Friday, April 12, 2019

Grammar Fibs printable

The Fibonacci Sequence turns out to be the key to understanding how nature designs... and is... a part of the same ubiquitous music of the spheres that builds harmony into atoms, molecules, crystals, shells, suns and galaxies and makes the Universe sing.
~Guy Murchie



photo by Jitze Couperus

Happy Poetry Friday! For this week's free printable, I have Grammar Fibs! Do you remember Greg Pincus's fibs?

In 2006, Greg popularized Fibonacci poems a.k.a. "Fibs": six-line poems which use the Fibonacci sequence to dictate the number of syllables in each line (1-1-2-3-5-8).

The Fibonacci sequence is a mathematical pattern in which the first two numbers are zero and one. To figure out the next number in the sequence, you always add the two previous numbers. So it goes like this:

0
1
0+1= 1
1+1= 2
1+2= 3
2+3= 5
3+5= 8
5+8= 13
13+8= 21
and it just keeps going.

You don't have to stop at 6 lines -- you can have a 7th line with 13 syllables, an 8th line with 21 syllables, etc., or you can make your Fib longer by going back down (i.e. 1-1-2-3-5-8-5-3-2-1-1).

Here's this week's printable, which includes grammar-themed fibs and space to write your own:

Grammar Fibs printable

Previous printables:
* The Poetry Times template
* Student Poet interview form
* Favorite Poem interview form
* Potential Favorites List worksheet
* Poetry in the Halls

************

Live Your Poem has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Irene!

15 comments:

Cheriee Weichel said...

This is an intriguing idea. I enjoyed your poems but especially loved the Commas one. As a grandmother, I concur. Let's not eat Grandma.

jama said...

Yes, I do indeed remember Greg and his fibs! Another wonderful printable. Happy to see a panda bear and tea mentioned in the sample poems. :)

Donna Smith said...

Nice printable and samples! I tried a "fewer and less" one, but it needs more work, not fewer work. LOL!

Margaret Simon said...

I am going to do this with kids after Spring break. I love fib poems and haven't done them this year with kids. And to teach grammar skills, so clever! Thanks!

KatApel - katswhiskers.wordpress.com said...

Another excellent resource, Tabatha. I do love fibs. (Syllable poems are great to hone in on intentional word choice - because some words just won't fit!)

Robyn Hood Black said...

So great! And the grammar theme with your oh-so-fun poems is another layer of classroom magic. Thanks for this whole, wonderful project!

Kimberly Hutmacher said...

Loved learning about this form, and I enjoyed the examples you shared in the printable.

Linda Mitchell said...

ooooooooh, what a wonderful printable! Thank you for that and all those you have created. I am going try some fibs this week. I never would have thought that I would be someone to like poetry forms. But, I do! They are so fun.

Linda B said...

This will be wonderful for teachers, Tabatha. Greg's fib creation is still going, I think. I see people sharing their own fibs often.

Mary Lee said...

Thanks so much for all the printables!

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Fibs are such a great way to bring poetry into the classroom, and this is such a fun printable! Hope you're feeling a bit better than you were mid-week, T. xo

Alice Nine said...

OHHHH!!! Love your grammar fibs!!! Thank you for sharing them. I will definitely be writing some of those! BTW, I wrote a fib poem last month. Was fun to write.

Carol said...

I had forgotten Greg's fibonacci poems, even though I remember the fabulous series he used to do, where he featured a different poet every day. Definitely want to try one before the end of the month! And I love your grammar fibs. I will be showing them to my students on Monday- they drive me nuts with your/you're and there/their/they're! Thank you!

Heidi Mordhorst said...

So grateful for these printables, Tabatha--I'm feeding them directly to teachers at my school through an almost daily "Poetry Goodies" post to our private folder. We love anything that synergizes more than one subject!

Michelle Kogan said...

I love your printable on FIBs Tabatha it's fantastic! I've always been fascinated with the fibonacci pattern, thanks!