"To Do List" is #16 in my series of Friday poetry poems!
Happy Poetry Friday!
Today we will explore ways to bring poetry and rocks together.
Poems fill the air around us, and sometimes we get all swirlytwirlybusy and miss them. Yet small beauties and moments of grace, times when plain-turns-amazing, are as common as rocks.
Several years ago, my good friend Maria gave me some stones for my garden, homemade bricks actually, on which she had pressed the words, "YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE". These four blocks live tucked under our Black Eyed Susans now, and I think of Maria whenever I walk by that garden spot. If you're considering making your holiday gifts this year, I can vouch for the sturdiness and happy-feelings of my word bricks. Check out Poetry Stones for more information.
On a similar note, I just found a new blog-to-love, downstream activities for kids. In one post, Mary K. Weinhagen offers a fabulous poem and rock project along with a photo, and now I can't wait to make my own stone poem. As soon as I do, I promise to post a photo. And if you try it, please share a photo here and with Mary too. This is one of the neatest craft and literacy projects I have found in some time. It combines science, writing, and art... enough to make me quiver!
It is funny how things come in threes, and so do today's rocks. This week, Kidlitosphere Central offered up a new edition of Literacy Lava, a free digital Australian magazine of ideas for literacy educators. On page five of this sixth edition, you can read a lovely short article (accompanied by photos) about how to make story stones for nursery rhymes, stories, or spelling games. Catherine Oehlman tells how rocks and stones have been used in many cultures for hundreds of years in the telling of stories. She offers suggestions of how we can do the same. Why not bring a bit more nature into the classroom and home with words and stones?
Students - today's poem is a list poem, as I'm sure you could tell. You may have also noticed that each line ends the same way. It's fun to use repetition in this way, and if you try it, I'd love to read your work. It will be such a treat to feature student work on a Poetry Friday very soon, and I invite all of you - students and teachers - to send poems or poem thoughts.
For your "To Do List" for today, I recommend a visit to Anastasia's blog, Picture Book of the Day, for the complete Poetry Friday roundup.
(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)
Love your poem, Amy, especially sketch, steal, and live a poem. Great last line!
ReplyDeleteAnd those rock poems are too cool. I definitely want to give this a try...What's that? It's a kids' activity. Tough:>)
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI'm with Laura. I love your list poem. I hope you're compiling all your "poetry" poems in a little booklet.
Amy, I love this concept, and the great links you've added. I think of Inukshuks, the Inuit arrangements of stones to represent a person or a message. The stones themselves become the alphabet of this language of connection, a durable language of essentials.
ReplyDeleteDear Laura, Elaine, Toby, and Cecilia, Isn't it fascinating that we word lovers are also rock lovers? Cecilia - "a durable language of essentials" is staying with me. If you make a rock poem, will you please send me a picture. I hope to try it this week. Happy PF! A.
ReplyDeleteI love that your rhymes are on the front end of the lines!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Toby! Wow, Mary Lee, I didn't notice that about the front-end rhymes - now I will have to try that! Okay, Amy - I am working on two "stone poems" in my autumn ode series - how does the title "Geode Ode" grab you?
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't come across it, I think you'd love the book Everybody Needs a Rock by Byrd Baylor.
Mary Lee, That was fun to try...I thought about Lee Bennett Hopkins' poem, "Good Books Good Times" a bit and then reversed the rhymes. If that makes sense. A.
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Toby & Cecilia, I love blogging connecting...it is the best. And Cecilia, "Geode Ode" is so echo-y. I am excited to read it. A.
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Bill, Thank you! It's actually on my top ten list of favorites! (No wonder we get along.) If you're a rock person, you'd also like IF YOU FIND A ROCK by Peggy Christian and ROCKS IN HIS HEAD by James Stevenson. A.
i love the snappy rhythm in this poem. its great for reading out loud especially to youngsters, it catches their attention from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Raihanah, for your kind comment. This poem just poured out, I think because of the rhythm. I am so glad that you liked it too. Happy Poetry Friday! A.
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