Double Play Dreams & A Double Poetry Peek

Henry's Shirt

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem was inspired by a great catch my son made in the outfield over the weekend.  Sometimes we write poems simply to celebrate something wonderful in our lives.  And watching Henry make that catch was pretty wonderful.  I decided to write today's poem in the voice of an outfielder, not my own, because out in the field is where the action is.

Did you notice that SMACK and OUT are all in capital letters?  This is because I want you to read them loudly.

And now, it's time for a double...

First Grade Poetry Journey 

by Debra Frazier

Today I am tickled to welcome teacher Debra Frazier and her first grade writers from Ohio as they share and offer a link over to their poetry journey from this spring. I am also so happy to welcome teacher Margaret Simon and her fourth and sixth graders from Louisiana with their manatee poetry. First, here is Debra.

Our class has been immersed in poetry, from reading, writing and tweeting! On our poetry journey we have learned about mask poems, line breaks, white space, creating visual images, and the art of reading poetry. Amy LV guided our journey with her Poem Farm and tweets.

We were honored when Amy graciously invited us to link to our poetry here on the Poem Farm. We are proud to be here, and we hope you enjoy our poetry and follow our poetry path on Twitter. Of course young poets LOVE comments! You can read our poems and comment right on the poets' kidblogs at Behind the Scenes in First Grade.

Here is one of the poems from one of our kidblogs.

Thank you so much to these young poets for sharing this journey with me all along and today at The Poem Farm.  I have learned a lot this spring about working with classes of young writers through Twitter, and I am grateful to Debra Frazier and her students for helping me learn.

And now, I am excited to tell you a little about what's been happening with Margaret Simon's students in Iberia Parish, Louisiana.  These students wrote poetry up until the very last day of school.

Manatee Poetry

Margaret Simon's Students Rise to Challenge

In manatee news, last Friday, I wrote a playful poem about a manatee named Manny.  I challenged students to write manatee poems of their own and promised that if any young writers researched and wrote manatee poetry, The Poem Farm would adopt a manatee.  

Well, Margaret Simon's fourth and sixth grade students at Caneview Elementary School and Jefferson Island Elementary School in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, took the challenge on their very last day of school.  You can read two of their manatee poems here at Margaret's blog, Reflections on the Teche. You can also read about how these students used Wonderopolis and included hyperlinks in their own kidblogs.  

Thanks to these students, The Poem Farm is caring for a manatee!  Meet Chessie!

Chessie

Photo by Edwin Remsberg

Chessie

Photo by Hank Curtis

You can see our official adoption certificate from the Save the Manatee Club here and read more about Chessie here.

Thank you to Margaret Simon and her students for carrying on the manatee love with manatee poetry.  It's fun to have a manatee here at The Poem Farm!

I am very pleased to share the news that my first book, FOREST HAS A SONG, has made the NCTE Children's Literature Assembly list of 2014 Notable Children's Books in the English Language Arts.  Five other poetry books were on this list too, and I congratulate these wonderful poets: Andrea Cheng for ETCHED IN CLAY: THE LIFE OF DAVE, ENSLAVED POTTER AND POET, Margarita Engle for THE LIGHTNING DREAMER: CUBA'S GREATEST ABOLITIONIST, Nikki Grimes for WORDS WITH WINGS, J. Patrick Lewis for WHEN THUNDER COMES: POEMS FOR CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS, Holly Thompson for THE LANGUAGE INSIDE.  Congratulations!

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