Old Poem, New Trailer, Giveaway!

Art by Jill Dubin

From BABYBUG October 2017

Students - Yesterday my sister wrote to tell me, "Your poem is on the back page of this month's BABYBUG magazine!"  We give a subscription of BABYBUG to our little nephew, and Heidi and Luke were reading along when all of the sudden they found my old poem.  This was one of my first published poems, in LADYBUG many years ago, and I was happily surprised to learn that the Cricket Media group had reprinted it.

Today's poem is a short and sweet one.  And really, it's simply a procedural or how-to poem.  Notice how each line offers one more step in making a jack o'lantern.  It's both poem and how-to.  Sometimes I enjoy thinking about HOW to do something and then writing about it.  You might choose to write a poem of this sort yourself.  What do you know how to do?  It might be something small such as carving a jack o'lantern or something big such as making a friend.

One thing I do not know how to do is make book trailers.  But fortunately, I know some talented people who do.  I am very thankful to the team of DAS HAUS Productions for producing this trailer which captures the feeling of my poem "Forever" and all of READ! READ! READ!, my new book with talented illustrator Ryan O'Rourke and published by Boyds Mills Press.

Thank you to:
Robbie Snow - Writer Director
Brandon Babbit - Executive Producer
Sawyer Oubre - Director of Photography (and my friend)
Dylan Genis - Gaffer
Jimmie Cummings, B. Reddick Jr., & T. James - Actors

Enjoy....

I am holding an Amazon giveaway for 5 winners, each to win 1 copy of READ! READ! READ!  This giveaway ends on October 18, and if you wish, you can enter it HERE.

Please visit the latest post at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks to win a copy of Caroline Starr Rose's latest book!  She's sharing a poem AND a peek inside of her notebooks.

Happy Poetry Friday, friends!  Have a wonderful time celebrating 13 this week and all week long at Live Your Poem with Irene who is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Celebrating Blackout Poetry with a Poetry Peek!

Blackout Poem from Today's Poem

by Amy LV

Students - This is the first blackout poem I've ever made, and it's a little silly because I made it from a poem that I had just written.  I had the poem right in front of me, though, and I thought, "Why not?"  My blackout poem, as you may have noticed, has the same message as the original poem.  I'll have to try this again sometime; I really liked doing all of that Sharpie coloring.  

Today's post, all about blackout poetry, is inspired by the work of two teachers and some young poets in Massachusetts.  And today's poem is in honor of them.

It is my pleasure today to welcome Carol Weis, an author whose writing has appeared online at Salon, GH, Cosmo, xoJane, Literary Mama, and The Fix, and read as commentary on NPR.  Book-wise, she is author of the chapbook DIVORCE PAPERS and the children's book WHEN THE COWS GOT LOOSE and is also a teaching artist I admire.  

The other week, I read a couple of Carol's Facebook posts at her page Poems Have Feelings Too, and I asked about the possibility of sharing her residency students' work here.  Lucky for all of us...she, Teacher Jodi Alatalo, and the young writers all said YES!

Carol's Facebook Post Highlighting This Project

A Student Blacking Out Words in Avi's Text

Welcome, to Carol, to teacher Jodi Alatalo, and  to these young poets!

These blackout poems are the result of a workshop I did during my six-month poetry residency called Poems Have Feelings Too with 4th grade teacher, Jodi Alatalo, and her class of eager poets at Maple School in Easthampton, MA, sponsored by a Massachusetts Cultural Council STARS grant. This is my fifth year working with Jodi, who also believes that poetry is a gift and a powerful way to expand students' literacy skills, plus a great place to go with strong feelings. 

Blackout poetry was one of the many activities I introduced to our fourth graders for National Poetry Month, a time during my residency when I amp up the poetry fun. When introducing the activity, I handed out a four-step template for them to use, repeating "Robin" four times, outlining each step to take, i.e., choosing an anchor word, underlining and circling other words they want to use for their poem, before blacking out the others. Here's a visual explanation and how-to for blackout poetry for anyone who wants to give it a try.

I also made a multimedia piece about our workshops at Storia.  (You will need to join to view, but it is completely wonderfully worth it!  - Amy)  The piece is titled Poetry Chronicles.  

This is the poem that these students used as a text for the following blackout poems.  Enjoy the many students' blackout poems that grew from one short text.  

From The Poem Farm Archives

December 5, 2012


Students' Blackout Poems

by Chloe D.

by Zariah R.

by Elizabeth P.

by Sage Y.

by Hailey W.

by Jonathan C.

by Arhab M.

by Elias G.

by McKenzie R.

by Anastasia G.

by Jaeda R.

by Evianna Y.

by Keeghan V.-J.

Thank you very much to these generous poets and teachers for sharing with us today.  It is an honor to showcase your work celebrating poetry, creativity, and this beautiful time of year!  And students, my advic for today is: if you've never done so before, consider trying a blackout poem yourself.  

This month I am so happy to highlight another rich student celebration over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks.  Please do not miss the post by teacher Katie Liseo and her students.  It is a fabulous celebration of writer's notebooks, perfect for end-of-school-year joy or to inspire all of us as we think toward summer and fall.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Teaching Poems - What Do I Know?

New Friends
by Amy LV

Students - I am a dog lover!  Our family has two dogs, Cali and Sage, and we love them and they love each other. Sometimes when I walk down the street and see a new dog, I just want to get to know it.  But it's not so safe to pet strange dogs, so I always ask the owner and follow the steps in this poem when meeting a new dog.  When our chidren were small, I taught them to ask the owner for permission before petting any dogs as well.

This is a poem that teaches HOW to do something.  And writing a procedural poem is almost like writing a how-to book, only in a poem, the writer writes from line to line and the reader reads from line to line instead of from page to page.  You may notice that today's poem rhymes, but it rhymes in a conversational way.

What do you know how to do?  Funny things? Serious things? Crafts? Cooking? Games? Friendship tips? Building? Anything in the world...what could you teach? Might you write a poem about it?

Here is a dog I met last month in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Just looking at his picture makes me smile.

Happy week ahead!  I wish you dogs!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

How to Be a Ghost - Listy How-To Poems

 

Fionacat & Amyghost

Photo by Henry LV

Students - Happy Halloween!  I love Halloween, mostly because I love making costumes and carving jack o'lanterns.  When I was a girl, my dad and I would always get big appliance boxes, and we'd make crazy costumes: stove, refrigerator, table...  It is tons of fun to make a costume from old clothes and crazy bits of this and that. Tonight I will be a ghost.  We had a couple of white sheets leftover from our girls' toga day at high school, and so one is now the ghost costume you see above.  Our children are dressing up as a sea anemone, a plastic army guy, and Robin Hood.

Today's poem is simply a set of directions, a how-to poem, a list.  I had fun imagining all of the different things that would be important for a person who wishes to dress as a ghost, especially the black-cat-hugging-part as our little Fiona celebrates her first Halloween this year. 

As with any list poem, I like to to have a bit of a twist, a surprise at the end. Wouldn't it be funny to be snuggled in your bed and to find two eyeholes in your top sheet?

Linda is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at TeacherDance.  There you will find a gathering of poems, poets, and poetry news all around the Kidlitosphere this week.

Happy Poetry Halloween Friday!

Please share a comment below if you wish.