Wallow in Wonder Day 29 - One Couplet in the Rain

Welcome to Day 29 of Wallow in Wonder!  

For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis.  As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily.  This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning.  I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.  

I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too.  Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow.  Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.  If you would like to share any ways you have used Wallow in Wonder or your own site (safe for children only please), please feel free to do so in the comments.

My April Poems Thus Far

April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659 

April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660

April 3 - The Storm Chaser - a poem inspired by Wonder #779

April 4 - A Jar of Glitter - a poem inspired by Wonder #641

April 5 - To Make Compost - a poem inspired by Wonder #1661

April 6 - Deciding Now - a poem inspired by Wonder #1662

April 7 - Hummingbird's Secret - a poem inspired by Wonder #1663

April 8 - Limits - a poem inspired by Wonder #1664

April 9 - Sundogs - a poem inspired by Wonder #1665

April 10 - Perspective - a poem inspired by Wonder #128

April 11 - At the History Museum - a poem inspired by Wonder #115

April 12 - Seventy-Five Years Ago Today - a poem inspired by Wonder #1666

April 13 - Homer's Poem - a poem inspired by Wonder #1667

April 14 - The Right - a poem inspired by Wonder #1668

April 15 - 5:00 am - a poem inspired by Wonder #1669

April 16 - Writing - a poem inspired by Wonder #1670

April 17 - Sometimes - a poem inspired by Wonder #194

April 18 - Once - a poem inspired by Wonder #192

April 19 - Eat It - a poem inspired by Wonder #1671

April 20 - Chatty Green Tomato - a poem inspired by Wonder #1672

April 21 - This Argument We're Having - a poem inspired by Wonder #1673

April 22 - After a Week in Foster Care - a poem inspired by Wonder #1674

April 23 - Pay Attention - a (recycled) poem inspired by Wonder #1675

April 24 - Please Don't Ask - a poem inspired by Wonder #201

April 25 - Mama Kangaroo's Poem - a poem inspired by Wonder #447

April 26 - Not Anymore - a poem inspired by Wonder #1675

April 27 - If We Were Whales - a poem inspired by Wonder #1676

April 28 - Written on a Paper Airplane - a poem inspired by Wonder #1677

And now for Day 29!

Wonder #1679 - from April 28, 2016

Pocket of Blue

by Amy LV

Students - This is the shortest poem of my Wallow in Wonder series.  I am not sure why, but thinking about rain and showers just placed this picture in my head. I liked the first line and then played for quite a while to get the second.  

This is simply a couplet - one pair of rhyming lines - and it sketches simply one image.  Sometimes writing can be very spare.  Feel free to play with many words...and very few.  You will learn different things as you experiment with various styles.

I am currently holding two Poetry Month giveaways...both ending tomorrow, April 30!

It has been an absolute pleasure this week to host teacher Emily Callahan and her students from Kansas City here to The Poem Farm.  To learn about Popcorn and Poetry and to enter a giveaway for a Ralph Fletcher book...visit HERE.

Lucky me to have Stefanie Cole and her students from Ontario, Canada at Sharing Our Notebooks all month. This is a fantastic post full of notebook inspiration, a video clip, and a great book giveaway from Stefanie. Please check it out, and leave a comment over there to be entered into a giveaway for a Lynda Barry book.

Buffy is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Buffy's Blog.  Hop over to her place to her a wooing toad and to see all of this week's poetic offerings.

Happy Day 29 of National Poetry Month 2016! 

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.

Wonder Wallow Day 12 - Why Are There Seven Days in a Week?

Welcome to Day 10 of Wallow in Wonder!  For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis.  As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily.  This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning.  I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.  

I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too.  Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow.  Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis.  If you would like to share any ways you have used Wallow in Wonder or your own site (safe for children only please), please link to the #WallowInWonder padlet.

My April Poems Thus Far

April 1 - So Suddenly - a poem inspired by Wonder #1659 

April 2 - Thankful Journal - a poem inspired by Wonder #1660

April 3 - The Storm Chaser - a poem inspired by Wonder #779

April 4 - A Jar of Glitter - a poem inspired by Wonder #641

April 5 - To Make Compost - a poem inspired by Wonder #1661

April 6 - Deciding Now - a poem inspired by Wonder #1662

April 7 - Hummingbird's Secret - a poem inspired by Wonder #1663

April 8 - Limits - a poem inspired by Wonder #1664

April 9 - Sundogs - a poem inspired by Wonder #1665

April 10 - Perspective - a poem inspired by Wonder #128

April 11 - At the History Museum - a poem inspired by Wonder #115

And now for Day 12!

Wonder #1666 - from April 11, 2016

Daily Notes

by Amy LV

Students - You probably already know that I love notebooks.  After all, I keep a whole blog about notebooks - Sharing Our Notebooks.  So when I began thinking and jotting in my notebook about yesterday's wonder, "Why Are There Seven Days in a Week?" I got to thinking about recording things over time.

Many people like to keep logs of weather.  These may be be small date books or leather journals, or even books made for recording weather such as this one - THE WEATHER WIZARD'S FIVE YEAR DIARY.  Keeping track of weather teaches people about their surroundings and also lets them look back to see patterns in weather over time.  You can find and read examples of these notebooks such as this one by John Andrew.

Scientists today are even using crowd-sourcing methods (having many people help with small pieces of a project through the Internet) to learn about weather of the past and to project future weather.  You can see an example of this at Old Weather where the scientists are studying old ships' logs for weather observations.

Keep your eyes open when you visit flea markets; you might just find an old weather diary yourself!  If you'd like to keep a weather journal, you might look at this one.  You could use it, or you could make your own. Then, your children's children's children can see what the weather today is like - because you wrote it down!

Today was going to be a free verse day, but when I got writing, the poem wanted to rhyme. That happens sometimes!

This poem introduces a character who goes back in time reading a great-grandfather's weather notebook. Yesterday's poem introduced a character who imagined back in time and future in time too.  I often wonder if the themes in daily poems come from somewhere deep inside a writer.  How could they not?

Oh, and in case you were wondering if today's poem is true...it is not.  As far as I know, none of my great-grandfathers kept weather notebooks.  My mom's mom's dad did keep family scrapbooks, but no weather notebooks.

You can read another poem inspired by Wonder #1666 if you visit Wonder Lead Ambassador, literacy advocate, teacher, and writer Paul Hankins at his Wonder Ground blog where he, too, is writing daily poems from Wonderopolis wonders.  He and I are in this together daily and some other writers are joining in on the fun sometimes too. All are welcome to wonder through poems with us.

Please don't miss a blog post at my other blog!  Middle school teacher and librarian Stefanie Cole and her students from Ontario, Canada are visiting Sharing Our Notebooks this month.  This is a wonderful post  full of notebook inspiration, a video clip, and a great book giveaway from Stefanie.

Happy Day 12 of National Poetry Month 2016!  

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.

Rainstory - Standing on Other Poets' Shoulders

Windowpane Rain
by Amy LV

Students - We have been having some unseasonably warm days here south of Buffalo, NY, and a bit of rain too.  Some years at this time we can expect snow, so the sound of rain has been a lovely reminder of spring, and it is a sound I wish to hold onto as we enter these cold months of snuggling near the woodstove.

Today's poem's meter stands on the meter of a poem I love - "Windy Nights" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  When I began to write this verse, I first read and reread Stevenson's poem, with the plan to write mine in a similar meter.

See, sometimes, it's hard for me to get started writing.  I'm not sure what topic to choose or what form to write in.  Reading others' words and standing on their strong writerly shoulders can sometimes give me just the boost I need to get into a writing mood.  So, thank you, Robert Louis Stevenson!

One wonderful thing about life is that it is always changing.  What is something you wish to hold onto?  Today I wish to hold onto the sound of rain at my window.  You might wish to make a list of such things in your own notebook as these will be good writing topics, both now and in the future.

Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, I am tickled to welcome K.A. Holt, author of RHYME SCHEMER, HOUSE ARREST, and other books for young readers.  Learn about various notebooks and habits, and comment to be entered to win your own copy of her latest novel in verse - HOUSE ARREST.

Katya is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Write. Sketch. Repeat. Head on over and join the party!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

I Like To Make a Snowman

Today's Weather Report for Holland, NY

Students - Today's poem is a rather simple one.  It is in a way a story poem and in a way a how-to list poem, telling all about how I like to make a snowman.  We are due to get some snow where I live, and maybe our family will make a snowman this weekend.  When my children were little, we always used to make huge snow BUNNIES!  And the cocoa?  Well, that is just very important.

Sometimes to find a poem idea, I look no farther than outside my window...at the weather! It is always changing and always beautiful.  Here are a few old snow poems from The Poem Farm archives for your to enjoy.  You'll see that they're all quite different from each other, even though they are all about snow.

Snow Fall Snow Cone

Warm Memory

Snow Day

Snow Day (a different one!)

Snow Piano

rams in snow

Snowman-To-Be

Animals All Know

I have started a new page for FOREST HAS A SONG where I will keep track of all reviews and information about the book as it comes in.  If you would ever like to see what's happening, just click above on the tab, or click here to check out the latest.

Tara is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup with a beautiful Ralph Waldo Emerson poem about snow.  Visit her blog at A Teaching Life to see what poems are blowing 'round the Kidlitosphere today!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Indian Summer - Celebrating Weather

summerintofallintowinter

October 25, 2012

Photo by Amy LV

 

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

Students - Yesterday was the most magnificent day here in Western New York. It was an Indian Summer day, a wondrous day reminding us of summer's joys before we turn to the beauty of winter.  Sitting outside in  one of our family's fold-up chairs, my hand and pen turned to weather, and I knew that this poem would try to save a snip of sun and warmth for chilly days.

This is a free verse poem, a poem with no regular rhyme or meter.  Still, though, when I write free verse poems, I take care with each word.  See if you can find any words with the same beginning sounds near each other.  Then see if you can find any repeated words.  Any rhymes?  My favorite part of this poem is the idea of pretending that Fall is a dancing girl...with two competing partners.  That idea makes me smile, and I like watching the play of it in my mind.

The most important to do when writing poems like this one is to read them over and over.  Aloud.  Hearing how each word tumbles gently or bashes into the next helps me know when to make changes.

Many poems celebrate weather.  Weather is a special kind of mirror for each day, determining what we do and sometimes even how we feel.  Pay attention to weather where you live, maybe even writing notebook entries or drawing sketches of weather observations.  Then, mind and heart full of sun and wind and blowing rain and snow...shine some words onto your page.

For the past two weeks, Nina Crittenden has been Sharing Our Notebooks, and today I am happy to announce that Tara at A Teaching Life has won Nina's generous book and notebook giveaway.  Tara, please send me an e-mail with your snail mail address, and I will pass it along to Nina.  Thank you again, Nina!

Linda over at TeacherDance is hosting today's Poetry Friday extravaganza. Visit Linda's extremely warm and generous blog to read all about what's happening on this Poetry Friday.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

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

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

Poem #307 says, "Hello, Snow Day!"

Weather Report for Holland, NY

February 1, 2011

Inside Out

Photo by Amy LV

Students - sometimes a poem grows from what everyone is talking about!  And 'round these parts, people are talking about snow and snow days.  When there's a flurry in the air about something, it often settles itself into our writing.  So, listen.  Listen to others.  What are they talking about?  Find your poem right there.

Poems also grow from requests.  Today's poem is dedicated to Mrs. Overman's second grade class in Indiana.  A while ago they asked for a snow day poem, and here it is.

At Sara*ndipity, you can find some "Tricks to Ensure a Snow Day." 

Parents and Teachers - here is "Snow Day" by Billy Collins, for you.

And if you DO get a snow day...or if you don't and would like to make some of your own snowflakes (great protractor lesson, teachers), visit these fantastic directions for snowflake-making over at The Quilted Turtle.

I love school, but there is something magical and mysterious about big storms.  Here at our house, we're prepared with a kitchen full of butter, flour, heart shaped cookie cutters, and fresh eggs.  Bring it on!

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