Poetry in the Primary Grades

1. Poetry in the Primary Grades Looking with your Poet’s Eye

2. Went to the corner Walked in the storeBought me some candyAin’t got it no moreAin’t got it no moreWent to the beach Played on the shore Built me a sandhouse Ain’t got it no moreAin’t got it no moreWent to the kitchenLay down on the floorMade me a poemStill got itStill got it Things by Eloise Greenfield

3. R. Andre Calderon - 1st Grade Bilingual • 3 1/2 years in HISD • Gross Elementary • Demographics: 63% African American 25% Hispanic 8% Native American and Asian/Pacific Islander 4% Caucasian

4. Poetry is the boullion cube of literature.

5. 4.W1.415.A Write to express, develop, reflect on ideas and to problem solve. 1.2e Write for personal or creative expression and reflection. TAKS and TEKS

6. 4.W1.415.E Exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories 1.2g Write with a variety of literarydevices. Define and provide examples of and use these strategies in authentic forms. TAKS and TEKS

7. Literary Devices used in Poetry • Alliteration • Figures of speech (hyperbole, simile) • Description • Imagery • Onomatopoeia • Rhyme • rhythm

8. Theory • “In the K-1 classroom, children convey their meaning more easily though drawing than through print. Drawing, therefore, can provide a supportive scaffolding for the writing. Because more information is embedded in the pictures than in the print, drawing provides a horizon and leads the child deeper into the writing. In a sense the goal in the primary classroom is to have writing catch up with their drawing.” -Lucy Calkins

9. Theory from Calkins’ “Art of Teaching Writing” • Poetry is also a powerful genre because its condensed nature. Because poems can be very short, every child in every classroom can be a poet. The genre is accessible even to five year old writers who labor over the mechanics of putting pen to paper. • Poetry offers a powerful forum for teaching young writers to make reading-writing connections. When students read Judy Blume novels, it’s not easy for them to match their writing to their reading, but when they read an Eloise Greenfield poem, reading-writing connections feel far more possible.

10. More Theory by Calkins • Poetry is powerful because of the ways it can enrich people’s lived lives. Poems can be read aloud at Thanksgiving dinner or at a baby’s baptism. Poems can be put onto greeting cards or framed and given as gifts. Poems can also be woven into the life of a classroom community-posted next to the aquarium, chanted as a ritualized opening to every day’s math class, hung on the classroom door as a motto for the community.

11. “Of course, it is true for the writer as for the jeweler and the sculptor that the magic is never in the material alone, but in the artist’s ability to re-imagine it.” -L. Calkins

12. Lesson Looking with your Poet’s Eyes!

13. Asparagusby Valerie Worth Like a nest Of snakes Awakened, craning Long necked Out of the Ground: to stand With sharp Scaly heads Alert, tasting The air Taking the sun Looking around

14. Modifications • For learning challenged: Work in small group or one on one to orally describe objects before writing. • For ESL: Provide manipulatives and physical, tangible examples of descriptions to help with comprehension.

15. Bibliography • Calkins, Lucy (1994) The Art of Teaching Writing. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH. • Fletcher, R. (1993). What a Writer Needs. Heineman, Portsmouth, NH. • Ryan, M. (1996) How to Write a Poem. Grolier, Danbury, CT.