Writing Inspiration for Thanksgiving and Poetry

I have been a little absent the last few days.  We finished up school on Friday.  The last day before a break is always chaotic.  I thought I would magically get packed Friday night, pick up some stuff from the store for when I got back, clean my house, and you know...write some posts to schedule for my break.  I flew out Saturday morning to  Vegas. (I am here visiting with my mom and brother.  My mom lives in Utah, and I live in Texas.  We decided to meet up in Vegas for a few days.) I did pack and the house got vacuumed.  That's all.  So the laptop came with me, and I sit here in the Starbucks to give a brief post.

If you need some other last minute Thanksgiving ideas (not that you haven't seen a million of them by now).  If you are like me though, great ideas get tagged in your google reader for next year.  Here are some fun things we did last week related to Thanksgiving. 

We read the poem "Thanksgiving" by Edgar Albert Guest.  It is a great poem for this time of year and discussing mood and theme.  It is a relatively simple poem.  We read through the poem and underlined unfamilar words.  Then we discussed what the words might mean using context clues.  Then we labeled each stanza with the main idea of the stanza.  We followed up by using a graphic organizer I had created called "Poetry Accessories" to analyze the poem. We looked at things like visualization, sound, comparisons, mood, author's purpose, and message. It is from my Analyzing Poetry pack. My students then had to write a paragraph to show their analysis of the poem using the elements of the graphic organizer.  We completed these tasks together.  Going forward I am going to analyze our weekly poems in small groups as more of a guided reading lesson.  I think they will get more out of it in small groups.  Poetry is hard, but it really can be fun with elementary and middle school students to see them open up to thinking more metaphorically. I would like to follow up with writing more poetry.

I am trying to get back to my weekly writing inspiration series on my blog and with my students.  Each week I want to analyze a poem, quote, and picture.  Then, they use each of those items to inspire their writing.

For our quote last week, we used the following quote:

Source: heartbeatoz.tumblr.com via April on Pinterest

We used a form I had created to analyze the quote. They had to copy the quote down, write what they thought it meant, write how the quote made them feel, and write any connections they made to the quote. You can get a copy here.  After analyzing the poem and quote, they use the ideas from them to inspire their own writing.  They can write essays, poems, personal narratives, creative stories - all during their journal writing time.  I really like how our journal writing is going.  I am still struggling to figure out how often I want to publish pieces and really edit.  I have been using a lot of computer resources lately, so I am thinking we will save these more for publishing.  I am trying a lot of free technology resources right now, so they can learn how to use them.  Over time, they will have more choice and then I can conference more with them to work on the editing and revising.  Sometimes, technology is hard because you are having to teach the content as well as the technology.

We did a lot of letter writing last week.  On Friday, we read You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower.  Then, we watched the Charlie Brown version of the Mayflower voyage on the "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" DVD. They followed it up by writing a letter from the point of view of a pilgrim describing their journey and the first winter.  The funny thing is that my students are doing fabulous with RAFT writing tasks where they write from another point of view, but really struggle with a basic summary.  So, I am thinking our next approach will be to write a summary from the point of view of a book character or person in history or something.  Not sure.  How is your writing workshop going?  Okay...back to Vegas.  (I know this post was not that brief. Mine rarely are. Hopefully, you don't mind too much.  If I am going to share an idea, I feel the need to explain it).

Weekly Inspiration: Stress and Relaxation

I am excited about my giveaway and my new followers. For those of you that are new, I thought I would summarize one of weekly posting traditions.  Each week (usually on Monday), I post my "Weekly Inspiration."  This was something I did in classroom.  I had a Weekly Inspiration wall where each week I posted a picture, poem, and quote.  We would discuss these and the students used them as inspiration for their writing.  (You can see where I posted my "Weekly Inspiration" in the corner.)

I did this to foster creativity and critical thinking.  I believe it is important for students to be able to respond to different sources of inspiration and not just always use writing prompts or a summary of their day. We used the inspiration for our daily journal writing.  We still also completed larger writing projects throughout the year.  Here was my original post on my Weekly Writing Inspiration.

Here on my blog I have continued the tradition.  Each week I post a quote, a picture, and a poem (often around a central theme) I hope some of you will use in your classrooms.  I offer different things you could discuss with your class for each one.  Part of the reason I also feel passionate about my weekly writing inspiration is that I think it is important for students to be exposed to poetry.  I think often we have students write poetry, but do not spend enough time reading poetry.  Part of the difficulty is finding poems that are appropriate for children.  Poetry is a wonderful tool to teach imagery, visualization, fluency, and figurative language.  One of my goals is to start making more handouts, activities, and questions to accompany the poems I share each week.

For this week since many of you are out of school or finishing up, I chose the theme of stress and relaxation.  Make sure you take some time to take a deep breath and unwind before conquering all those summer projects.  I have been keeping a gratitude journal lately (most of the time) and it has really helped me let go of so much stress.  (For tips on joy and gratitude, I follow Ann Voskamp's blog: www.aholyexperience.com).

Weekly Inspiration: Stress and Relaxation

Quote: I found this little collection of quotes on stress and relaxation and liked them all, so I have decided to share all of them.  You can download a copy here.

Poem: "I Left My Head" by Lillian Moore
This is a super cute poem.  I would definitely have my students draw what they visualize with this poem.  It could definitely prompt some great discussion on what the poet meant "when she left her head."  When have we all felt this way?  (FYI: I provide links to the poems, but don't copy the text because I don't want to violate copyright laws.)

Picture: I love the idea of just going for a bike ride and enjoying the day and the sunshine.  Just let go, breathe, and enjoy. (Source: Pinterest)

For the rest of the summer, I may not exactly post the writing inspiration for students each week.  I might try to focus on sharing inspiration for teachers.  I will still probably include some quotes and pictures, but I want to share some great ideas and inspiration for planning for next year.

I think another great source of inspiration this summer is going to be the "Monday Made It" linkies at 4th Grade Frolics.  Check it out for some great ideas!  I know I am looking forward to scoping them all out.

Don't forget about my giveaway and my linky party for teaching with themes.  I really would love to hear how others are using themes in their classrooms.

Finish Strong and a Summer Reading Tic-Tac-Toe Board

For this week's writing inspiration, I chose finishing strong.

Poem: "See It Through" by Edgar Albert Guest

This poem is about finishing strong and seeing things through even when it seems too difficult.  This does not directly apply to the end of the school year, but you could discuss struggles you have faced as a class this year and how you overcame them.  This would be a great poem to discuss imagery.  Maybe have students write their own poems about their struggles this year and what they overcame.

Quote: “There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” - Frank Herbert

I chose this quote because I liked the idea that the end of the year is not really an ending, but a pause in the story.

 Picture:  Summer is here

I thought this picture was cute.  Sometimes the reason to finish strong is the reward in sight.

Source: Pinterest

Here is a freebie for summer and Manic Mondays at Classroom Freebies. It is a tic-tac-toe Reading menu/board that could be sent home for a summer activity.  It includes summer themed reading activities differentiated by multiple intelligences.

Enjoy the last week or so of school! 

Laughter as Inspiration and Read Alouds

Weekly Writing Inspiration: Laughter

For the weekly writing inspiration this week, I wanted to focus on laughter and happy thoughts.  I have been keeping my own gratitude list and it has been amazing.  I wrote a post about how my mom gifted me with the joy of laughter at my personal blog for Mother's Day.

To continue the theme, Laura Candler had a happy thoughts journal post recently.  Check it out.  I think using gratitude journals in the classroom would be awesome!  Why not make an end of the year list of all the things to be thankful for?

Poem:  "The Teachers Jumped Out of the Windows" by Ken Nesbitt

This is a cute poem that is sure to get your students laughing.  It has about how all of the staff ran out of the school on the last day of school.  This might spark some interesting class discussion.  It might even be fun to write your own funny class poem about how the teachers at your school will act on the last day.

Quote:  "A good laugh is sunshine in the house."

Click on the quote for a printable copy of the quote.

Picture: Laughter at the Beach

Well, I finally am branching out and trying to use Pinterest.  I found this picture on Pinterest and thought it was wildly appropriate for the topic of laughter and summer both.  Have your students consider why is the baby dressed as a shark.  What is making him laugh?  What might the baby be seeing?  How does this picture make the students feel?

Source of the picture

All Time Favorite Read Alouds

I am linking up with Miss Nelson to mention my all time favorite read alouds. I never realized how much older students still love being read to until my 3rd year of teaching. 

It makes sense, though; I firmly believe my love of reading was fostered by my dad reading to me and my grandmother mailing me books.  My mom wouldn't touch a book, but she could drop me off at B Dalton at the mall for hours and I was good to go!

My Favorite Read Alouds:

1) Junkyard Wonders by Patricia Polacco

I love this story.  I can't get through it without tearing up, though.

2) No Talking by Andrew Clements

Such a great story.  It is great for when the boys and girls aren't getting along.

3)  Loser by Jerry Spinelli

Zinkoff is one of the best characters I have ever met!

4) Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Check out my post on fun activities to go with this book.

Pictures of the books from Pinterest.

Laughs and blessings,

Writing Inspiration - Gratitude and Spring

This week I decided that the theme for the writing inspiration should be gratitude.  Thanksgiving is long gone, and sometimes we forget to stop and think of reasons to be thankful.  I have been keeping a list of things I am thankful for the last two months, and it has really changed my attitude.  I was actually thinking that this would be fun activity with students.  (Especially, this time of year).  You could have them keep a gratitude journal for a week, write poems about thanks, write an ABC book of thanks, focus on things they are thankful for about the school year, or make a giant list as a class.  I made some Spring themed graphic organizers on thanks to get them thinking:

Best Buds: Write about why you are thankful for your friends.

Drops of thanks:  Count your thanks on raindrops.

Sunshine smiles at school:  Find reasons to smile at school.

Now this week's writing inspiration:

Quote:
 

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Poem: "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes

Since April is half-way over and I was thinking about counting drops of thanks, this poem seemed appropriate.  This poem would be a great chance to talk about personification.  What types of human actions does Hughes give to rain?  Consider the imagery and the tone of the poem.  We often think of rain as dark and gloomy, but does this poem seem dark?

You can play a little video where Langston Hughes is reading the poem aloud.

Picture: I am including a picture I took when I was out driving one night right before a big rain storm.  (The picture is a little blurry.)  Even though it was very dark, I thought the sky was beautiful.  I would discuss with my students how nature even when dark and fierce can be beautiful.

Have a wonderful week full of gratitude and inspiration!

Writing Inspiration - Friendship

I thought that this week friendship would be a good topic for writing inspiration.  As we get closer to the end of the year, sometimes kids and even us as adults need reminders of the value of friendship and treating each other well. 

Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The only way to have a friend is to be one."

This quote would be a great way to prompt a conversation on the importance of friendship, how we like to be treated as a friend, and how we can be a better friend.  I would probably make a 2-column chart as a class with an anchor chart and individual ones. 

Picture on Friendship
Here is a picture from my calendar. I liked this picture and saying on friendship. I would ask students to consider how friendship is like a garden.  This would be a great opportunity to review simile.
You could have students write their own similes comparing friendship to something.  You could have them illustrate the idea of friendship as a garden.

Poem by Ken Nesbitt: "I taught my cat to clean my room."
I liked this poem because it is funny, but also it would be an entertaining way to discuss how animals can also be our friend.  It could also lead to a discussion on how we as friends can do things for each other.

If you are looking for resources to help your students analyze poetry, check out my packet at my TpT store on analyzing poetry.

Weekly Inspiration: Hope

I decided to focus my inspiration this week on hope. I would probably start my discussion with the question: What is hope? I would draw a web with the question in the middle and have a class discussion on what they think hope is. This may be a good opportunity to have students write about examples of hope, times they have felt hope, things they have hoped for, the power of hope, etc.

Quote: By Mark Twain

Consider the imagery of this quote.  Imagine a hope tree where each leaf is someone's hopes. What would happen if the tree stopped generating those leaves?  What role does hope play in our lives and in our society?  Would we want a world without a hope.  Ask you students to consider the quote and how it makes them feel. How does hope inspire them.

Poem: "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson
This poem is an extended metaphor.  Ask your students to consider what hope is being compared to.  Metaphors create great imagery and offer great discussion about visualization. This poem also offers a chance to discuss personification, slant rhyme, and rhyme scheme.  I have also created some questions to go along with the poem that focus on slant rhyme, personification, rhyme scheme, visualization, and message. You can purchase the questions at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Picture:  Rainbow

I would ask my students to consider how they feel when they see a rainbow. How do rainbows inspire them?

I am also working on some graphic organizers and task cards to use when analyzing poetry.  I will post these later.

I hope your week is full of hope,

Weekly Inspiration: Spring

We have had crazy weather. It does not know if it wants to be winter or spring. Today is a beautiful day and I am thankful for it. I feel inspired by Spring.
Picture: A Baby Chick



http://pinterest.com/pin/44754590017055386/
I liked this picture because the chick looks cautious to me. He appears to be pondering his options and deciding if he should venture forth. You could ask your students what he/she might be thinking. Where is the mama or siblings? How would a baby chick see the world? How does this picture inspire you?

Poem: "Spring" by Karla Kuskin
I love the enthusiasm of this poem. The tone is happy, joyful, and full of new beginnings. That, to me, is the essence of Spring. I would ask my students to draw how this poem makes them feel. This would be a wonderful text to discuss tone. Describe what they visualize and how this inspires them. What would their own poem about Spring look like. This poem also has rhyme, but not a definitive rhyme scheme. You could discuss why the lines are broken up where they are. Why does the poet choose those moments to be pauses?

Quote: Self Respect
You can download a copy of the quote for free at my TpT store.

What is the importance of self respect and how do we find it?

Many of you are on Spring Break. I hope it is restful and full of joy and great weather. I would love to hear how many of you inspire your students.

~April

Weekly Inspiration: Perseverance

For this week's inspiration, I was thinking about everyone getting ready for testing. Many kids find testing to be overwhelming and get frustrated quickly. I decided the inspiration for this week should be on perseverance and not giving up.

Poetry: "On Quitting"
For the poem this week, I chose "On Quitting" by Edgar Albert Guest. I would read the poem to my students and have them visualize and think about the poem might mean. I would still use the Poetry Peace Map from Laura Candler's website to do three readings of the poem. After using the graphic organizer a couple times, I would have the students draw it themselves. Discuss vocabulary like grit and pluck. I think this would be a great poem to have the students illustrate. You could even have them write their own poem on showing "grit." Have them think about a time they quit. How did they feel? Did they ever almost quit and keep going? How could they apply these ideas to testing?

Quote: Einstein's Problem Solving.
I chose a quote from Einstein. All student's should have heard of Einstein. If not, you could do a quick introduction on Einstein before introducing the quote.

Have your students consider what can be gained by sticking with something even if it seems confusing, long, or too difficult. You can download the quote at my TpT store.

Picture: Running the Race

Have your students consider what it takes to run a race and finish. What is the goal? What keeps runners motivated?

I hope this provides some writing inspiration or just a little inspiration to persevere and keep up the hard work. :)

Weekly Inspiration: Poetry, Quotes, and Pictures

One of the ideas I came up with last summer was to create a “Weekly Inspiration” wall. I wanted my students to know how to write from inspiration. My goal was each week to have a poem, picture, and quote and throughout the week during journal writing my students could use these weekly inspirations to jumpstart their writing. I would go over the poem, quote, and picture on Monday and refer back to them throughout the week.

While I think this was a brilliant idea, I struggled to keep up with it. Finding a picture, poem, and quote each week and getting it printed it out (all in addition to normal grading and planning) did not happen as consistent as I would have liked. So my hopes is now that I have more time I am going to post a poem, quote, and picture here each Sunday so that maybe other teachers can have some additional writing inspiration for their students throughout the week.

With a lot of the writing standardized testing, there is a push for students to be able to respond to a quote or picture instead of just a prompt. Responding to inspiration is a great way to build creativity and critical thinking. For pictures, the easiest way I found to build a supply of pictures to choose from was I cut up old calendars and greeting cards and laminated them. Each week I chose from my supply of pictures based on a theme or something I wanted to get across. Other great online sources of pictures would be Pinterest or Google Earth. Rachel Lynette at Minds in Bloom has a great Pinterest board with pictures and prompts for writing. One board is titled “Inference with Pictures” and the other is “Quality Writing as Pictures.”

For the picture, this week I am including one of my favorite pictures of my cat. In this picture, I always wonder what she sees and what she is thinking.

For the quote this week I chose a Dr. Seuss quote since March 2 is Read Across America Day and a day to celebrate Dr. Seuss. I chose:

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
― Dr. Seuss from Happy Birthday to You!

Here is a printable version of the quote you could use in your classroom.

You can download it for free on TPT at:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quote-from-Dr-Seuss-Today-You-are-You..

For this quote, I would have students think about what it means to be them. What makes them unique? How are they different than others? Self-awareness is a powerful tool in the learning process. This might even be a great opportunity to have students do a quick self-awareness inventory. I made one and you can find it at my TPT store.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Self-Inventory

For the poem, this week I chose “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stephenson. You can find the poem at this link as well as a bio on Robert Louis Stephenson: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171951  
You could use the poem to have a more in depth discussion of the poem looking at imagery, rhyme scheme, etc. or you could strictly read the poem a couple times, talk about it briefly, and just let the students jump into responding to the poem.

Note: If you haven’t used much poetry in your classroom, a great poem to begin the discussion of reading poetry is “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins. You can find the poem at Poetry 180.
The imagery in this poem is great and really gets students to think. You will probably have to guide their thinking, but it is a great way to introduce poetry. http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/001.html  

When thinking about responding to poetry, explain to students that poems should always be read more than once and it is good to read them aloud. So much of the power of poetry is the manipulation of sound. Laura Candler has a great handout called “The Poetry Peace Map.” I would probably give them a copy of the handout the first time they used it and then have them draw it going forward. The idea is that the students will respond to the poem three times. 

http://www.lauracandler.com/filecabinet/literacy/poetry.php

For “The Shadow,” the first time I read the poem I would have the students draw what they visualized in the poem. The second reading I would read it aloud again and have students think about how the shadow is described. What does the child think of his shadow? On the third reading, I would project the poem (or give them a copy) and have students read it silently to themselves.  This is where I would encourage them to consider how they feel inspired by the poem. How would they respond to it? Would they think about their own shadow, would they write own poem about a shadow, or imagine themselves as the child in the poem? Maybe they should consider what the shadow thinks of the child. Additional things to discuss would be the aabb rhyme scheme and imagery. Have the students find examples of what words stand out to them or look for adjectives.

 “The Shadow” by Robert Louis Stephenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.