All posts in Leslie Reese

Cooking Poems & Illustrations

Today, Brennemann 2nd Graders in Ms. Richter‘s class worked collaboratively to create a recipe for how to cook a poem: “How to Cook a Wonderful Poem”by the Class First: get pencils, papers, and erasersfrom […]

“Pencils are wild, magical, and so cool”

On the last day of our 2nd grade poetry residency at Swift – we looked at Carl Sandburg‘s poem “Pencils,” in which I omitted a number of words and lines. Students came up with […]

“…misty water-colored memories”

For our last session, Brennemann 5th graders talked about the different ways that “freedom” is experienced as they move from being younger to older. They talked about not having homework, chores, or responsibilities, and […]

“Poetry is many things that inspire people…”

To bring our terrific 6-week poetry residency with 2nd graders to a close, we talked about (1) things that poetry is: “many things that inspire people;” “imaginative;” “an art;” “its own world;” “art & […]

“When will it be my turn to control time?”

Today Brennemann 2nd graders talked about what it means to be curious: to be interested in learning what we don’t know and wanting to understand how things work and why things and people are […]

“Dark and light both fill the page…”

Last Friday Swift 2nd graders began with a chat about things that are small enough to fit in one’s pocket, such as coins, crumbs, pieces of candy, and folded up pieces of paper. We […]

Return to the blues

Brennemann 5th graders returned to their bluesy ideas from last week. While much of the blues are steeped in heartfelt sadness, some blues can make us laugh. Remembering that blues songs and poems have […]

Haikus and Emotional Creatures

Last week a student expressed interest in writing haiku, so I offered Nettelhorst 2nd grade teachers the option of working on haikus or emotional creatures this week. Students in Ms. Rodriguez’s and Mrs. Barbeau’s […]

Poetry Book Recmmendations

This week Brennemann 2nd graders spent time re-visiting previous lessons, and reading their poems aloud for an audience of their classmates and teachers. Since we did not write new poems this week, I’ve chosen […]

“Over the moon…”

Last week Swift 2nd graders performed collaborative poetry and music in a special morning assembly for family and community as part of the school’s partnership with Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I was very moved to […]

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I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET