Progressive Poem 2023 - Day 27

 Happy Poetry Month!

I love celebrating my favorite writing genre all month long!  This year, my friend, Janet Fagal invited me to join with some wonderful Poetry Friday participants to create a progressive poem. There are 30 poets contributing to this community poem. Each poet adds one line to the poem for each day of April. This tradition was started by Irene Latham back in 2012. Margaret Simon took over as host in 2020. 

I'm absolutely inspired and I can't wait to introduce the idea of a progressive poem to my students. This will make for a wonderful class project. I'm planning to have each of my students craft a single line. We'll choose the topic together, then sign up to add a line. I can't wait to see what we create. 

Just as I can't wait to see where this lovely poem leads us.

I've been visiting each blog and watching in fascination as each poet put his/her stamp on the poem. The collective imagination of some very talented poets has created a lovely poem so far. I've been handed the gift of the most recent line by Patricia. I'm honored to add mine (in blue). 

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Suddenly everything fell into place

like raindrops hitting soil and sinking in. 

When morning first poked me, I’d wished it away

my mind in the mist, muddled, confused. 

Was this a dream or reality, rousing my response?

The sun surged, urging me to join in its rising, 

Rising like a crystal ball reflecting on morning dew.

I jumped out of bed, ready to explore the day. 

My feet pull me outside and into the garden

Where lilies and bees weave…but wait! What’s that? 

A bevy of bunnies jart and dart and play in the clover.

A dog barks and flash, the bunderstorm is over. 

I breathe-brave, quiet. Like a seed,

as the day, foretold in my dream, ventured upon me. 

Sunbeams guided me to the gate overgrown with wisteria

where I spotted the note tied to the gate. 

As I reached the gnarled gate, pollen floated like fairy dust into my face. Aaah Choo!

Enter, if you must. We’ve been waiting for you.

Not giving the curious note a thought, I pushed the gate open and ran through.

Stopped in my tracks, eyes wide in awe- can this really be true?

Huge mushrooms for tables, vines twined into chairs,

a flutter of fairies filled flowery teawares.

With glazed nut cakes and apple blossom tea,

I heard soft whispers from behind a tree. Oh my! They had been “waiting for me!”

Still brave, but cautious I waited for them.

Forested friends filled the glade. “You’ve arrived! Let the reverie begin!”

I laughed as my bare feet danced across the dew-soaked grass.

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So that's it. Only a few more lines to go. I'm handing it off to Karin at her Still in Awe blog. Here's the full list of all the contributing poets and their blogs. 

• 2023 Kidlit Progressive Poem
  April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, Another Year of Reading
  April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe
  April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
  April 4 Buffy’s Blog
  April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities
  April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write
  April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche
  April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life
  April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise
  April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care
  April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems
  April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave
  April 13 Irene Latham Live You Poem
  April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse
  April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch
  April 16 Linda Baie, TeacherDance
  April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link
  April 18 Marcie Atkins
  April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard 
  April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes
  April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle,  Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog,
  April 22 Marilyn Garcia
  April 23 Catherine,  Reading to the Core
  April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
  April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town
  April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie
  April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits
  April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog
  April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog
  April 30 Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, and Writing

Teaching Poetry With Parts of Speech

 I was sitting outside today enjoying the lovely Spring weather after a week of rain (and even a little snow last weekend). It inspired a poem and a teaching idea that I thought I'd share.

This is a great time of year to get your students outside. There are so many ideas to be found in the newness of spring! It's also a great time to write some poetry - Happy Poetry Month! Finally, as state testing season is upon us, you might want an easy and fun way to review parts of speech.

Getting Ready

Start by having your students make a three-column chart. Label the columns, Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives (or distribute this downloadable printable). Review the parts of speech and make sure your students understand the differences between them.

Head Outside

Find a nice area where all students can sit outside your school building. You might want to let them know in advance to bring in a towel or mat to sit on that day. Spend a short time reviewing using the five senses for observation. Bring their attention to some of the things they can see, hear, smell, and touch. (Remind them that it's not a good idea to taste anything!)

Record Observations

Encourage students to record their observations by jotting down nouns, verbs, and adjectives on their three-column charts. Ask them to make sure they are recording what they can see, hear, smell, and feel.

Read Mentor Poems

This step can come before, during, and/or after the observation activity. A few of the poems I love to share are Langston Hughes' April Rain Song, Mary Howitt's The Voice of Spring, Diane Murray's Silly Tilly's Garden, George Cooper's The Beautiful Spring, and Nature's Way by Heidi Campbell. I recommend sharing a variety of poems, both rhyming and non-rhyming, so that students understand that poetry is not just one thing.  

Here's the poem I wrote today:

Feel free to share it with your students.

Write!

Ask your students to use the words from their three-column chart to compose a poem about Spring. Encourage creativity. Remind them that poems can rhyme, but do not have to. If you've introduced them to different forms of poetry (Haiku, Cinquain, Free-verse, Acrostic, etc.), encourage them to choose a form they feel comfortable with, or conversely, encourage them to step out of their comfort zones. You know your class best, so choose the best way to get them to write. 

Revise

Tell students that the best poems are revised many times. Encourage the use of a thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, or other resources. Ask students to read their poems out loud to themselves and others to find errors in rhythm or syntax. Let students know that the process of writing poems can and should be messy.

Publish and Share

Allow time for students to share their poems, either by publishing and displaying or by sharing out loud. Nothing works better to encourage students to write more poetry!

I hope you and your students enjoy this activity!

If you would like to use more poetry in the classroom, check out my Spring Poems and Activities. It's available in my TpT store.

Have a glorious Spring!

Theresa