Love That Dog

I love "Love That Dog"!!!  It is a great book, written by Sharon Creech, that is creatively set up in a narrative poetry journal format. (it sounds crazy) It is a story about a boy who reluctantly learns to love poetry and expresses his love for his dog.  As the story, unfolds the teacher introduces her class to several authentic authors, types of poems and poetry terms.  The story will also bring a few students to tears.  Sharon also published "Hate That Cat."

A sample of a poem in the book.  My children loved creating shape poems.

Free Down load on teacher vision

I bought a unit on TPT that I highly recommend.  It has great response questions and is easy to implement with the whold class or guided reading groups.  The students also write a few poems of their own.  I will be publishing those next week.  (Pictures to follow)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Love-That-Dog-Novel-Study-and-Poetry-Unit-561763

Poetry Board and Lady Liberty

I had my class write Paint Chip Poems awhile ago and finally hung them up today for Poetry month.  I bought the crayons at Dollar Tree.  Thanks to Laura Candler from for her newsletter that had a poetry bulletin board contest.  Laura has awesome ideas...don't forget to sign up for newsletter too.  I sent my photo to Kristine George.  Check out her author/poetry site!!!  

I also ordered a giant Statue of Liberty to put out in the hall with my postcards.  (I wasn't going to tell my husband but unfortunately he met the UPS man in the driveway...LOL)

Paint Chip Poetry

I love using paint chips!  I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms.  I used them last week to write Color Poems.  The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color.  They came out awesome!

Check out my color poetry post from last year! I read some trade books and we talked about how colors represent emotions and feelings.  I read the books and used the chart.

The next thing that the kids did was pick a paint chip.  

They used the following sheet to brainstorm their ideas.

Click for link:

I used a sheet from Writing Fix.  

The kids wrote similes using their senses.

They picked three similes that fit their metaphor.

(I did conference with them, although the mistakes reappeared!)

Here are some published poems:

Sensory Detail Poetry

I have been talking about sensory details to create visual images since the beginning of the school year. I want my students to start including them in their narrative writing. 

I read "The Polar Express" and we created a list of sensory details including things that you see, hear, smell, taste and touch from the book.  I had the children create a chart of sensory details about winter.  They had to create a free verse poem using sensory details from their own charts.  Some of the children created more than one poem.  Some of my students focused on just one sense.   Here are a few examples of their final products:

Common Core Poetry

My school just installed projectors in all the classrooms this year and I have been trying to find  ways to use it in all subject areas.  I downloaded the Kindle app on to my PC desktop and you can view Kindle books on the projector without a document reader.

I purchased The Poetry Friday Anthology (Common Core All Grades K-5)  E-book for $9.99.  You can buy one grade level for $3.99, I recommend all because each poem refers a poem from another grade level to share for comparison, structural elements, styles, themes, etc. This book is worth it!!!

There are 36 weeks of poems for each grade level, but my favorite part is the page after the poem that gives suggestions on how to teach  and share it with the kids.  For example, before reading the poem about a crocodile show a video clip of a crocodile moving, then share the poem.  Go to Amazon and check it out!

Here are my children acting out a poem about football.  We read "Running Back" and "Watching Football."  They were both free verse poems about watching football on TV.  I had three children take turns pantomiming the poem while the children read it with expression and worked on fluency.  It was only my second week sharing poems from the book, but I knew it was a hit, when they came in on Friday asking when we were doing the poems.

I plan to make a binder of the poems we share for partner reading during Daily Five.

Snapshots of my Week

I finally got my Writer's Eyes up in the wall...I used binder clips on the dropped ceiling.  Check out my previous post to make your own.

I created my MINTS poster with the kids.  Look at my previous post to get your own candies.

Here are my Rock Stars finished and hanging!!!

We are in the process of creating their "I am Poetry."  This student is still publishing but I had to take a picture!  My class is really getting into it.  Link for publishing sheets.

Poetry Cafe Night

I organized our school's first Poetry Cafe Night with the help of my teammates.  We invited all the fourth graders to attend a night of Poetry reading in our Cafe (aka Cafeteria ).  We tried to create an atmosphere of a cafe with tablecloths and centerpieces.  The night included poetry, bongo music and refreshments.  The idea was inspired from Beth Newingham's site: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2010/05/poetry-cafe

The children could share an original poem or a favorite poem.  They could perform solo or with a buddy. We also organized a bake sale.

Here are some photos from the evening...I wish I took more.  (I was too busy) The night was a great success!  I will post their Poetry Books on another Post.