All posts in Swift

What if we lived in a world without color?

Swift 2nd graders pondered this question, and then came up with responses such as “It would be boring,” “It would be sad,” and “Artists wouldn’t be able to have any fun!” In Ms. Pendola’s […]

Do you love sour pickles?

Valentines Day landed on my most recent sessions with Swift 2nd graders, so we read Eloise Greenfield’s poem, “Honey, I Love.” Students enjoyed lines in which the poet said she LOVED “a flying pool” […]

Would you like to see…?

As usual, when working with 2nd graders – many of whom have never had a creative writing practice – the first 5 sessions are meant to introduce students to how poems look on the […]

A Rainbow of Memories and Feelings

Today, we read “Green” by a 4th grade student named Malik. We thought about how colors can remind us of memories and experiences and feelings. The kids were full of energy and enthusiasm and […]

Poetry as Play

Today in Ms. Reed’s 3rd grade, we talked about play and surprise. We talked about how poetry can give us tools to express some of our deepest emotions and thoughts, while also giving us a […]

Daydreaming…

My fourth session with Swift 3rd graders was dreamy. We talked about many kinds of dreams and nightmares. Then we read the poem “D is for Daydreaming,” which ends with the following stanza:“Try to […]

“big kids sound like brown bears roaring”

For our 3rd sessions Swift 2nd graders talked about comparisons. We tried to look at pairs of very different things to find similarities in color, texture, shape, size, and feeling. After examining similes written […]

“crackly” and “crunchy”

For my second meeting with Swift 2nd graders, we discussed things we experience using our sense(s) of sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch. We also talked about the seasons, and some of the changes […]

First Poem

Happy New Year Greetings!Being invited to return to Swift for my 6th year brings me feelings of joy and humility. This year I have the pleasure of joining Ms. Pendola’s and Ms. Brist’s 2nd […]

Haiku in the countdown toward the last day of school!

It’s hard out here in these poetry streets trying to get students to write poems as they count down the days ’til the end of the school year! STILL Swift 2nd and 3rd graders […]

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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