“Responding to Poetry” – Form Evolution

Kate and I have been going back-and-forth with “the best” format we can use for getting our kids to start responding to poetry. After something didn’t work as well with my fourth graders (as it did with my fifth graders), we worked together to recreate the fifth grade sheet I had so that it [...]

Card-Writing Challenge

No, I’m not proposing (yet another) challenge for you to do on your blog (to be linked here w/good ol’ Mr. Linky!). However, I’m proposing that you challenge yourself to send someone a hand-written message this week.
My birthday is this-coming Friday. So, when I saw a pink envelope in the mail from my [...]

What do you notice about this poem?

Brainstorming About "Pencils" by Barbara Esbensen

Originally uploaded by teachergal

Since I came back today, my kids only had one day’s worth of formal poetry instruction. Hence, I wanted to spend some time doing some noticing of the tools one poet used in their poem (in [...]

Yea! Back to Work Today! :)

My fever broke. So, as soon as I finish my cup of tea, with lots of honey in it, I’m headed out the door.
My kids have the final day of their NECAP Science Test today. If the weather holds up, then I’m hoping to take them outside to do some Poetry [...]