April Poetry Challenge #16 - ick

Yesterday was the 144th day of school for us.  Ick seems appropriate for "gross" day.  :)

Brainstorming words:  click, kick, lick, Nick, pick, Rick, stick, sick, tick, wick, chick, Antarctic, trick

You can have your pick
Of your favorite chick?

Don't touch the big stick
It belongs to Nick.

Do not lick
The candle wick!

More rhyming words from http://www.morewords.com/contains/ick/:  airsick, breadstick, brick, broomstick, click, dropkick, fiddlestick, garlic, homesick, lipstick, magic

The witch uses magic
To fly her old broomstick.

http://www.clker.com/clipart-garlic.html

Did you add garlic
To the hot breadstick?







It is not too cold for a penguin chick
To live in the freezing Antarctic!

I think the last poems are better than the first few.  That is why I usually write several before I pick one to add to the comments on Mary's blog, Poems of Silliness.

April Poetry Challenge #15 - ice

Today is a little mixed up.  I wrote one rhyming couplet this morning to post to Mary's blog,  Poems of Silliness.  I did not brainstorm words - well, I guess I did a little - but I wrote nothing down.  This is what I wrote.

mycutegraphics.com

Penguin Rhyming Couplet:

Sliding on ice
Is rather nice!


Today marks the halfway point of the April Poem Challenge:
Fifteen poems done
Rhyming can be fun!

April Poetry Challenge #14 - est

Word Brainstorming:  best, chest, guest, jest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, zest, invest, crest,

Rhyming practice:
Which way is the best
North, south, east, or west?

In the treasure chest
She found a bird's nest.

Be a good guest
Don't be a pest.

For winter, he will invest
In a new warm puffy vest.

More words from http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/est/:  Most of the examples are comparing words:  biggest, coziest, largest, etc...

More practice:
My room is the biggest
Bragged the blessed guest.

Use the yellow lemon zest
To make your cake the best.

 I added a poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

Lemonade Poem

We are using the Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for writing.  My class is working on seeing objects with their poets' eyes.  They are also listening with their poets' ears.  This is tricky - thinking about seeing things in new ways.

We are also using Amy Lemons' We are all Poets:  Poetry Pack from Teachers Pay Teachers.  We are trying to add a little fun into our day and afternoons are the most challenging for this group.  For this challenge, the students wrote about seeing lemonade with their poets' eyes.

Here is my Lemonade poem.

Lemonade
Lemonade is a yellow swimming pool of deliciousness for my tongue!
Lemonade is flower nectar in a jar.
Lemonade is full of golden slices of the sun.
Lemonade is starlight in the daytime.
And lemonade is like sipping summer through a straw.

April Poetry Challenge #13 - ell

I had been working ahead a day and it was easy to schedule a morning post.  Then I just had to remember to zip over to Mary's blog and copy/paste a poem in the comments.  Today, I am not ahead.  It had to wait until after school, but I didn't forget.

Word Brainstorming:  jell, gel, well, bell, dell, shell, fell, Nell, sell, tell, Miguel,

A boy named Miguel
Fell into the well.
(Shades of Jack and Jill)

More words from http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/ell/:  seashell, eggshell, dwell, doorbell, handbell, nutshell, smell, spell, tortoiseshell

Rhyming:

http://www.clker.com/clipart-11119.html

A tortoise does dwell

Inside its own shell.

Reaching for a pink seashell

Into the water she fell!

It is not nice to tell

Someone they smell!

Did you hear the bell?

It is time to spell.

 I added the tortoise poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poetry Challenge #12 - eat

Brainstorming words:  eat, feat/feet, beat/beet, cheat, sheet, heat, meat/meet, neat, peat/Pete, seat, wheat,  sweet, treat, fleet, complete, compete

Brainstorming rhymes:  

If you compete
You might get beat.

She will eat
The sweet treat.

Did you meet
The man named Pete?

Twelve egg whites I did separate and beat
To accomplish the angel food cake feat.

Your ghost costume is complete
After we add this bed sheet.

Dinner is complete.
It is time to eat.

I baked an angel food cake "from scratch" for Easter.  I guess it is still on my mind.  I added that poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poetry Challenge #11 - ay

Brainstorming words:  bay, day, hay, Kay, may, nay/neigh, pay, stay, way/weigh/whey, ray, slay/sleigh, say, today, payday, bray, play, stray,

More words from http://www.morewords.com/contains/ay/:  tray, array, archway, away, betray, bluejay, lay, castaway, clay, copay, decay, delay, dismay, display, entryway, hallway, hideaway, holiday, hooray

Playing with rhymes:

Hip-hip hooray!
It's a holiday!

We can dance and play
It is Saturday.

We watched the bluejay
Eat food from the tray.

She did not stray
She stayed to play.


I added a Saturday poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.
Happy Weekend!

April Poetry Challenge #10 - ate

Brainstorming words:  ate/eight, bait, Kate, date, fate, gate, hate, late, mate, Nate, rate, skate, plate, Tate, wait/weight, classmate, great, primate, create, chocolate(?), collaborate, conjugate, precipitate, cogitate, congratulate, debate, deflate

Wow!  There are a ton of multi-syllable words that rhyme with ate at http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/ate/.  Here are a few interesting ones: abbreviate, agitate, ambulate, animate, articulate, carbohydrate, elaborate, eliminate, emigrate, evaluate, evaporate, condensate, exasperate, coordinate, demonstrate, contaminate, educate, fabricate, irritate, motivate, masticate, participate

Will you participate
In the great class debate?

The birthday balloon will deflate
If the air - you eliminate.

That artist is great
She can really animate.

First the water must condensate
Then it can precipitate.

Agitate and irritate
or collaborate and educate?

Do you like to participate
When the class collaborates?

Lessons are difficult to abbreviate
When there is a lot to cogitate.

What can we eliminate
So we don't exasperate?

This one was fun.  Perhaps too many educational words to play with?
I added a poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poetry Challenge #9 - at

Brainstorming words:  bat, cat, sat, rat, that, splat, fat, gnat, hat, mat, pat, vat, spat, brat, chat

More words from http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/at/:  acrobat, copycat, Democrat, hardhat, laundromat, meerkat, wombat

These words make me think about Dr. Seuss' Cat in the Hat!

Thinking about rhyming:

"Do you want to chat?"
Said the bat to the rat.

While driving, a fat gnat
Hit the car window - Splat.

The children had a spat
About wearing the hat.

http://classroomclipart.com

http://classroomclipart.com

A traveling African meerkat
Met a friendly Australian wombat.









The cat sat
on the rat.

I found a costume for an acrobat
in the big dryer at the laundromat.

She wore a hardhat
To the new laundromat.

I added the traveling mammal poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.
#2ndchat was discussing poetry last night on Twitter.

April Poetry Challenge #8 - ap

Word Brainstorming:  cap, sap, rap, tap, flap, gap, lap, map, nap, zap, snap

Finding more words at Carl's Corner:  chap, strap, wrap, trap, snap, scrap, slap

Poem Brainstorming:

He followed the treasure map
But it turned into a trap!

Around the pond the swan did lap
While the baby chicks took a nap.

Her new purse strap
Broke with a snap!

The secret was written on a scrap
Of paper hidden under his cap.

My lilies it did snap
so, I made a rabbit trap.

It is easier to do these when I am not at school.  It was so nice to get up in the mornings during spring break and write a few poems.  It is harder to do with school work looming on my "to do" list!

I added the secret poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

One week done
Eight poems spun.  :)

April Poetry Challenge #7 - ank

Brainstorming Words:  thank, bank, sank, stank (word?), tank, rank, dank, clank, yank

More Words from http://www.morewords.com/ends-with/ank/: blank, crank, drank, frank, gangplank, outrank, plank, snowbank, shrank, prank


Playing with couplets:

Pirate Couplet:
You - I outrank
Walk the gangplank!





You - I must thank
For rescue from the snowbank (Too many syllables)

I must be frank
Your room - dark and dank
Was rank and stank
(I'm glad you cleaned it!)(Too many lines, but tells a story)

The heavy metal tank
Sank in the soft snowbank!

Turn the crank
Hear a clank.

Teacher Couplet:
I really must be frank
Don't leave your answer blank!

Wonderland Couplet:
Alice drank
And shrank!

I added the pirate poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poetry Challenge #6 - an

Word Brainstorming:
fan, an, can, ban, Stan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, than, bran, Jackie Chan (Did you know that Jackie Chan has a website with a kids' page?), cran - berry, span, plan, scan

Make a plan
Think you can

Raisin Bran

Jackie Chan

Image source: dancingcarrots.com

Very, berry plan
Straw, blue, black, and cran





It's hot in the van
Do you have a fan?

There's a rat in the can
I think we need a ban.

I decided I needed more "juicy" words.  This list was similar to mine:  http://www.carlscorner.us.com/SF1/Unit%201%20Sam%20Come%20Back/Phonics%20Focus/anSet.pdf

This list had much longer multi syllable words: http://www.wordfind.com/ends-with/an/.

Sleep is the plan
Said the sandman.

The huge dog, big and tan
Barked and the postman ran.
(Notice how postman, my longer word, did not end up at the end of the couplet!)

Before I began
I made a quick plan.

http://pixabay.com/p-25353/

Stan the old fisherman
Fries his catch in a pan.




I added one to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poetry Challenge #5 - ame

Word Brainstorming:  tame, flame, game, blame, dame, lame, name, same, exclaim, aim, shame

Poem Brainstorming:

A burning flame
Was to blame.

The teacher did exclaim
"Where is your name?"

These papers look the same
None of them have a name
The teacher did exclaim!

He hung his head in shame
Because he was to blame.

The kids look the same
Playing the twin game.

Happy Easter!

I added the bold missing name poem to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poem Challenge #4 - ake

Brainstorming words:  bake, cake, ache, fake, lake, make, rake, steak/stake, take, wake, awake, break/brake, shake, stomachache, Blake, Drake,

Playing with words: 
Give him a shake
So he will wake.

The terrible cake
Made her belly ache.

I like to bake
But I burn steak!

The vase may be fake
But it still might break.

Drake fell in the lake!
Saved with a long rake.

She bothered the snake
His long tail did shake
Her knees began to quake!

Earthquake
House shake!

I added the last one to the comments on Mary's blog Poems of Silliness.

April Poem Challenge #3 - ain

Word brainstorm:  brain, crane, drain, Great Dane, gain, cane, lane, main/mane, pain/pane, rain/reign, sane, stain, train, vane/vain, Wayne, explain

Playing with the words:
Can you explain
this big Great Dane?

commons.wikimedia.org

I have a pain
From the Great Dane
(He sat on my brain!)

The Christmas queen will reign
over Candy Cane Lane.

This makes me think of My Fair Lady:
The rain in Spain
Falls mainly on the plain.

More playing with the words:
Did you know the train
Travels through the rain?

Let Wayne
Explain.

There's a storm in my brain
Words are falling like rain.

Mary said that I could add to the comments on her blog Poems of Silliness.  Thank you!  Now I will just have to choose one.

April Poem Challenge #2 - ail

Today's challenge began the same - brainstorming words:    ail/ale, bail/bale, fail, gale, tail/tale, hail/hale, jail, kale, mail/male, nail, pail/pale, rail, sale/sail, whale/wail, entail

Then, I realized that many of today's words are homophones.  (Homophone practice here.)

My first poem:  (again not a rhyming couplet)

Listen to my tale

about why I have no bail

to get out of jail.

My second poem:

Did you see the whale

At the seashore sale?

My third poem: (trying to make the couplet the same length led to adding "juicier" words)

The adventurous ant set sail

Across the ocean water pail.

P.S.  I am reading Edgar Allan's Official Crime Investigation Notebook by Mary Amato.  I love how the main character records his thoughts in his notebook.  It also has poetry embedded throughout - great coincidence for poetry month!

April Poem Challenge #1 - ack

Mary Bauer from the blog, The Artistry of Education and Poems of Silliness, challenges her class and other classes to write a rhyming couplet every day in April.  She talks about it on her blog here.  She even provides a word family calendar grid to use for inspiration each day.  Since we are on spring break it is not possible to challenge my class, but I also know that teachers should write every day. I am considering it my challenge.  :)

First, I opened the sticky notes on the computer and brainstormed ack words.  Then I played with the words to make a rhyming couplet.  I also looked up the definition of a rhyming couplet.

Here are some words:  quack, stack, rack, jack, whack, back, tack, hack, lack, knack, pack, sack

My first poem:  (not a really a rhyming couplet & ing added to the ends - poetic license?)

The grocery store clerk prefers

Can stacking

To 

Food packing.

My second poem: 

The pantry food lack

Caused a sad lunch pack.

I added my poem to the comment section of Mary's Poems of Silliness blog and asked if that was okay.

Books I Want To Read - Reading Roundup

Mary Pitner at Pitner's Potpourri is hosting a book linky party.  She asks that each person share three books on his/her "to be read" stack.  I certainly have one (or two or three) of those!  So I thought I should add a new post to this long-ignored blog and link-up.

a professional book that I want to read...

Day by Day:  Refining Writing Workshop Through 180 Days of Reflective Practice by Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz  
I follow/read/blog stalk the Two Writing Teachers blog. Ruth and Stacey have lots of great tips about writing workshop.  I really need to work on improving my conferring skills, so I guess I need to start on chapter 5!

a pleasure book that I want to read...

Undead and Unpopular by MaryJanice Davidson

Betsy the vampire queen is just for fun.  I am working my way through this series and this is number 5.

a book I want to use to teach a skill in my classroom...

Fly Guy Presents Sharks by Tedd Arnold

We are beginning a unit on nonfiction text features/expository writing.  Since my kiddos really like these books in the Fly Guy series, I think it will be fun to see how Buzz shares facts this nonfiction shark book.  Maybe it will turn into a mentor text.  It is in the January Scholastic book order.

I have been having fun reading everyone's book suggestions.  My TBR pile is always growing!  Thanks!

Movie Hunt/Slice of Life

Did you see the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief? Since I have now read the 5 books in this series and the movie recently became available on DVD, I decided that it was time to see the movie. I was looking forward to seeing the movie with the hopes that it would hold me spell-bound like the Harry Potter movies based on the books by J.K. Rowling. I unclipped my Family Video gift card from Teacher Appreciation Week and headed for the video store. I entered and immediately saw the posters showing the June releases. Right there on June 29th was a picture of Percy. So in I went, walking the movies backwards. Around the corner to the left about halfway down the wall I saw row after row of Percy Jackson DVD cases. "Here they are. I have found them." I thought. But upon closer inspection, I realized that none of the actual DVDs in the clear cases were left behind all the tantalizing covers. Well, that was disappointing. Now what would I get. I began my normal stroll through the nearly new releases where I usually find my movie of the night. Nothing was beckoning, probably because I really wanted to see PJ. I saw scary movies, romantic movies, funny movies, silly movies, kid movies and Christmas movies. There wasn't anything that appealed to me. I decided to wander around the new movies and see if anything caught my interest. As I began to walk toward the back wall, I noticed an employee carrying several of those clear cases. He was returning movies to the shelves. I began looking at the choices. But my attention was drawn back to the employee who was headed toward the wall with the PJ movies. Could it be? Yes! I think he was returning a PJ movie. I headed that way. There were two clear cases hidden behind a PJ case. I picked them up as a man and his daughter came that way. Happily, there was one for me and one for them. Sometimes patience pays off.

Abecedarian Poem

Tricia from The Miss Rumphius Effect challenged everyone to write an Abecedarian poem this week. I have seen them before, but had never tried one. Here is my attempt.

ABC Summer

After the end and
Before the beginning,
Classes have been
Dismissed.
Everyone has
Fallen under the spell of summer.
Giving way to
Happiness and relief.
Ignoring the educational call
Just waiting
Keeping the memories
Loving the freedom of
Managing time differently.
Never forgetting
Only
Preparing for the next.
Quietly
Regenerating
Students and
Teachers slumber
Until the arri-
Val of autumn
Wakes them e
Xcited to begin a new
Year of
Zany learning adventures.

June 29, 2010