Ketchup Man - Poems from Silly World

The Ketchup Family

by Amy LV

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

Students - Today's poem is a silly story, and as with all silly stories, I like thinking about where it came from.  Well, I spent a chunk of yesterday afternoon at my old writing table. I write in many different places, and this table is a favorite as it used to be my husband's grandparents' kitchen table.  When I sat down to write, there was no Ketchup Man in my brain or thoughts.  But after writing in my notebook about the weekend, our children, some writing plans, and autumn, Ketchup Man appeared.  Why?

One Place to Write (and Ketchup Man Draft!)

Photo by Amy LV

Upon reading this verse, my daughter Hope also asked, "Why did you write this poem?" Well, to be honest, I am not sure why.  I had been flipping through KNOCK AT A STAR, by X.J. and Dorothy Kennedy, and it includes some poems by Karla Kuskin, including "Knitted Things" which begins, "There was a witch who knitted things:"  Karla Kuskin was also on my mind because of this most recent wonderful interview of Lee Bennett Hopkins by Renee LaTulippe over at No Water River.

I've been making many hats and handwarmers over the past weeks, and so perhaps Karla Kuskin's poem was in my mind for this reason as well.  Speaking of handwarmers, the winner of my handknit handwarmers giveaway is Matt Forrest Esenwine over at Radio, Rhythm, & Rhyme.  Matt - please send me a message letting me know whether the handwarmers will be for you or for someone else as this will help me determine the size and surprise color!

Our family has many ketchup lovers, but perhaps none as great as my maternal grandfather and my husband Mark's paternal grandfather.  Those wonderful men did love ketchup on scrambled eggs and many other foods too, so Ketchup Man may have grown from my memories and hearing stories of all of the different foods on which they poured ketchup. Then, I just carried the poem and idea out beyond what was truly true.

Many thanks to Ruth Ayres and her children for weighing in on this verse last evening.  I appreciate their expert advice on whether today's verse was funny or simply strange.  "Cuckoo" seems to sum it up!

Eyebrow Hair is another poem at The Poem Farm which begins, "There once was a man...." Beginning a poem with "There once was..." can yield a funny (or simply strange) surprise.  It also gives a verse a story-feeling, right from the start.

"There once was a..."

What are you imagining right now?  Pick up your pencil and follow your own mind...

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What Will You Be? Imagining Careers

Rainbow Sprinkles

Photo by Amy LV

Holiday Sprinkles

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Last Friday, I went shopping at one of my favorite shops - Lantz's in Warsaw, NY.  This is a little shop with a lot of food, all in bulk.  I came home with bags of wasabi peas, honey roasted soy nuts, lemon drops, graham cracker pretzels, and lots more.  But once again, as always, I was struck by the rows and rows of beautiful sprinkles in every color!  The two pictures above only show some of the sprinkles at Lanz's, all that would fit my screen.

When I took those photographs, I did not know what I would use them for.  I was simply struck by their beauty and wonderfulness.  The picture waited inside my camera in the same way that a favorite line waits in my notebook.

This is a question poem as you can see right in the title.  And it's a question that children are asked often, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"  Well, I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher.  But there are times that I imagine training dogs or designing doll clothes or testing ping pong balls. Jobs are fascinating, how many and how varied they are.  And it's great fun to invent jobs as I did (a bit) today!  What will YOU be?

This week over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, Barry Lane shares his notebooks and offers a generous giveaway of two of his books about writing and a CD.  A winner will be drawn on Sunday, September 30...the beginning of Banned Books Week!

A Favorite Shop

Photo by Amy LV

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Strawberries & Free Verse

 

Georgia's Birthday Snack

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Happy Poetry Friday!  Today I am thinking about food, especially strawberries, because we just dipped about 75 strawberries in chocolate for Georgia's 12th birthday tomorrow.  Here in Western New York, we are looking forward to picking strawberries in about one month, and at that time we will make all kinds of strawberry goodies.

In today's poem, I fulfill last Friday's promise to write two free verse poems this week.  Earlier this week, I wrote Always, about the kittens.  You may notice that the structure of today's poem is simply a list, list of ways that strawberries are happy.  The poem turns on a question and a promise.  I am thinking that I might try this again sometime: a list, a question, a promise.  If you give it a whirl, I would love to read your poem!

If you would like to make some chocolate covered strawberries of your own, it is so easy.  Here is a recipe for you.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

     1. Get some berries and chocolate. This time we used the melty wafers, but sometimes we use chocolate chips. If you would like to drizzle them afterward, you may wish to get two types of chips.

     2. Wash and dry your berries.

     3.  Cover a tray with wax paper or foil.

     4. Melt your chocolate carefully in the microwave.  We used half power for 30-60 seconds at a time, stirring in between, 

     5. Holding each berry by the stem, dip it into the chocolate.  It looks good if you leave a bit of red showing, and it won't make you as messy either.

     6.  Place each berry on the tray to dry.

     7.  If you want to drizzle them, simply melt more chocolate and use a fork or skewer dipped in chocolate to spatter them.  Be a strawberry artist!

     8.  Keep cool in your refrigerator until you're ready to eat.

     9.  Don't forget to lick the bowl!

Yesterday, Hope said, "Wow.  These are so pretty.  It's so cool you can just make them on your own!  When you see them all professionally made, you'd think there's a machine or something. But they're easy!"

In the next few weeks, I am so excited to share several classroom poetry peeks with you.  From kindergartners to third graders...get ready!

Linda at TeacherDance is hosting today's Poetry Friday feast. If you're feeling hungry for words and love, stop on by her place and dig in.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

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Poetry Friday, Peek, & Food Poems

What to Write?  Write about Food!

Photo by Amy LV

Poems About Food

Students - if you can't find a writing idea, consider peeking into your cupboards to see what's hiding in there.  You might find a box of spaghetti and remember how you used to eat it crunchy and uncooked.  You may find a half-eaten bag of marshmallows and be transported to that campsite in Pennsylvania.  Perhaps you'll find a jar of peanut butter, and school lunches will flood back.  Food holds memories.

This year I wrote several poems about food.  Silly poems and serious poems alike bake on our plates and in our minds.  What to write?  Write about food!

Here are a couple of food poems from this year.

 from March 2011

 from October 2010

If you're still hungry, here are a few more food poems from the year.

Do Not Doughnut 
Delicacy
After Dinner
How to Bake Bread

And now, with a big smile, I welcome fourth grade teacher Melinda Harvey and her students from Iroquois Intermediate School in the Iroquois Central School District in Elma, NY.

Immersion, specifically language immersion, is defined as a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used for instruction.  I have come to believe that poetry immersion is a powerful way to teach students the language of poetry and poems!

My fourth grade class has created a daily routine called "Poetry Pause."  I begin this fifteen minute period by sharing a poem from a blog.  We gain a lot of inspiration from Amy's wonderful work here at The Poem Farm, but there are many other sharing sites out there as well.  After sharing the daily poem, I often ask the children for their reactions. This turns into a spirited conversation about anything from the topic of the poem to the poet's word choice.  From there, I simply invite the children to turn to their writer's notebooks and write.  I am thrilled time and time again to see my students create funny, rhythmic, touching poems based on the daily model.

Here are two poems inspired by Amy's advice.

Here comes the sunshine

As I shrink away

No one cares.

Little children climb on me

I have nothing to say.

If I could talk, I

Would tell the sun

That I don't want to go away.

I want to stay here and see May.

To see May would be a dream.

Flowers growing color all over

But I would be white under green

The green grass would grow but

I would just melt away.

Away, away I would go

I would love to see May

But I would be the only snow left.

I would be lonely

I must go away

Do you know what I am?

by Alex

Snowbank

Sad, lonely

Wet and cold.

I'm starting to drip

And turn to gold.

Snowplow comes to

Take me away.

I'm so sad and lonely today.

by Camryn

In honor of National Poetry Month, we have another new poetry immersion technique.  We end each day on the rug where our easel sports an old, worn chart-pad of poetry.  I randomly select a poem, and we choral read that poem before we leave the room.  This has been a fun twist on our dismissal routine.

We also immerse ourselves in poetry with a weekly poetry folder.  Every Monday, my students receive a new poem by an accomplished author.  We read the poem together and discuss some point of the poem.  Some weeks we look at the pattern of the poem.  Other times we discuss the message or theme.  Sometimes I have the children volunteer to read the poem out loud so we can experience another's interpretation of how the poem should sound.  Those of you who work in primary classrooms probably find this very - well - routine!  I borrowed this idea from my son's teacher years ago.  The twist is bringing this ritual to a fourth grade setting, continuing to infuse poetry into our students' lives.

Whether you have a long-standing tradition of sharing poetry with children or if you are new to this genre, consider some poetry immersion today!

Thank you so much to Melinda and her fourth grade poets for joining us here on this third Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month! 

Throughout this month, I will continue to revisit poems from the year, focusing on a particular idea-finding strategy or poetic technique each day.

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 -   Poems about Poems

April 2 -   Imagery

April 3 -   Poems about Animals We Know

April 4 -   Line Breaks and White Space

April 5 -   Poems from Everyday Life

April 6 -   Free Verse

April 7 -   Poems from Wonders & Questions

April 8 -   Classroom Poetry Peek & Circular Poems 

April 9 -   Poems about Science

April 10 - Rhyming Couplets  

April 11 -  Riddle Poems 

April 12 -  List Poems 

April 13 -  Poems for Occasions

April 14 -  Concrete Poems
April 15 -  Today - Poems about Food

For today's Poetry Friday roundup, be sure to visit Diane at Random Noodling.  There you will find the KidLitosphere poetry buffet!

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Bite a Lunch Snowflake in Poem #363

Peek-a-Boo!

Photo by Mark LV

Students - have you ever played with your food?  Sure you have!  I have fond memories of my bologna snowflakes, and so last night I chomped one just for the memories.  Writing about food and food memories is an excellent place to begin when you are not sure what to write about.

Try this.  Go through your life at the breakfast table, the lunch table, the dinner table.  Remember meals out, at Grandma's house, in your school cafeteria, at summer camp.  List every memorable meal or snack moment you can think of.  And then...see what calls out to you.  Write about that.

Remember those old Oscar Mayer bologna commercials, here and here?  This is how I still know to spell bologna.  Singing really helps!

Still hungry?  Munch on YUMMY!, edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, and you'll fill with words and thoughts of food.

Available through Amazon

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Yucky Leftovers? You Need Poem #357

Our Fridge Right Now

Photo by Amy LV

Students - the scene in this poem has never ever happened to our family before.  I got the idea from reading a book about people with mystery leftovers in their fridge.  Hee hee!  Just kidding. This has definitely happened to us before.  We have found old riddle-leftovers and wondered what they once were.  Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but it is the truth.

Mark your calendars.  To eliminate "Fridgeophobia," November 20 has been designated as "Whirlpool Clean Out Your Fridge Day."  Read some refrigerator cleaning tips here.  The Rubbermaid website advises, "...it's best to just toss anything that you can't identify."  So if you don't know what it is, don't eat it.  Good life advice for all of us.

Sometimes we can find writing topics in those things we are not so proud of, things we're not very good at, things like losing track of little plastic food containers living in the refrigerator.  What bugs you about you?  What makes you say, "Yuck!"  Writing ideas grow in the compost of our lives.

You might have noticed that there is a bit of back and forth movement in this poem.  That's because I wanted it to feel like someone was rummaging around in the fridge.

As for the refrigerator photo above, I actually do know what is in all of those containers.  We have done a lot of cooking this week!

Honesty in writing is important.  Remember that.

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Poetry Friday & It's Maple Sugaring Time!

Our Sap Buckets

Photo by Amy LV

We are tapping a few sugar maples here in the yard!  It certainly would not have happened if our son Henry had not gotten things going this afternoon.  Our eight-year-old Henry found the sap buckets, cleaned the sap buckets, and tapped the trees.  He was "the little red hen of syruping!"  (But we hope he shares with us.) 

It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, so we won't have a lot of syrup, but we will boil a few jars full on a cinder block chimney fire in the yard, and oh will we enjoy those pancakes.  Thank you, Henry!

This is not #9 in my series of poems about reading.  Because Wednesday was Read Aloud Day, I wrote and posted Reading Aloud right on that day.

Students - It is healthy and good to make things.  At the end of February. over at A Year of Reading, Franki posted a fantastic post about the power of making things as well as many things her school has done to "make things to make a difference."  Any children, teachers, or parents who wish to instill a love of making and helping others should read this post.  Teachers - if you teach a "how to" unit in writing, this would be a wonderful direction to take.

Franki also links to Amy Krouse Rosenthal's video 17 Things I Made.  Don't miss it.  This weekend I cannot wait to learn more about stitching together handmade books at the Western New York Book Arts Center.  And in two weeks, this same center hosts International Edible Book Festival.  This is the time to see if there your city or town celebrates edible books on April 1.

If you would like to learn about maple sugaring, head over to "How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup" posted by the University of Maine.  And for a warm and funny post about the comparison between sugaring and parenting, do not miss Bill's Saturday post over at Daddled.

Liz is hosting Poetry Friday over at Liz in Ink today.  Enjoy tapping everyone's posts for richness, wonder, humor, and beauty.

Countdown to National Poetry Month...20 days!

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Have a Special Sandwich with Poem #339

PBJF

by Amy LV

Students - this poem was just plain fun to write.  My brain was flying in a hundred directions, just listing all kinds of phrases in my notebook.  Phrases like, "I used to be a bug" and "The opposite of patience" were filling up the lines and adding up to...nothing.  Then, suddenly, the words "peanut butter and jellyFISH" jumped from my pen and I just followed them.  It's just plain silliness!  Playing with the sounds of words is so much of the fun of writing.  What new words might you combine?

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He Did Not Doughnut in Poem #330

Students - one reason it is handy to keep a writer's notebook is because it will safely hold your ideas until you need them.  For a few weeks, I've had this little nugget in my notebook: I only eat doughnut holes. Why did I have this weird sentence in my notebook?  Who knows?  But the weird sentence became the weird poem, and that's just how it works sometimes.

So, my advice is this.  Get a notebook.  Love it up with doodles and glued in things.  Copy your favorite quotes and stuff in some photographs.  Decide if you like to write in pen or pencil, cursive or printing.  Watch your life unfurl across the lines, and get to know yourself.  Write sloppily if you wish and neat if you wish, but writewritewritewritewrite.  

Do all writers keep notebooks?  Nope.  I'd be a liar if I told you they did.  But a notebook can sure come in handy when the brainwell runs dry.  Plus, rereading old notebooks is a source of great joy and humor.

Hmmm...suddenly I am hungry for a doughnut.

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