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POETRY IN THE HALLS
In the past I've featured fictional characters' favorite poems and poems about imaginary places. This year, I'm offering FREE poetry printables.
Kicking things off is a pdf for Poetry in the Halls featuring poems by Linda Baie, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Robyn Hood Black, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Charles Ghigna, Mary Lee Hahn, Michelle Kogan, Irene Latham, JoAnn Early Macken, Diane Mayr, O.V. Michaelsen, Heidi Mordhorst, Christina Rossetti, Masaoka Shiki, and me.
Print out these ledger-sized poems and put them up in your school hallways, library, or other poetry-inviting place! Laminate them if you can :-) Came back later to say: Just saw them mounted on colored construction paper and they look great that way, too!
Addendum: I forgot that I have a Poetry in the Halls response form! I've been coordinating this program in various elementary, middle, and high schools for maybe a dozen years now and some years we had prizes for responses. You might want to have the kids respond without giving prizes. Here's the link to the form. (If you want the doc. file so you can change it, email me.)
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WHERE IS PEACE?
Where is Peace? was inspired by writing a month of peace poems in February. When you are writing one a day, you wind up thinking about peace from many angles.
Where is peace? What does peace feel like? Is it where we feel safe, is it helping others? Can we find it in nature? Can we make it ourselves? With this printable, I imagine that a class could take a few minutes to make the mini-book and then write their own peace poem. I'm hoping that the printable will free them to find peace in many places.
First, cut off the white spaces around the edges. Then, follow along with this video:
(You can also visit this video by Sylvia Vardell)
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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).
The Grammar Fib printable includes grammar-themed fibs and space to write your own:
Grammar Fibs printable
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THE POETRY TIMES
When I was looking up what teachers' favorite printables are, "blank newsletter template" came up. I wondered how to make that poetry-related and came up with The Poetry Times.
My idea was that students could interview one another, either about their experience of being poets or about their favorite poems. There could also be guest interviewees, such as librarians, principals, P.E. teachers, etc. answering questions about their favorite poems.
If students have already been writing poetry in class, you're set. If they've already been reading poetry in class, same thing. If they haven't, you can take your class on a reading excursion to the school library or you can bring poetry books into your classroom. The students could explore the books, looking for potential favorite poems. I'm including a printable "favorites list" worksheet so they can take notes about their potential favorites as they are searching. (If you have poetry up in your halls, you could take the class on a "field trip" to read those!) After the students have lists, they can interview each other and write up their responses in their own newsletter.
Here is The Poetry Times collection:
* The Poetry Times template (The top section of the newsletter can include a poem, an illustration, and/or a drawing of a book cover. The other two sections are for interviews, but do what you like!)
* Student Poet interview form (Generally for students interviewing their fellow students about their experiences as poets, but they can also use the forms to interview the teacher.)
* Favorite Poem interview form (with figurative language info on the back)
* Potential Favorites List worksheet
Speaking of illustrations, if you would ever like to use Poetry Monster images for your projects, the gallery is here.
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"TAKE ONE" FLYER
"Take One" or "Take What You Need" posters are fun, they're cheerful, they're something a little out-of-the-ordinary. (You can have anything you want on them. I've seen posters that just say, "Have you seen this poster?" and all the little slips at the bottom say, "yes.")
Once they have been printed out, the little sections at the bottom need to be cut apart so people can easily take one. Then the top can be taped to a wall or stapled/push pinned to a bulletin board or any place you'd put a flyer.
Take What You Need: Literary Edition
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BONUS:
INFINITY BREATH printable
for practicing relaxing breaths.
Love it! Saving it for next year...
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