“I” Poem

This is an “I”  poem about water. The book Atlantic written by G. Brian Karas inspired this poem.  Click on the link to view.  Water

Acrostic Poem

Here is an Acrostic poem about Abraham Lincoln. Click on the link to view. Acrostic Poem

My favorite poem

My favorite poem is  Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out by Shel Silverstein.  Click on the link to read the entire selection.  

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

Found Poem

On this page I have a found poem. Click on the link to view.  Found Poem

Concrete Basketball Poem

On this page I have a concrete poem. Click on the link to view.   Basketball concrete poem 

Kucan’s Article “I” Poems

I liked this article because students become the narrator, expressing thoughts and feelings from a narrators point of view.The “I” poems do not have to rhyme or have any formats to follow. Poetry is a way of transforming readings to the written form giving the students opportunities to express themselves from a perspective other than their own. I use a big poem for every month. The poem is on chart paper the size of a big book. Every morning we read this poem, then the line leader reads the poem by themselves. The poem for this month is an “I” poem. It’s repetitive and teaches book and print, punctuation, first word, last word on page, etc. I like the idea of reading a story and the students engaging in writing an “I” poem to enhance plot, characters, and setting. Today we read Froggy’s First Kiss and wrote our own Valentine poems and mailed them in our class mailbox. Since this is kindergarten, the poems where quite simple, but the feedback from the planning during group was wonderful letting me know they had captured Froggy’s feelings, emotions, and realized why he acted as he did. Again, this article helped me give other alternatives to writing.

Invitation to Journal Writing

What Is A Journal?

A journal is a place where you can write every day. A journal is your personal notebook where you can record special thoughts or activities you have experienced that day. A journal is important because you may want to remember a special event that happened to you. By writing in your journal you may capture a moment that otherwise you may forget over time. Remember, practicing writing creates wonderful stories which one day may lead to becoming a famous author.

Directions for Journal Writing

You are invited to take a writing journey with The Hungry Caterpillar. In front of you is your very own journal. Everyone notice your picture is on the front of the journal which is shaped like a caterpillar. Put your name on the front of the journal beside of your picture. Open your journal and write today’s date. So far your journal should look like this. Here I would show them my journal that is identical to theirs. My picture on the front and my name on the cover page. As I turn to the 1^st page students will see where I have put the date. Now I invite you to write about something you like to eat. For example, On Monday the caterpillar ate apples. What did you eat today? Write that down on the 2^nd line under your date. I will model in my journal where this sentence goes. Now, draw a picture of the food you wrote about. I will do the same. This procedure will follow except the 2^nd entry the students will draw a picture of one of their favorite foods. They will write I like to eat pizza. This procedure will continue daily until the journal is complete with at least 5 foods that the children enjoy eating. I plan to use excerpts from Diary of a Worm to implement this lesson plan as well as The Hungry Caterpillar. Both books are dedicated toward journal writings and I’m all about integrating so if I can incorporate the days of the week(SCOS),numbers, and ABC recognition then I’m all for it. I plan to move numbers as the foods are added to. Example On Tuesday I ate 2 plums. This is a work in progress so will take a while. I give options on topics daily so if a student feels they have a story they really want to write I pull them one on one and help them plan, write, and revise. I usually do 1 to 2 students daily with a free write.

Best Practices Chapter 6

In Chapter 6 in Best Practices in Writing Instuction the author examines different strategies and techniques used to motivate children to write. The author focuses on planning, which is crucial for beginning writers. Prewriting and inquiry are two crucial elements in beginning writing. Strategies are also important in effective writing skills. In order for students to respect writing the goal has to worthwhile and real, something the student can engage in independently with little interference from the instructor. The classroom environment must be supportive and nonthreatening. Students need choices, writing space, and materials that are inviting and motivate them  to write.

The teacher needs to motivate and model what she expects the students to do. In a prewrite the students write down ideas that flash into their mind not focusing on correct spelling just letting their thoughts flow onto the paper. Regardless of inquiry and strategies the main idea is to engage the students in writing activities that are meaningful for the student. For example, I write a morning message 3 times a week showing print awareness as well as letting the students give me sounds for each letter as I write.  This chapter focus on 8 principles to teach students to be effective writers. This can be helpful with upper grades but are to complicated to get into with kindergartners. I like the strategy for writing an informative paper with extended opportunities for writing and brainstorming about a topic the students have experienced. Something that is real to a 5 year old will motivate writing quicker than me putting why and how they should plan and revise. This chapter focused more on higher level thinking geared towards older grades. In kindergarten I use ideas from page 132 (Report-Writing strategy) because we brainstorm first about a book or a topic that the student wants to write about. We make lists of characters, site words, and short thoughts about what we want to say. We then start writing. Most of our writing comes from student experiences. What is real? What is not real? I have found that my writing center with all it’s colored pencils,papers, markers,ABC books,number books,animal shaped papers, and 1-1 instruction has motivated my students to write wonderful stories that they are proud of. I guess I could say that I do use these strategies just in a different way.