Day 23 - National Poetry Month 2015 - Sing That Poem!

Happy National Poetry Month!

Welcome to Day 23 of this Year's Poem Farm Project!

Find the Complete April 2015 Poem and Song List Here

First, I would like to welcome all old and new friends to The Poem Farm this April. Spring is a busy time on all farms, and this one is no exception.  Each April, many poets and bloggers take on special poetry projects, and I'm doing so too.  You can learn all about Sing That Poem! and how to play on my April 1st post, where you will also find the list of the whole month's poems and tunes as I write and share them.  If you'd like to print out a matching game page for yourself, you can find one here, and during April 2015, you'll be able to see the song list right over there in the left hand sidebar.

Yesterday's poem was Earth Day Song.  Here is the tune that goes along with it, below. Did you figure it out?

I was completely charmed and amazed to receive three songs yesterday!  A warm welcome to these classes full of strong singers and puzzle-solvers...

Here are Lindsey Staub's fourth graders from Arcade Elementary in the Pioneer School District in Arcade, NY.  They got it!

Here are Mandy Robek's second graders from Tyler Run Elementary in Powell, Ohio. They got it!



And here you can watch and listen to Stacey Goodman's second grade students from Wealthy Elementary in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.  They got it!

Thank you, students, for playing along.  It is fun to play a game across the country like this, and I truly appreciate your voices and feeling as if I am a little part of your classroom communities.

And here, below, is today's poem.  Look at the song list in the sidebar or on your matching form to see if you can puzzle out which tune matches this one.  I welcome all classes to send their own audio clips to me through SoundCloud (easy free app), and I adore posting them here on The Poem Farm.  (Only 8 songs left, including today's!)

Birthday Party

by Amy LV

Students - I found the idea for today's poem on Wonderopolis, a fantastic site full of all kinds of information about everything in the world.  I was reading yesterday's wonder:

Wonderopolis Wonder for April 22, 2015

and the Wonder ended with the passage you see below.

From Wonderopolis Wonder for April 22, 2015

So, that's what was wheeling around in my mind.  I am not sure exactly how yesterday's wonder went from polar bear pet to polar bear MOTHER...  "Yet, knowing how way leads onto way," (Frost) I am not surprised.  To get into the polar bear mood, thinking about the truths of polar bears, I read the pages and looked at the pictures online, especially at Polar Bears International.  I had to revise line two which originally said, "She eats a seal each morning" when I read these facts at the SeaWorld website.

From the SeaWorld Website

Today I did draft (this is unusual for me) right at the computer.  You can see below how I typed out the numbers of the syllables for each line to help me know how the meter should sound.  You can also see one of the first ideas I had - about holding a ladybug.

I do prefer to draft longhand as ideas usually flow more easily for me with a pen in my hand.  I also like to see the evidence of my work.  Typing is interesting and fast, but the revisions simply disappear and later I am left to wonder exactly how the poem arrived.

We do all have secrets.  And no, my mother is really not a polar bear.  She is a wonderful, wise, kind woman named Debby with regular sized teeth and pretty hair.

The winner of yesterday's giveaway of my book, FOREST HAS A SONG is An Education in Books. Please drop me an e-mail with your address, and I will mail your book to you!  The winners at The Poem Farm Facebook Page giveaway and the Twitter giveaway will be announced in those places.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Each Seed - Finding Poem Ideas by Looking Around

 

Money Plant

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Yesterday I wasn't sure what to write about (not an uncommon event).  I thought I might write about walking with my dogs, Cali and Sage.  I thought I might write about how sometimes life surprises you.  Then I looked around, and I saw the stalk of money plant I'd picked a few weeks ago.  Sometimes people call this plant silver dollars.  Its Latin name is Lunaria annua, or yearly moon.  It is also called honesty.  I love it.

Looking at the coins, I got to thinking about how many plants toss seeds around.  I adore blowing dandelions, opening milkweed pods, ripping burdocks apart, and collecting acorns.  'Just picked these up by the mailbox in September. They're brown now.

Handful of Acorns

Photo by Amy LV

When I sat down to write yesterday, I just loved the idea of plants throwing seeds (like snowballs) at each other.  It makes them seem so playful.  But they're like parents too, those plants, saying "Farewell" to their wee ones.

Part of this poem - the first part - is just a description, telling about what is happening.  Then, halfway through it switches to a mask voice, the voice of mother plant bidding adieu.  You can do this in your writing too.  Start by describing something...then, make it talk!

And if you don't have a writing idea right away, just look around.  Write about something you see right in front of your face, something you might usually just walk right by.

"Maple Mother" from 2010 is what I would consider a cousin poem to today's verse.  One of the fun things about writing many many poems is that I find themes that tickle my fancy again and again.  "Money Plant" from 2012 is another cousin in this family.

You can watch me open the money plant seedpods below if you'd like.  I think that they are incredibly beautiful.

If you are a classroom of readers that is interested in some money plant seeds for planting, please just let me know in the comments, and I will be able to mail some money plant seeds to a few classrooms of young writers.

Congratulations to Kristie Miner! You have won the fabulous book and notebook offered as a giveaway by Angela Stockman of the Western New York Writer's Studio over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks!  Please send me your snail mail address so that your gifts can wing their way to you.  And everyone - please know - I welcome you and your students to share your notebooks in that space as well.  The more the merrier!  Any boys or men out there with notebooks to share?  We could use a few more of those.

Tricia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Miss Rumphius Effect.  Please fly on over to her place to discover all of the poetic goodies our friends are offering up today.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Moon Mama and a Poem about Writing

Phoebe and Her Two New Kittens (Born Wednesday!)
Photo by Georgia LV

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - Today's poem grew from a real farm happening this week.  We foster kittens here, but we've never had kittens born here because we have our own cats spayed and neutered.  Well, we were fostering a pregnant mother, Phoebe, and it was such fun to wait for her kittens.  On Wednesday, they were born...two tiny snugglers.  

In writing today's poem, I wanted to honor Phoebe and her sister, Freya, who is taking care of four kittens of her own up in our barn.  After all, Sunday is Mother's Day!

Freya and Her Four Kittens

Photo by Georgia LV

So, I just began writing and writing, and the whole poem shaped itself around the idea of the moon.  I loved that image.  Then, on purpose, I repeated words: kitten, treasure, moon, snuggle.  What was the hardest part of writing this poem?  The ending!  I believe it took me as long to write the last line as it took to write the whole rest of the poem.  Sometimes writing is like that, but having faith that your hard work and persistence and willingness to wait for just-the-right-words, often gives you just the line you wish for.

Four of Freya's kittens are ready to be adopted right now, so if you are interested, please drop me a line to my e-mail address at amy at amylv dot com or leave a message in the comments.  We are in the Buffalo, NY area.  Here's a bigger picture of them for you to see!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms and teachers and friends of children everywhere!  And children, a poem for your mother is a splendid gift!

Hope and Kittens

L-R: Tundra, Guinevere, Wilbur, and Otter

Photo by Amy LV

Today I am very grateful to welcome kindergarten teacher Nicole DiBattisto and her students from Quest Elementary in Hilton, NY.  Last week, I had the good fortune to visit Quest as a visiting author.  I know many of the teachers at Quest from writing workshops, and it was a delight to see them again.  Librarian Stephanie Harney had students share poems in their pockets (and in her husband's shirt pockets), and the day was full of festive poem fun! 

Nicole's young students wrote a poem about writing poems, and I had the chance to read it. After being charmed by their words, of course I asked if Nicole would be willing to share here.  She was, and so I welcome Nicole and her poets to The Poem Farm today! 

Isabella, Tessa, and Madison 

Photo by Nicole DiBattisto

Write A Poem

by Mrs. DiBattisto's Class

Look at the world in a different way.

Look through your heart.

Write.

Break the rule

use white space

Wow how cool.

Sometimes a poem is long.

Sometimes a poem is short.

Maybe it will have a song.

Maybe it will repeat.

Maybe it will rhyme.

Write a poem...

anytime.

This how it all came about:

1.      I threw out the idea of writing a poem about poems.

2.      We started talking about what we knew about poetry and how to craft a poem.

3.      Kids started saying what they knew.

4.      I typed their words.

5.      We looked and read  what we had and moved things around, added some, and took things out.

6.      I guided the students to think about how we could include what we know about poems into the actual poem.

7.      We added some rhymes, noticed that we already had repetition and white space.

8.      We read it a few times and decided we liked it the way it was.

And there it is!  An absolutely delightful how-to poem about writing.  Thank you so much to this class and to Nicole for sharing this poem and their process with us today.  I imagine that many many students will be reading it for inspiration for their own poetry.

I would also like to extend a special thank you to teacher Joe Long and his fifth graders at Iroquois Intermediate in Elma, NY, for surprising me with their beautiful classroom door decorated as the cover of FOREST HAS A SONG.  Around the edges of this door, you see leaves filled with poems - theirs and mine.  Illustrator Robbin Gourley (I sent the photo to her right away) and I were simply tickled.

Door Decorated by Fifth Graders and Teacher Joe Long

Iroquois Intermediate

Photo by Amy LV

Anastasia is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her poetry blog.  Visit her place to check out what is happening in the poetic Kidlitosphere today!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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