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

 **********************************

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!

OIK Tuesday returns

Happy New Year!  All the preparation done, the new recipes, the new table linens, a little extra spent on the better bubbly for the welcome guests--now the feast can begin!

You know the feast I mean:   the New Year celebration of classroom teachers the world round...we prepare, plan to try out some new ideas and approaches, dress things up a bit, splurge a little to get a special new tool...and then they arrive!

This year I have 16 adorables (so far)--a perfect number of kindergarteners, if you don't have an assistant. Oh, they are lovely!  Even my poor sad twin, who has never been apart from her brother and is finding it hard to love school, raises her arms like a ballerina to pose when I take her picture.

Yesterday, as always, we read Swimmy and became Ms. Mordhorst's Mighty Minnows.  In between, Camillah [all names are changed to protect privacy] lost track of her lunchbox.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed.  I think I left my lunchbox in the Food Court!"

*********************************

Oof.  I tried to write a food court poem and composed a draft so bad I can't even post it...I guess the Happy New Year excesses have left me a little hung over!   I resolve to forgive myself.

npm travel journal 25: kensington, md

Yes, indeed--to celebrate National Poetry Monday today, we are stepping into my very own classroom here in Montgomery County, MD! This month the Mighty Minnows have once again considered the question What Do Poets Do?  They learned that

1) Poets choose to write about one small thing.
2) Poets choose words that sound good together.
3) Poets choose where to put their words.
4) Poets create strong feelings.

Then the Minnows tried doing some of those things themselves.  Without further ado, here is the work of my 17 kindergarteners (signed with their aliases)....

The Sky

the sky is a

beautiful land

a star in a

sky at night

and we

can see a moon

by Ananda

My Family

I love my family

They love me too

My mom cooks for me

My dad helps me do

my homework

I like my mom

and dad because

they love me

too!

by Julee

                                                Hello Buffalo

 

Can I ride 

on you? 

What do you

sound like?

Moooooooo!

by Brendan

My Sisters

my sisters

play with me

blocks

dolls

fairies

bikes

my sisters

play with me

by Kailee

 The Sun

                                                When the sun wakes

up it sprinkles

upon my flowers!

byJunius

Tuna Mouth

This tuna

was in a war with

three naughty tunas.

This tuna won!

by Jaiden

My Family

My daddy is a clown

My mommy is a butterfly

My sister is a flower

My brother is a playground

My self is a blanket

My cat is a dog!

by Nellie

Transformer Cars Two trillion           2,000,000,000,000  transformer cars  Giant transformers  have guns  They fight the  bad guys!  by Antonio

My Mommy

I love my mommy

I love my family

too.  But no one

is better

than you!

by Julio

My Family

my mom is a rose

my daddy

is a button

I am a flower

by Valoria

                                                I Like the Sun

                                                the sun shines

so bright

can I go

outside to-

night?

by Nate

The Turtle with Eggs

the turtle walks

so slow.

eggs of

the turtle.

by Wilmer

The World

I like the world

the world has lots

of things     it has

flowers and trees and

lots of clouds    I like

the world    do you

like it too

by Jazmyn

              Skylanders

  Skylanders is a

  video game 

  I play  it a lot

  I make the Skylanders

  move

  I make them fight the

  bad guys

  It’s exciting when I win!

  by Alex Andrew

                                               Rides

We go on rides

I like rides that go

up and down

I like rides that go

around

I go with my mommy 

                                              and with my daddy

                                              by Leeah

Green Water

the green water

is going to explode

nobody is going

to jump in

the water has to get cooked

then we can pour the water in

by Robbie

Colors

I color a snowman

I color a flower

I color a rainbow

I color a leaf

by Sofie

                                                   
As always, my favorite thing about these is that each child had an idea, something to say in a poem and an idea of how to say it best. Enjoy more National Poetry Month goodness today at The Opposite of Indifference with Tabatha!