Poetry Friday - Emma Dilemma

I got Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems by Kristine O'Connell George way back in April, and am only now getting around to reading and reviewing it. Seems to be the story of my life lately. But what a great book to read during the summer #bookaday challenge!!

This book contains a delightful collection of poems that very aptly share the ups and downs of being a big sister. In one poem, Jessica (the big sister) is mortified that her little sister (Emma) wore her pretend clothes to Jessica's soccer game and keeps cheering her name loudly so that all notice. A few poems later, Jessica notices how Emma's hand is

"just the right size
to fit
inside mine."

Whether it's Emma encroaching on Jessica's room, or Jessica's markers, or time with Jessica's friends, she always manages to make herself noticed.

But, the true love between sisters shines through when Jessica allows Emma to hop into bed when she's scared, or when Jessica teaches Emma the best way to blow paper off of straws, or when Jessica goes on a field trip and spends her 3 dollars on a gift for Emma.

Emma Dilemma is a collection of poems that tell a tender story about the relationship between a big sister and a little sister. Kristine O'Connell George chose the perfect words in each poem to share the feelings and emotions of sisterhood. And the illustrations by Nancy Carpenter mesh wonderfully with the words. I was touched by this book of poems and can't wait to share it with my students in the fall!

For more Poetry Friday fun, see the lovely Jone at Check it Out!!

Lemonade is Fun to Make!

Last Saturday, I picked up a new poetry book titled Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word by Bob Raczka. The front cover was bright and colorful, but the true fun began when I opened the book. I was fascinated by the concept - poems made using only the letters in the title word.

Raczka shares in the beginning that the concept of this collection of poetry came to him after reading poetry online, and finding the poetry of Andrew Russ. Russ makes poems out of single words. Raczka shared one of his favorites:

rain

i
ra n
in

It is even more fun that the focus is to initially keep the letters spaced in the way the title words' letters appear.

Raczka has taken this concept and written 22 poems of his own where he "squeezes" the poem from a single word. With each poem, he initially writes it in the same format as Andrew Russ did. Then, on the next page, he rewrites the poem using stanzas and with letters beside one another to make words. So much word play fun!! I cannot wait to try this with my own students next week for Poetry Friday!!

One of my favorite poems (too many to choose from!) written by Raczka is titled "vacation" :

vacation

ac tion
i n
a
va n


vacation

action
in
a
van

I decided if I was going to ask my students to do it, I would give it a whirl, as well. Bear with me, here. :)

island

a
s and
land
i
s a
i d


island

a sand
land
i
said

For more about Lemonade, check out 100 Scope Notes - Travis calls it a "Best New Book" - high praise indeed! And totally justified!!

And for more Poetry Friday Fun, visit Book Aunt for the entire poetry roundup.

NCTE News (part 1 of at least 2)

Being here at NCTE in Orlando has been an amazing experience. If there's one thing I've learned this year it is how important it is to share knowledge. That is the gift of the online community -- NINGs, twitter, FaceBook, blogs, wikis, etc. We need places to share and think together. The sharing and thinking help us all be smarter together. So as I share my experiences and thoughts of NCTE the last few days, please feel free to add your thinking as well.

Ok, I guess I need to back up a little and say that conventions are also a place to have fun as well. If NCTE was going to have a convention at the happiest place on Earth, far be it from me to not enjoy the Disney experience! :) So, the first night we got in, I went with some friends to Epcot to enjoy some rides, food, fireworks, Pooh, Tigger, and shopping for all things Mickey. It was a perfect way to relax, rejuvenate, and giggle a lot!

The first day of the convention, the highlight of my day was the Elementary Section get-together. One of our central Ohio blogger friends, Julie Johnson, from Avery Elementary School in Hilliard won this year's Donald H. Graves Award for outstanding work as a writing teacher. This award annually recognizes teachers in grades K-6 who demonstrate an understanding of student improvement in the teaching of writing. To receive this award in a year when educators are both mourning the loss of Donald Graves as well as celebrating his contribution to writing education is a true gift for Julie. I am soooooo very proud of Julie and this amazing achievement, and I feel so fortunate to have been there when she received this prestigious award.

There is much learning that comes outside the actual sessions that are offered here at NCTE, and dinner Thursday night was a perfect example. I sat at a dinner table with Katie DiCesare, Meredith Melragon, Franki Sibberson, Louise Borden, Mary Lee Hahn, Karen Szymusiak, Stephanie Harvey, and Anne Goudvis. To be part of the conversations at this table was very energizing, both professionally and personally.

I do want to mention at least one session that I attended. My first session was bright and early Friday morning. It was a session that talked about poets and bloggers. I was drawn to this because I have participated in Poetry Friday in the kidlitosphere VERY sporadically, but I truly want to do more. I got to listen to gifted poets like Lee Bennett Hopkins, Pat Mora, Jame Richards, and Marilyn Singer. I also heard some very talented bloggers who are very connected to poetry online -- Tricia Stohr Hunt of Miss Rumphius, Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader, adn Sylvia Vardell of Poetry for Children.

Fun little tidbit for me -- Lee Bennett Hopkins stopped by here on our blog to comment on my review of his anthology, Amazing Faces. So I introduced myself to him and got a huge hug! How fun! In addition, he introduced me to Pat Mara, the author of one of the poems in Amazing Faces. Marilyn Singer read some poems from her book, Mirror Mirror. I forgot how fun it is to hear a poet read her own words -- I sat there with my mouth literally hanging open as she read. Then, as each blogger shared their commitment to sharing poetry online, it renewed my resolve to be a bigger part of that community. One of my favorite take-aways was when Tricia shared how she believes that scientists and poets look at the world with the same eyes. A fascinating take-away for me as I look at the students in my own class.

What I've shared has not even begun to tap in to this NCTE experience. Stay tuned in the next few days for more!

Amazing Faces = amazing poetry

I recently found Amazing Faces, a collection of poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrations by Chris Soentpiet, with a little help from my friend, Beth, at Cover to Cover Children's Bookstore. I was asking her if they had any new poetry books, and right away, she handed me Amazing Faces.

From the moment I saw the cover of this book, I was hooked! It is a cover filled with adult and children faces, each face unique. I inferred from the cover that the inside would be filled with poems about people from very diverse backgrounds. I was NOT disappointed when I opened the book!!

The first poem is called, aptly, "Amazing Face" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. It sets the stage for the variety of wonderful faces that would be described in the pages to come. Each face, no matter what ethnicity, comes with a vibrant story of its own. From the child watching his mom sew late into the night, to the child falling asleep, to the child who speaks two languages, to the kind teacher, to the child with friendship issues, to the child engaged in karate, to the child playing football, to the child living in the desert -- all these faces have stories to tell that are uniquely their own.

Lee Bennett Hopkins has done an amazing job with the poems he has collected from some very talented writers and poets. The sequence of the poetry seems very thoughtful, because of how seamlessly each poem flows, one to the next. He has even included one of his own pieces, a lovely poem about how a boy and a girl fall in love at a restaurant amongst the hamburgers and french fries.

The gift of Amazing Faces is that the situations in which these "amazing faces" find themselves, are scenarios to which many children can relate. No matter what your face looks like, chances are you have been through one or more of the experiences in this book.

Amazing Faces was a true find, and I can't wait to share it with my class. It might make the perfect second poetry book to share after we have some fun with the first.

I also want to mention that a friend of mine, Maria, found Amazing Faces at another bookstore close to her at about the same time I found my copy. We were so excited about this, that we decided to "simu-blog" about it on the same day. Check out Maria's review over at Teaching in the 21st Century.

For more Poetry Friday fun, visit Laura at Teach Poetry K- 12.

Poetry Friday - Someone Used My Toothbrush!

I found Someone Used My Toothbrush! *and Other Bathroom Poems* this week at my favorite children's bookstore, Cover to Cover. It is written by Carol Diggory Shields and illustrated by Paul Meisel.

This book is basically a collection of poems that focus on bathroom humor. I found myself laughing out loud as I looked at each new poem. Whether the poem deals with all the different names for a bathroom, or trying to give pets a bath in the bathtub, or the wonders of a bubble bath, or the chore of cleaning around the toilet, or the time spent teaching a younger sibling to use the potty, or the medicine cabinet, or trying on Mom's makeup, or the joys of unrolling toilet paper, or the dreaded bathroom scale, or forgetting to use the bathroom before leaving home -- this book contains all that and much more!

The poems are hysterical, and the illustrations complement the words perfectly. There are even some bare cheeks shown in one or two pictures, but I think that will only add to my students' enjoyment of this particular collection of poems.

In two weeks, I will have my first Poetry Friday with my new group of 5th graders. Someone Used My Toothbrush! will be the perfect way to introduce that ritual into our classroom while sharing some laughter together at the same time. I can't wait!

A small teaching note for me: most of these poems rhyme so I will definitely want to introduce some more free verse poetry to my students in our 2nd week of Poetry Friday so that they are not always trying to write rhyming poems themselves. I think it is important to give students a balanced diet of a variety of poetry forms.

** For more Poetry Friday fun, check out Szofia at the Stenhouse blog this week. **

Poetry Friday - Looking Like Me

I recently visited a different branch of our metropolitan library, and discovered they have an amazing children's section. What I really loved was how they had poetry books highlighted the day I was there. Many interesting, engaging front covers facing out for someone to just reach out and grab. So grab I did!

One of my finds that day was Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers and illustrated by Christopher Myers. I loved this book on several different levels.

First, I love the message I took away after reading it -- that we all have many identities and those identities are to be celebrated.

Second, Myers does a fabulous job giving different perspectives as the child in the book hears from all the people in his life that day about how they view his importance to them. The add-on quality of the verse as the child starts to list everything he is based on others' perceptions is quite lyrical.

As the child talks to all the different people, he fist-bumps them after they tell him what he means to them and then uses the phrase, "I gave it a bam!" This phrase conveys to me a sense of celebration for all that he means to each and every one of those people.

The poem starts with the child in front of the mirror saying,

"I looked in the mirror
And what did I see?
A real handsome dude
Looking just like me."
Then he proceeds to fist-bump ("I gave it a bam") himself.

So, it seems only appropriate that the book ends with the child talking to the reader and telling them to find a mirror, "think of all the things you do and all the things you say", and to start with themselves by giving "yourself a great big smile and your fist a great big bam!" What a celebration of each individual!

Finally, both Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers have author blurbs, done in the same text that explain who they are.

I think the identity of who we are is huge in this book. I can't wait to share it with my students (one in particular). I don't mean to trivialize this book or make it lesson plan-y, but I can definitely see using it at the beginning of the year with a new class as we are building community, learning each others' identities, and how each of us is an important member of the community.

Looking Like Me is a gem!!

This is the Feast for Poetry Friday

I love Thanksgiving! It's my favorite holiday of the year, no rushing around, no commercialism, just good food, fun family time, football, and relaxation. I was very excited to find a new Thanksgiving book to share in THE PIT, and it just happens to be a rhyming book.

This is the Mayflower, sturdy and strong.
Her sails skim the skies as she journeys along.

This is the Feast follows the Pilgrims on their journey across the sea to start a new country. It's a very basic version of the story that all kids know, but Diane Z. Shore puts the words together in an enjoyable quick moving version that I think kids will enjoy.

These are the Indians, fearful, aware--
"Welcome" their greeting, approaching with care.

Along with the lyrical writing are Megan Lloyd's painted masterpieces of Pilgrim life in Plymouth. Vibrant colors, delicate details, and realistic scenes illustrate the words and will wow the kids in THE PIT! I love that I will be able to share another new Thanksgiving book with them.

This is Thanksgiving, a time to remember
the friendships and freedoms we all share together.

Check out Two Writing Teachers for more Poetry Friday.