Page Poetry and Pinterest

WOOT, WOOT! Just found out: This idea was featured on the Top 5 Ideas of the Week (May 6, 2013) over at Teach Junkie! So happy! Thanks, Leslie!

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During the month of April my sixers and I have been reading, writing, and ENJOYING poetry! What began as groans after Spring break has turned into eager cries of "What kind of poem are we gonna do today, Ms. A.?"

So far we've enjoyed highly formalized poems such as haiku, tanka, and diamonte; explored rhyme scheme with couplets, quatrains, limericks, and clerihew; and giggled, laughed, and been left speechless by free verse and dada.  "What is dada?" you say. Hmmm? Better than I trying to explain this most unusual poetry format, try your hand at a dada poem here:

http://www.poemofquotes.com/tools/dada.php

A poem similar to dada is a Page Poem. I had never seen this type of poetry until I stumbled upon it on Pinterest. Pinterest? Ah, what would I do without Pinterest? Here's what I pinned about Page Poetry.










I absolutely fell in LOVE with Page Poetry. Crazy and deviant as dada, Page Poetry calls for great visual creativity, not something added as an after thought, but art that is essential to the meaning (if you can call it that) of the poem. Some Page Poems appeared to be random ramblings of strange, twisted minds while others appeared well thought out and planned. I can do this, I thought! My sixers can do this! And so they did and with great fun, great thought, great sharing, and great discussion.

I introduced Page Poetry to my sixers by sharing my Pinterest Pins and visiting some of the websites. Fresh from creating dada poems, they were hooked and couldn't wait to begin. Next we began looking through our library for a book that might lend itself to creativity and fun. It also had to be a book that was well loved, meaning it was ready to fall apart. We hit the jackpot with an old copy of one of the Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. With some sadness at having to destroy the book, I ceremoniously began tearing out pages at random and passing them to my sixers with great dramatic flair. From there my sixers spent quite some time reading and rereading their given page, searching for just the right words.

Once the words were chosen, they had to decide how to present their poems, how elaborate would the page appear? Some simply used black pens to circle the words and draw directional lines, some added color, others added textured lines, while others utilized multiple colors, shapes, and designs.

 These are just a very few of the Page Poems created by my students. Enjoy!

Happy Pinteresting, Happy Teaching, Angela The Teacher's Desk 6

Poetry Round-up: TEACHING IDEA TUESDAY

Last month I created a Parts of Speech Round-up for my sixth graders during which they participated in six different activities (six learning stations) to help them practice the parts of speech. You can read about it HERE. They LOVED it and asked to do it again! Anytime sixth graders beg to do parts of speech you know you've got a hit on your hands.

Keeping the idea of a round-up in mind, I decided to do something similar with poetry since April is entitled Poetry Month (roundups are so adaptable and easy to put together), and I have my annual observation on Tuesday of this week. Guess what day I have the roundup scheduled?

Here's what I have planned:

Activities and Objectives

Poetry Spinner:  Students will select from a choice of three poems, read, and analyze the poem for particular literary elements, among them mood, theme, and figurative language.

Roll the Dice Poem: Students will compose a free verse poem based upon the roll of dice; the total number of dots per roll indicates the number of syllables per line.

Wordsearch:  Students will recognize poetry forms as being rhyming or non-rhyming while solving a wordsearch puzzle.

Bio Poem: Students will complete two graphic organizers which in turn will aid them in composing an autobiographical poem

Holiday or Color Poem: Using an online poetry generator, students will choose one of two formats to complete. They will print out their poem and add color and illustrations to create visual imagery to accompany the verbal imagery.

DaDa: Students will compose a DaDa poem.

This is a paper that provides more detail about each activity or station. Included are CCSS ELA for Sixth Grade, student directions, as well as where the station ideas came from (a shout out goes to Rachel Lynette, Laura Candler, Instant Poetry Forms Online, and the Classroom Game Nook). You can download a copy HERE. 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAQTlFOEVWbDU5WUE/edit?usp=sharing

Also available for use is a set of learning targets based upon the gr. 6 CCSS ELA. I made these to place near each station. I've always stated lesson objectives prior to instruction, but I'm trying to be more concrete/obvious with these so that students become more aware of their exact role in the learning process. I printed each target as needed (one is used three times) on card stock and folded each paper in half so that it stands like a tent. You can grab a copy of these desk plates HERE.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoASHFqRXg2emdRUDA/edit?usp=sharing

You might also like a copy of the poetry wordsearch that is part of the poetry roundup. You can grab a copy HERE.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAd1UxcVE2NGdNczQ/edit?usp=sharing

I am REALLY looking forward to Tuesday, even though it is Observation Day! I'm also looking forward to a new feature at Teach Junkie: Teaching Idea Tuesday. I thought my Roundup idea would be a good starter for this brand new linky.

BTW... my observation went well!

Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6

Poetry Month and a linky

Just in case if you missed it: April is designated as Poetry Month (among other titles).

There is a terrific linky going on over at The Peanut Gallery in honor of this title. If you haven't visited The Peanut Gallery or seen this linky, I encourage you to head on over right now. There are some great resources, both paid and FREE, to use during the month of April. I posted three of mine and downloaded a couple of others. It's a poetry gold mine.

http://peanutgallery19.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-first-linky-party-celebrating-poetry.html

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk 6