Another New Year and Resources for Teachers

This week was the first week back for students.  There are five elementary schools that feed into our middle school. Lots of new faces for our sixth graders to get to know.  They come with a mix of anxiety and excitement.  All teachers know the importance of beginning the year with icebreakers to help build a sense of community in the classroom. Today, I'm sharing two that worked well with my students.

I teach six classes of Reading Intervention.  My students are not only struggling readers, most of them also have special needs. They don't like to read, and they aren't shy about letting me know it.  Short, high-interest texts work best for them.  The Poetry Friday anthologies compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have become my go-to resource. Having the elementary, middle school, and science editions make it easy to find just the right poem to complement my lesson.



This week I used two poems from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School edition. I made a power point presentation of "The First Week of School" by Janet Wong. The poem begins:

First week here: it's like a show.
Lots of kids that I don't know.
Where am I supposed to go?

Janet Wong all rights reserved. 

After reading the poem, I asked the  "Take 5!"  question: What are the best and worst parts of the first week of school?

This question gave students an opportunity to share their feelings about starting middle school.  My hope was to help them feel connected to their classmates by discovering that they were all feeling the same mixed emotions.  I heard a lot of, "Me, too!" comments so I think my objective was achieved!


The next day, I read aloud "Another New Year" also by Janet Wong.  My objective was to encourage students to think about trying something new this year.

I used the "Take 5" prompt: Brainstorm a list of in-school and after-school activities that are offered on your campus for students to consider.  Next, I gave them a poetry frame using parts of Janet's poem, but leaving space for students to write their own responses. My sixth graders really loved this activity,  and I love how they put their own spin on it!   Several of them volunteered to have their poem projected onto the screen and proudly read it aloud to the class.

Below is one of my favorite examples by a young man who claims he doesn't like poetry (the underlined sections were written by the student). I'll share more of their poems next Friday.


Another New Year

Another new year:
another new start.

I'm thinking I should
get to class on time.

And try to open
my locker

and not fall down
in the hallway.

For fun I could learn
to do visual arts.

(Pull friends into
a homework group
or theatre group?)

Our chess team
is meeting today.

I guess I could join.
I'd need to practice.

I'll play every night
till I go to sleep.

This is the year
I do my best!
 
            -A.

Isn't that great?  The Poetry Friday anthologies make it easy for me to motivate students to read and write poetry, AND to practice much needed listening and speaking skills. With all the demands on my time, I am extremely grateful to Sylvia and Janet for compiling these teacher-friendly, student-friendly volumes.  More of their fantastic resources (including pocket poem cards and poetry movies)  from the Poetry Friday series can be found here.

Jone is hosting Poetry Friday this week, be sure to Check It Out.

POETRY FRIDAY: What I Learned from...

Children often think that learning only goes on in the classroom. I do an end of year writing activity that gets my students thinking about what they've learned outside the classroom.

I start by reading an excerpt from Robert Fulghums's All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Then we brainstorm the experiences and activities they've participated in during the year that helped them learn some important life lessons. Their wisdom at such a young age always blows me away. I thought I'd share a few of their poems with you today.

What I Learned from Lacrosse

Patience is everything,
Rushing doesn’t work.
Pay attention to the rules.
Play fair.

Working as a team
is better than alone.
Be kind to others
even if they aren’t
your friends.

And remember
practice makes perfect.
Never give up,
no matter how
hard your goal is!

-Casey

What I Learned from Fishing

Violence is never rewarded,
so don’t hurt anyone or anything.
A little bit of friendly competition
can make life even more enjoyable.
The best in you comes out when
you’re having fun.
When the fish don’t bite,
there’s always tomorrow.

Untangle your own line.
When you lose a fish,
just put more bait on your hook
and try again.
Patience is always rewarded.
But most importantly,
the size of your catch doesn’t matter
as much as having fun does.

-Jacob

What I Learned from Soccer

Play the game you’re given
with everything you’ve got.

Sometimes the best decisions
are made on the spot.

You should never give up
until the final whistle blows.

Don’t forget about your teammates,
you don’t walk on the field alone.

Charge toward your goal,
and never quit trying.

Your’ gonna’ get fouled on,
so there’s no point in crying.

Listen to other people,
but follow your own heart.

Don’t over think it,
just play the game smart.

Sometime you will fail,
but never have shame.

Remember not to hate the players,
instead love the game!

-Kylie