April - Poetry - Other Words Too

design by Leigh Anne Eck

        There is a group of us who plan to write and support each other for poetry month with the hashtag #DigiPoetry (created by Margaret Simon at Reflections On The Teche. If you want to join in, link your post on twitter with this hashtag, and we'll come looking. 

        As I discover them, I'll share challenges or blogs that are sharing something poetically special during April. Right now, I am planning to write something every day in the practice of haiku or other related forms like the senryū, tanka or lune. I know that I don't know a lot, but will read and learn, and write, perhaps improve a little too.

        On Wednesdays I also link up with Alyson Beecher of Kidlit Frenzy to share non-fiction picture books. Sometimes there will be poetry, but today, I hope to share an original Senryū that responds to a non-fiction book.

          none but Grandpa knew
  that paint could change the world
       till drug dealers disappeared
             Linda Baie (c) All Rights Reserved

      

SOLC # 31 - Endings Good & Bittersweet

Blogging with my class, and we're on spring break! Find them at Linda and Jonathan's Class Blog.

             It's the final Slice of Life for this March. We'll be back every week, but not all together as we have been. Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna and Beth for keeping the party going, day by day by day. It was a pleasure!  Find all the final links at the Two Writing Teachers blog.

       They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I say that a thousand words--and more-- are worth a picture of a community.  I’ve collected one phrase from a slicer each day, read and loved so many more. What a joyous group. Although sometimes sad and often contemplative, each writer kept writing from her or his life. Congratulations to you all!

1 -   Ask me to stay for just awhile.

  I promise I'll exit with a smile.

2 -   Recently I came across an image of an old fashioned key hole.  In the open space you could see part of a room.  I loved that idea, that image.  It made many connections in my mind.

3 -   Being busy isn’t always bad.  And besides, I’ll have warm chicken chili waiting for me when I get home later.

4 -   How can they remember that they are special, unique, valuable people when they are wading through tests that tell them there is one right answer, one acceptable score, one way to become successful? They're losing the sense that they matter.

5 - The message was as crystal clear as the bubbling Colorado River: we all need to step outside of our everyday strife to take in the beauty of this earth and to remember that we are not on this journey alone.

6 -  I knew then what that "something" was when we held hands during prayer a year before. He was the one. We were married by the end of the year.

7 - This community has made me feel worthy as a writer. It helped me change my opinion of myself and be able to write those four words.  I am a writer.

SOLC # 30 of 31 - Still Reading & Writing

            Forgive the strange formatting-ugh! I worked to make changes, just couldn't figure it out. . .

      Day Thirty of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.   Tweet at #SOL15. There's one more day of this wonderful March slicing. What a time it has been! 

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey for the constant inspiration. 

Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog.

          Link up with Jen at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders. and Sheila at Book Journeys.  Come visit, and tweet at #IMWAYR. Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki for hosting!

       The day after tomorrow is April, POETRY MONTH.  Most times I will write and share a poem, some days I'll share poems by others, but I do plan to fill the month with poetry in some way, every day! Some of us have planned to support each other in April, using the hashtag #DigiPoetry, created by Margaret Simon of Reflections on The Teche.   You'll welcome to join us if you'd like!

       I bought Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown at the reading conference in

February, and just sat down Sunday afternoon to read and listen. Yes, listen! This book is a lullaby treasure, accompanied by a cd, new poems/songs written by Margaret Wise Brown and discovered by Amy Gary, hidden in a trunk in a barn, finally revealed by Margaret's sister. Twelve illustrators whom you know and love have illustrated each song, Tom Pratt and Emily Gary have gathered together a group that composed the music for each one. The back of the book gives short biographies of the illustrators and a  note from the musicians; the front introduction by Amy Gary shares the story of this amazing discovery. It's a must read, to see the pictures by Jonathan Bean, Carin Berger, Sophie Blackall, Linda Bleck, Renata Liwska, Zachariah Ohora, Eric Puybaret, Sean Qualls, Isabel Roxas, Melissa Sweet and Dan Yaccarino. What a collaboration to celebrate! Here's one beginning of a song/poem: "When the man in the moon was a little boy,/Sing hi ho, the man in the moon./He ran away with a shooting star./Ho hum, the many in the moon."
                                                           ================

SOLC # 29/31 - Wires, Wires, Wires

   Time for the next to the next to the last SOLC, number 29 of 31 at the Two Writing Teachers blog, with Anna, Dana, Stacey, Tara, Betsy and Beth!  Still blogging With My Class at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog even though we're now on spring break. Many students are still posting EVERY DAY!

Margaret Simon, of Reflections on the Teche hosts a meme--Digilit Sunday--about sharing technology. I am embarrassed that I don't share there more, seem to run out of time for it, although I love all the new tech apps and students are using them, too! Today I'm linking although I'm not so sure it's a help for anyone, but simply a query.

SOLC # 28/31 - Celebrations

Today I Celebrate with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.

        It's also time for another SOLC, number 28 of 31 at the Two Writing Teachers blog, with Anna, Dana, Stacey, Tara, Betsy and Beth Link HERE! We've come far! After this, three days. Three days to wrap things up? Nearly every student has also written every day. What a writing month it has been! We'll be celebrating after spring break!

Blogging With My Class at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

        It's the first day of my spring break! There were some interesting parts of the week that I celebrate because they're over, and although it seemed like quite a long week, students completed their work, did much of it beautifully and creatively, and I know they're now celebrating a nice break, too. 

SOLC # 27/31 - Told To Write About Spring

          Day Twenty-Seven of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge. Tweet at #SOL15 And also Poetry Friday with Jone McCullough at Check It Out. Thanks, Jone!

           Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

        Those Things That Grow

For ‘things that grow’, I was told to care

thus I’m growing a poem right now to share.

My list lingers,

counting on my fingers,

I say ten,

then think again.

SOLC # 26 - My Post-Thanks To Terje

Day Twenty-Six - Wow! of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.  Tweet at #SOL15

                Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey for hosting!

    Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

           Terje, of Just for A Month wrote yesterday that sometimes she didn't want to be a teacher, and gave some good reasons why. I don't know if this came from a bad day, or is just the consistent contemplation many of us have of just how challenging teaching is. Anyway, Terje's words sit heavily on me today, and I wondered about all our "todays" when things happen as we start with fresh ideas, exciting thoughts of the way the day would go, and then
             AND THEN, they don't go as planned at all. Today, I didn't expect

SOLC # 25 - Non-Fiction - How Much Courage Do You Have?

                Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

Day Twenty-Five of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.   Tweet at #SOL15

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey for helping us say, one week to go. 

SOLC # 24/31-non-fiction - more to learn - linking with Alyson Beecher at KidLit Frenzy, who hosts non-fiction picture book Wednesday, wonderful resources found there!

 Learning about history enriches our lives and when we share, enriches that of our students, too. This time I'm sharing two books of ordinary people, like you and me, that became extraordinary. They made our lives today better, and isn't that wonderful?

Seeds of Freedom, The Peaceful Integration of Huntsville, Alabama - written by Hester Bass and illustrated by E.B. Lewis
            I think I've brave and I have done some personally courageous things in my life, but none that jeopardized my physical well-being. Oh, I could have fallen when rock-climbing or on a zipline, I guess, but I mean physical harm from other people. This story shares the efforts of a whole lot of African-American people who sat in at lunch counters, took their children to forbidden parks, and walked through crowds of people who didn't want them there to take their children to the "better" white schools. I believe I could do it; I believe in fighting for what's right. This story tells the small seeds of beginning to the triumph of the end of segregation in Huntsville.  In his beautiful illustrations, E.B. White shows the serious and the triumphant parts of this time. It was peaceful, but civil rights were a long time coming. You will enjoy hearing about it from Hester Bass.

SOLC # 24/31 - Asking for A Different Point of View

                

        Day Twenty-Four of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.   Seven days to go!                                        Tweet at #SOL15

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey for hosting. 

         Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

A different point of view!

            The students in my class just completed book groups that read three different books, students' choice, and we're readying for more after our spring break that arrives at the end of the week. The focus particularly for these first books was to consider point of view. 

SOLC # 23/31 - Blogging and Reading, too

                Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

        Day Twenty-Three of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.   Tweet at #SOL15

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey. 

Link up with Jen at TeachMentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders. and Sheila at Book Journeys.  Come visit, and tweet at #IMWAYR. Thanks to Jen, Kellee, and Ricki for hosting!

         Here's more than one book that will help you look at things in different ways:

Apples & Oranges, going bananas with pairs - written and illustrated by Sara Pinto

              This will send the younger students laughing so much they’ll fall off their chairs. Sara Pinto has crafted some wonderful pairs, but the expectation will surprise everyone. Once they get going, who knows what the children will guess! There are lovely brightly-colored drawings, for example, of a cupcake and an ice cream cone. The author asks, “How are a cupcake and an ice cream cone alike?” And of course, one might say, they’re both sweet, or desserts, or ? But when the page is turned, the answer, and funny picture, is “They both don’t scuba dive.” Very cute, will start lots of comparing conversations about all the pairs and what they "don't" do.

Slice of Life 22/31 -Sometimes Slices Taste Different

                Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

Day Twenty-Two of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.   Tweet at #SOL15

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey. 

        If you've remembered yesterday, Saturday, and I didn't have much that I had to do, but lots that I wanted to do, even cleaning, and I wrote that I've worked hard that past few weeks and weekends getting ready for new units with my students, writing evals and then conferences. So I ran a few errands, finished up with the minor grocery shopping and planned to go home before lunch and leisurely write and read. I didn't. 

SOLC # 21 And Celebrating The Week's Highlights

Come celebrate and share with Ruth Ayes at Discover, Play Build.  

                                                       Tweet at #CelebrateLu!

SOLC # 21 

         Day Twenty-One of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge. I'm also blogging with students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog      Tweet at #SOL15

        Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey for these terrific three weeks!  Ten days to go!

           Whew! After the previous two weekends when I wrote my students' units of study and then wrote their evaluations and prepared for conferences, I am celebrating a weekend where I can have a normal time of preparation for the next week, plus clean and straighten and read, things that have been delayed, things just for me. 

SOLC # 20/31 - Poetry Friday's Here, too

                Also blogging with my students at Linda & Jonathan's Class Blog

WELCOME SPRING!

Day Twenty of the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.  Tweet at #SOL15

                Thanks to Tara, Dana, Anna, Betsy, Beth and Stacey for hosting!

Catherine of Reading To The Core is hosting Poetry Friday today, for the first time.  

               Thanks for hosting, and for sharing that frog, usually a harbinger of spring, but guess not this time. He belongs in another story. 

You may believe that green shoots and singing robins and spring peepers tell us spring is here, but I saw another sign today. We have so little rain in Denver that when we woke up today to a lovely steady rain, it felt like a celebration. When I arrived at school, and walked up the sidewalk to the front door in the drizzle, here is what I saw:

Arrival

rain relaxes the earth

wet wiggling, worm wingding

damp sidewalk crawl

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved