Tara at A Teaching Life
22 Pat at Writer on a Horse
23 Tamera at The Writer’s Whimsy
24 Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect
25 Tabatha at The Opposite of indifference
26 Brian at Walk the Walk
27 Jan at Bookseedstudio
28 Amy at The Poem Farm
29 Donna at Mainely Write
30 Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme

Irene’s personal poetry project at Live Your Poem is ARTSPEAK! She’ll be writing daily poems inspired by the online collections of the National Gallery of Art, and I might join her in exphrastasy!

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At Author Amok, Laura Shovan is hosting “What Are You Wearing?” — a full month featuring poetry about clothes. I'll be a Monday guest blogger on April 13, sharing a favorite clothing-related poem with a paragraph or two of introduction.

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Strap yourselves in your seats and get ready for an emotional roller coaster at A Year of Reading! Mary Lee Hahn’s project is called PO-EMotions. She will be writing a poem each day that evokes an emotion or uses an emotion word in the title or body of the poem. I'll join her in some of these, and she’ll also be cross-posting at her personal poetry blog, Poetrepository.

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Jone MacCulloch will be sharing student poetry daily at Check It Out. She’s also once again doing her annual Poetry Postcard Project, where Silver Star ES students send out illustrated poetry postcards to anyone requesting them. Sign up HERE if you’d like to receive one. This is a wonderful project — seven years running so far — I always enjoy receiving my postcard each April.

At Deo Writer, Jone is hosting her first month-long writing challenge. She’ll be playing with poems that have something to do with nature and double “ll’s,” (like in her last name). I'm definitely in on this one--I love starting with one word!

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Diane Mayr at Random Noodling presents Ekphrastic Mondays! Beginning April 6, she will post an original poem inspired by a work of art. 

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At Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle Heindenrich Barnes is spotlighting 2015 Newbery Medal Winner Kwame Alexander as her Ditty of the Month Club special guest! She’s kicking things off with an awesome interview, giveaway, and an invitation to write a poem (or poems) this month in response to Kwame’s ditty challenge. Looking forward to this one too!

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Over at Poetry for Children, Sylvia Vardell is celebrating the just released Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books, 2015) by featuring short videos of children reading some of the poems from the book.

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Over at The Poem Farm, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is playing a game called Sing That Poem! Each day she’ll post a new original poem with the meter of a well-known song. Folks can print a PDF and try to match each day’s poem with the song it was inspired by. I'm starting to feel a little drunk with all the possibilities here!

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Linda Baie at TeacherDance will be doing a lot of writing this month. In addition to participating in the a number of other challenges, she's writing a haiku or other related form every day.

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April Halprin Wayland and her trusty canine muse Eli will be feeding us a PPP (previously published poem) every day all month long.

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Over at The Miss Rumphius Effect, Tricia Stohr-Hunt will be focusing on poetic forms: “I want to shine a spotlight on forms other than strictly rhyming (though rhyme is perfectly fine) for the elementary and middle school classroom. I love rhyme just as much as the next person, but I worry that much of the poetry parents select for kids and teachers select for classrooms is chosen simply because it rhymes."  Let's hear it for Poetry with a capital P!

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Liz Steinglass will also be writing a poem every day this month. Her theme this year is items hiding in or on a desk.  Hmmm...lots of possibilities here.

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Laura Purdie Salas will be sharing tips on presenting poetry to students at Writing the World for Kids. She’ll also include a poem that is relevant to each daily tip.

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Travis Jonker will be posting his annual gallery of book spine poems at 100 Scope Notes. There’s still time to submit a book spine cento — he’ll be collecting them throughout the month. Tips and details here.

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At Alphabet Soup, Jama will be featuring some very cool newly published poetry picture books. And she's serving up a little extra treat: HotTEAs of Children’s Poetry.

So...let the festival begin!