Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Writing Camp


Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating a place to share our Slice of Life.  Read more slices or add you own here.

Summer has not fully begun for me yet.  The first two weeks I worked with struggling readers at our first annual Summer Reading Camp.  This camp was for elementary aged kids, and after teaching 6th graders all year, I have fully enjoyed my time with them.

Today we started our SPARK Camp (Super Powered Activities to Recharge Kids) for our high ability kids.  I am teaching a poetry session - something I love to write but feel so inadequate doing so!  Tomorrow we have a Skype visit lined up with Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche, and I am so excited about that!

My group of second and third graders are working on haiku poems.  I used mentor texts from Loree Griffin Burns and Liz Garton Scanlon.  I even showed them one I wrote last night in bed....thank goodness I remembered it, because I did not write it down!

An area of our town is being occupied by the 17 year cicadas.  I took a few pictures and decided to write a haiku about one of them.


say farewell to spring
a cicada serenade
ushers in summer

Here is a collaborative poem my second group wrote today using a word play idea from Laura Purdie Salas.

 Popsicle

Popsicle is a messy word.
It 
drips
down my hands
like a leaky faucet
making my fingers sticky.
Reminds me 
of  summer days.


12 comments:

  1. Cicadas! Not my favorite bugs, but they are a sure sign of summer. Your haiku captures that perfectly. Enjoy your poetry camp and Skype visit with Margaret.

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  2. WOW! I love your poem. I love the plans you have for your students. I just finished writing haiku poems with my 5th graders. I felt inadequate too but had Kenn Nesbitt (http://www.poetry4kids.com/ ) National Children's Poet Laureate teach us using his website. On my post here, I added a few of the kid's poems: http://teachingreadingandwriitngworkshop.blogspot.com/2015/05/almost-june-1st15-more-days-of-school.html Feel free to share if you need student mentor poems!!

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  3. Your Cicada haiku is great! And I like the popsicle one. So messy.

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  4. Sounds like you are having fun with the kids. The popsicle poem describes it so perfectly! Cool that you got a picture of a cicada. I can never see them, they just fill the air but stop when I walk over to where I think they are. See you soon!

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  5. beautifully written post---I must run now to grab a cool, sticky, messy delicious popsicle.

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  6. The cicadas are down south too. They are especially noisy at sunset. I am looking forward to our meeting tomorrow. Speaking of, I better get to bed. It's an early day.

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  7. "cicada serenade"--What a great phrase to repeat over and over again. I also love the popsicle poem! I'll have to check out the idea that sparked it. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. This is fantastic! What a wonderful collaborative poem:>) Excited to talk with your students Thursday.

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  9. Leigh Anne, the haiku and photo are perfect for Spring's Symphony. Please pare them and place your name and location at the bottom. I use PicMonkey to create the border and place the text. The photo/poem would be an easy one to create in PicMonkey because of the open space. Please save the summer poem from the class for the summer gallery. If you have any spring poems from the children, please send one on. Thanks, Leigh Anne. I am excited that you joined in the challenge.

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  10. Great poems!
    It's wonderful how you are a part of this camp!

    What do you mean by 17 year? "An area of our town is being occupied by the 17 year cicadas."

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  11. I want to come to SPARK camp and write poems with you!

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