All posts in Poems

‘Because everyone has a right to…’ Because-style Poems

Students read Shirley Geok-Lin Lim’s poem ‘Learning to Love America’ before they wrote their own ‘Because’ poems. Lesson Note: Born in Malacca, Malaysia, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim was raised by her Chinese father and attended […]

Magical Recipes

For their 7th poetry session Hamline 6th graders dappled with magic and spells. I asked if they could create a magical potion, what would you use it for and why? The majority of students […]

“The sun is super hot just like my mom’s cooking pot”

During our fifth poetry workshop for the 5th graders, we talked about space poetry a couple of weeks after watching the eclipse. We first learned all about the United States Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s […]

“I Have Great Eyes like Night Vision Goggles”

This week, we read (in our best Hulk voice!) an excerpt of “Hulk Smash!” by Greg Santos and “Forest Walk” by Kristine O’Connell George. We talked about how to write a persona poem in […]

Erasure Poetry (8th)

Today, we read and listened to Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach’s “Mir in Ukraine.” We talked about why she chose to write a poem about Ukraine by erasing Putin’s words instead of starting from scratch. The […]

Erasure Poetry (5th)

Today, we read and listened to Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach’s “Mir in Ukraine.” We talked about why she chose to write a poem about Ukraine by erasing Putin’s words instead of starting from scratch. The […]

5th Grade Seasons & Senses

For our 2nd sessions, Twain 5th graders talked about smells, tastes, sounds, and textures. We also made lists of words we could substitute for the word “happy” in our poems. Before brainstorming, we read […]

What do you love?

For our second sessions, Dubois students loved having more time to share their “I Am” poems. Sometimes it just feels great to read aloud what you have written with your own creativity! We also […]

Dynamic Duo

The class asked, what does it feel like to compose a single poem for two different voices, rather than for one? How does harmonizing and speaking in unison feel? How does clashing feel? What […]

Metamorphosis through Metaphors

For their 5 week of poetry, Twain 6th graders went through a transformation. I asked students if they could change and become one thing, what would it be? The responses were awesome: a taco, […]

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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