Inspired by Lucy Calkins’ Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages, the youngest children explored writing poetry. The unit starts with a poetry museum, which asks children to write about objects that have been collected. As each object is observed children are encouraged to see with poet’s eyes, to see the unusual in ordinary objects. As the unit progressed over the course of 8 weeks, students learn about the many ingredients that make up powerful poetry. They explored learning about line breaks, showing and not telling, searching for honest and precise words, patterning on a page and using comparisons. We encouraged children to stretch out their sounds and not to worry about spelling. It was important however, that they could read what they wrote. The highlight of each class came at the end when they each shared one treasured poem.
Six eggs in
a basket.
then a little girl
was picking up
some baskets.
Then she said,
“This is the best day ever.”
by Aurelia, aged 5
The park
is a place for everyone.
It’s a place
for
everyone.
The park
is a
place for
everyone
to
play.
by Eisen, aged 6
The vacuum is
A monster
And it eats dust and dirt
It gets mad
When you don’t
Drop
Anything.
by Frannie, aged 7
Boy camping
with my dad and
syris sleeping
There is a lot of
bugs. I have soda
I sleep in a
sleeping bag
and I got
to toast marshmallows.
by Rowyn, aged 6