On the 8th Day of National Poetry Month

On the 8th Day of National Poetry Month My True Love Gave to Me

Woke

The book I am loving right now, at this exact moment, on the 8th day of National Poetry Month is  Woke: A Young Poet’s Guide to Justice. Written by Mahogany L. Browne with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood; illustrated by Theodore Taylor III. I was asked to recommend a book for the NYSUT (our state Teacher's Union) magazine and I chose this one. I love every poem in it and you will, too.  You, a parent, a teacher, a grandparent, and students from K to college will find words, phrases, whole poems that will speak to you, spark discussions, forge conversations and more.  Anyone who reads this book will be moved to write to the publisher requesting to enlarge, print out and post every poem in the book. It doesn't hurt that the illustrations are moving, too.

Macmillan sort of knew that was coming when they made this poster downloadable but they have to know that one is not enough. Let's all let them know and when you do, be sure to tag them with #mackidspoetry. Tell them I sent you!

The Crossover + Brown Girl Dreaming=Reading Rainbows

It was so great to listen to Kwame Alexander read The Crossover  last week.  At 10:30 every day this week, Jackie Woodson is treating us to her, Brown Girl Dreaming. Ahhh....I loved (still love) both those books so much.  Don't tell Kwame, but I was pretty confident that Brown Girl Dreaming was going to win the Newbery award that year.  I can still hear the 5th grade ELA teacher at the time, Mr. Reischer saying, "Are you sure, Ms. Rattner?" 

Here's a little taste of Jackie's reading.  Maybe you can tune in on Facebook live and get this treat for the next three days.

I love how Jackie concludes each session with: 

Be kind.

Stay safe.

Don't be a racist.

Love each other up.

Not a book in verse, but I believe Jason Reynolds will be reading Look Both Ways next week live. (This will be confirmed on Friday.) Something to look forward to for sure. Until then, Jackie announced today that at 6pm on Twitter tonight Levar Burton, of "Reading Rainbow" will be reading an excerpt from Look Both Ways.  Did you know he was reading aloud every M/W/F? Not verse books but LeVar reads so soothingly and poetically, that it almost could be:

Welcome, all! I’ll be reading “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman & my own children’s book. Enjoy. https://t.co/643BPVC7s6

— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) April 6, 2020

When Jason was on with Kwame last week he said something that has stuck with me, "Have a little extra. Do a little extra." I hope everyone who is able can do a little extra. I'm trying...

When You Know What I Know

I am excited to read debut author, Sonja K. Solter's novel in verse, When You Know What I Know.  From the blurb, "A sensitive, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful novel in verse about one girl's journey in the aftermath of sexual abuse." It sounds like it is another important book to be paired with Kate Messner's Chirp and Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's painful but necessary book, Fighting Words. 

Closer to Nowhere

My friend, Alicia, loves Ellen Hopkins.  To be honest, I haven't read any of her books.  But that will change now. I just received her new verse novel (pubs in October) and can't wait to read it and join the Ellen Hopkins fan club.

BenBee and the Teacher Griefer

    

I am multitasking today and have two computers going--one for school work; one for the #MiddleGradeMagic event.  In one of the early sessions, K.A. Holt was a panelist talking about her new (pubs in September, we hope!) middle grade novel in verse, BenBee and the Teacher Griefer. I love her stuff. Plus, bonus--She's from Texas! 

Fun fact: The first time I test Skyped with Kwame back in December 2014, he recommended her book, Rhyme Schemer, to me. Next day it came in the mail.  Strange coincidence?

Kari Anne described the book as a funny book that "celebrates the divergent thinkers."  She said she and her editor keep thinking about the kids in the book and asked the other day, "What is [the character] Jordan doing in quarantine?" Not sure I'm going to get this quote right, but that she hopes readers will find ourselves in these kids. I can't wait to read it!

May your true love be good to you today and every day and you always find time for some poetry. 💗

Here Batter Batter

It's "Jersey Day" for Spirit Week.  When my son wakes up, I am going to find one of his New York Giants jerseys or shirts and proudly parade around it in all over the house.  Maybe I haven't been a true Giants fan for too long but after listening daily to the Big Blue Kickoff Live podcast during the football season and staying for all four quarters in steady sheets of rain this fall, I think I can can call myself one now. I can even contribute to a conversation about some old greats like Bill Parcells, LT and Tiki Barber.

To be honest, I was all set to write today's post about football.  But, when I finished a meeting with my fourth grade "Pastries and Prose" group and we read Dan Gutman's story from Guys Read Sports about the 1986 World Series Game 6 I decided to pinch hit and throw in a post about baseball instead.

Now 1986 is a year I remember.  I was a Mets fan and a senior in HS.  My brother was 8 years old, a formative time to be a baseball fan and watch your team make it to the World Series.  To this day, he and his wife will travel to the city from Vermont and spend the weekend at Citi Field.  I, on the other hand as you know, prefer theatre. It was still exciting in 1986.  So exciting, that my friend and I skipped school to watch the Ticker Tape Parade in Manhattan and Keith Hernandez winked at me.

My husband and I have a friend from Rhode Island who is a die hard Red Sox fan.  You can't even bring up this series without him wincing.  "1-9-8-6," he would say with a sigh and then change the subject immediately. Granted, when we were hanging out with him, it was the mid '90s and the Red Sox still had a losing streak.

Today I am an Angels and Tigers fan.  Angels because in 2002 I was VERY pregnant the whole month of October (Tari's birthday is October 30) so I sat on the couch and watched the Angels win and win and win and the fans hit the thunder sticks over and over again.  Tigers because I went to Michigan twice this summer and even went to a Tigers game.  Loved it, plain and simple.  Then stocked up on Tigers swag at the local Target.

Back to today. I think I found my "Pastries" book for every week now.  Bam! No more figuring out the book 10 minutes before the hangout! There are some great authors in this one including Anne Ursu (we loved her The Lost Girl this year for Newbery), Adirondack story teller, Joe Bruchac and the incomparable Jackie Woodson (will she ever pick up Kwame's phone call during his Instagram live?). If you get the book, Harper Collins has a discussion guide.  I'm already looking forward to next Thursday morning.

And just speaking of Dan Gutman (yes, we were), he is reading a My Weird School book live on Facebook every weekday at 2pm. If you are into those hilarious books, this website has a bunch of activities to go with them.

Matt Tavares

Matt Tavares has written and illustrated a bunch of baseball biographies, beautiful Christmas-ish themed books (I bought Mrs. Golden a Red and Lulu clock for Christmas this year not even knowing she loves cardinals!), and other fascinating biographies.  You need to check out his website for more. If you check out the baseball books, here's a lesson guide from the publisher.  Some ideas that stand out are:

• Research the 1915, 1916 and 1918 World Series, especially the role that Babe Ruth played. Write an opinion piece stating whether you think the Red Sox would have won if Babe Ruth hadn't been on the team.
• How does knowing how to play all the positions in baseball make you a better player?
• Research the Civil Rights movement. What role did Jackie Robinson play in desegregation? (By the way, there is a great Brainpop video on Jackie Robinson.)
• Research the different types of pitches.  What do pitchers have to do in order to throw the different types?

Matt draws live on Facebook every Monday at 10 am.  Here he is from a few days ago:

Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY and...

...in your own home.  The Hall of Fame has lots of ideas for you to "visit" virtually.  They have a digital collection, YouTube channel, cross curricular library of different cross curricular lesson plans: math, science, social studies...Pick one and have fun with it!

For today--

For grade 5 and up: at 2:45 pm Eastern Time today (Thursday, April 2), the Hall of Fame will be hosting an educational program, "Civil Rights: Before You Could Say Jackie Robinson." It's a program centered on baseball and civil rights, spanning from the post Civil War yeas to the 1960s. We'll be talking not only about Robinson, but about pioneers like Bud Fowler, Moses Fleetwood Walker, Rube Foster, and Effa Manley.
This is completely FREE. If you'd like to participate, click on this link to register.  If you can't make it, they will archive it on YouTube.

Search interactive content programming and directories for your school, organization, and learning community.

Casey at the Bat

It is National Poetry Month so I have to include a rendition of "Casey at the Bat."

Casey at the Bat | Casey at the Bat | Ernest Lawrence Thayer | Lit2Go ETC

Here's a Reader's Theatre edition that your whole family can perform together. Maybe stray away from traditional RT and bring some props and costumes into, have fun and video tape yourselves for prosperity. Send it to me, if you do! I need some kind of sports to watch these days!

Extra Innings

Oh, man. There are SO many great baseball books out there! If this was baseball, we didn't even get to the first out in the top of the first inning. I will be blogging more on this topic for sure! Until then, grab your peanuts, popcorn and cracker jacks and root, root, root for your next book! xo

PS-I dedicate this post to my friend, Garrett, who is missing his final season on the University of Rochester baseball team.  The good news is he got into med school. Yay, Garrett! 😊

National Poetry Month DAY 1

Mrs. Warland texted me late this morning asking if me not posting my blog was an April fool.
Of. Course. Not.
Just a wild, super busy day. And I still want to bake a cake because today is the first day of...NATIONAL POETRY MONTH.

Did you catch my friend, Kwame Alexander on NPR's Morning Edition THIS morning?

This is well worth the listen, but be sure and pay attention right at the beginning.  Kwame reads a poem written by Mikey, one of our fifth graders!

Poetry really can help us stay positive, release some emotions and feel connected during these times.  I could dedicate the whole month to writing about poems and poetry.  I don't know if I will do that (honestly, I have a very long list of blog post themes to get to!) but I may revisit it often in April.

Laura Shovan

My friend, Laura Shovan, is a poet from Maryland and author of a book I love, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary School.  It's written in verse from the point of view of eighteen different kids.  This is how the book is described from Laura's website:

Eighteen kids,
one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.
Ms. Hill’s fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They’re going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

My students love this book and in fact, I recently recommended it to someone who asked me for another book in verse after reading what? Yes, The Crossover!

Laura has a new month long project going.  It's already started, but we can catch up. Here's a video of her introducing the #WaterPoemProject:

Every day on Laura's blog she has a new prompt to get you started on a poem.  Here's the direct link for her blog. If you want to leap in today, here was the prompt from yesterday:

Buffy’s poetry prompt is: A Watery Home

Buffy Silverman

Write a mask poem about an animal and its watery home.

A mask poem is written from the viewpoint of the poem’s subject. Choose an animal (real or imagined) that lives in water as your subject.

You might write from the viewpoint of a tadpole that wriggles on the bottom of a pond, a crayfish that hides under rocks in a stream, or a dolphin that leaps in the ocean. Write a poem that tells about your home.

Answering these questions might help you begin: What sounds and sights surround you? How do you stay safe and find food? Why is your home the perfect place for you to live?

It's an overwhelming project to sift through all the fabulous poetry books and resources available to us online. I will choose a couple more for today and hope that whets your palate and get you wanting more in the future.  It is after all, National Poetry MONTH.

Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quote, and Anecdotes from A to Z

This book is pretty much hot off the press. You know the poems were written before the pandemic, and yet they are hopeful and reassuring and timely.  Here's a discussion guide.  Check out Charles Waters's website at https://www.charleswaterspoetry.com.  He has video links to all of his poems.  It was hard to choose just one to share.  This one has a poem about Aretha Franklin and another one called, Team.  Maybe you will sing and dance to R-E-S-P-E-C-T today and think about the team we are all on fighting COVID-19.

I also love Charles's and Irene Latham's book, Can I Touch Your Hair? illustrated by Sean Qualls and Salina Alko (whose work I admire) which I included on my Newbery list the year it was published.

Shel Silverstein

The first poet I ever loved was Shel Silverstein.  I wish my well read and tattered Light in the Attic book wasn't at school because I could use some of those poems right now. Check out his website for resources, pages to downloads, poems and fun.

I found this site with ideas to link his poems from Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic to math activities.  Have fun with that! A few examples:

• There is a poem called, "Bandaids."  If you have an overabundance of bandaids, place them on your body where the poem tells you to (finger, knee, nose, heel...) and then count all the bandaids up. How many are there? If you have different shape or color poems, write fractions for each shape or color.
• Using the poem, "One Inch Tall" think of all the things you could do if YOU were only one inch tall.
• "Billy Belly Baloney" will eat anything, it seems, for money.  Create a receipt listing all the things he eats.  For how much money would you eat something crazy?  Reminds me of the book, How to Eat Fried Worms (not poetry but maybe a fun, family movie to add to your list? You can read the book, watch the movie and compare.  The book is almost always better.)

Maybe your April fool will be to serve up some fried worms tonight or a belated one tomorrow?  Then write a poem about it and share it to me!

In the meantime, I'm off to check my flour supply. If it's all good a "Happy Poetry Month" cake is going in the oven asap. It's these little things we need to celebrate. xo

No April fool here, Mrs. Warland 😉

LOVE

(Warning: You will need at least 15 minutes to get the most out of this post 💙 but it will be worth it.)

A couple of weeks ago I heard this on the radio:


  Just by sharing it on our announcements, a couple of kids wrote poems.

But I wanted more.

So on Monday morning I shared Matt de la Pena and Loren Long's beautiful book, Love, to the whole third grade.  I played the last two minutes of the above NPR segment and challenged kids to write their own love poems. WOW.

I recorded each student saying one line from their poems to form a class LOVE poem.




I submitted the class poems to NPR thinking they were awesome and how cool would that be for us to be on the air.  Well, little did I know over 2000 entries were received! This was aired today:



Leave it to Kwame--that crowdsourced poem is GOOD.

So even though we didn't make it on the air, I still feel like we are winners all around.  Winners for writing beautiful poetry. Winners for listening to beautiful poetry.  And winners for loving. love is love. Love is poetry. Love is everything.  💛

PS-Mrs. Fowler, the 7th grade English teacher participated, too. Here are a couple of her entries from students.

Love is teal,

mysterious like the ocean;

Love is a tulip,

growing, gentle and sweet;

Love is a dog,

loving and listens;

Love is a fire truck,

coming here for you when you feel down or broken;

Love is a lullaby,

Soothing you to sleep;

Love runs everywhere,

Making everyone feel happy;

Love is there when you need it most!

-CT

Love Is

Love is yellow,

Happy and smiley;

Love is a flower bud,

Ready to burst open with happy laughter;

Love is a panda,

Happy and positive;

Love is an ice cream truck,

Playing a happy song as it goes along;

Love is a jazz song,

Relaxing and calm;

Love is a not knowing when happiness is there,

But knowing it is there when you need it;

Love is my best friend,

Love is my Grandma!

-CC

Undefeated

I asked Mr. Reischer if he would kick off our "Phenomenal Black History Month People Poem Project" (say that 5X fast) by reading Kwame Alexander's latest NYP* book, Undefeated. At first he was hesitant because how do you read an F&G aloud? With difficulty, of course. But he figured it out and read it to all his classes without a hitch. Just a couple of months (April 2, to be exact) and we won't have to worry about that anymore.

This book is gorgeous. GOR-GEOUS. Kwame's POWERFUL text paired with Kadir Nelson's incredible photo-like paintings make this one book you will want to read over and over again.  I listened to Mr. Reischer read it three times today and I could have listened 30 more.

You can't read the book without the author's note.  Kwame started this poem in 2008 the year his daughter, Samayah, and our fifth graders were born.  If they didn't have a connection to Kwame before, they certainly do now. I think about the past 11 years and then hate to think about. All the horrific things that have happened in the world since these kids were born. Way too many.

But now we are surrounded by the "undiscovered." The ones born in 2008. And before. And after. Our future is in their hands and I am hopeful.

The artwork in the book is stunning. One student even commented that she thought they were real.  Next time I see Kwame I want to ask--Who made the decision to make one page completely blank for the ones "who didn't"? Or the images for the "unspeakable"? We wondered if Kwame advised Kadir or did Kadir paint them on his own. Either way, the message is clear.  Speak up. Black lives matter.

After the reading, students browsed picture books about famous (and not so famous) African Americans. They also looked through anthologies and the back of Undefeated at the mini biographies written for the people mentioned or illustrated in the book. Students chose a figure they wanted to spend a little time with this week.  By Friday we should have 75 meaningful poems written about LeBron James, Harriet Tubman, Jackie Woodson, Katherine Johnson and many more.

WE are one of the lucky ones to receive the F&G.  Fortunately, April 2 isn't too far away and you will be a lucky one, too.

 

A few of the books students are using for inspiration for their poems.

*not yet published

Happy Book Birthday, Solo!

Texts to You
8:59 am
Tomorrow my Twitter feed
is going to be
Buzzing with #Solo posts.

9:05 am
Track 1:  Happy Birthday to You
Patty and Mildred J. Hill

9:12 am
Happy Book Birthday, Solo
by Kwame Alexander
With Mary Rand Hess

Paired with an incredible playlist, this is the story of talented Blade, his search to find who he is while uncovering his own meaning of life. Forbidden relationships ensue and ones he wishes weren't, all expressed within the confounds of unforgettable love poetry.

Sure, I've missed

the love songs
and the memories
embedded
in the strings.

The weight
of comfort
in my arms.

...

This poem reminded me of when I took up the guitar for about a year and a half until I was pregnant with Tari and just too big to hold the guitar on my lap.  All I wanted to do was belt out the folk songs and sing kumbaya at the campfire but it never happened.  I know I was only .01% as talented as Blade, but sometimes I still get the longing...

9:17 am
Excerpts for you.
I know this describes Kwame's happy place:

The smiles here
are abundant,
a crest of waves
across faces
young and old
that fly
with wings
of kings and queens
in search of 
trees rooted
in ancient ground
...

9:23 am
From the poem:
Mirrors
...
Then she gets close
to my face,
and in her eyes.
I see my reflection.
It's surprisingly happy
for the first time
in a while.

From the poem:
2:51 pm
...
I close my eyes
let her hold
me around
my waist
and walk
the path
that's been chosen
for me
never looking down
or back.

10:09 am
So I would put aside a few hours
With or without you
To sink into Solo
http://kwamealexander.com/solo/

And grab your headphones
For the playlist alone will also have you traveling down
Your own memory lane.

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary School

Today was book group number three of my summer five.  I don't know how the next two can top this one.  Pinch me!  We met at the Castleton Public Library and skyped with Laura Shovan, the author! How lucky were we that she was actually available at the exact moment we were meeting and not only that, had a significant amount of time to spend with us.  Thank you! What a treat for my small but powerful group of fourth, fifth and sixth graders (plus a mom and a seventh grade sister!).

Writing our Skype questions

As soon as I started reading this book I was reminded of another fifth grade year long memoir, Rob Buyea's Because of Mr. Terupt.  Like Mr. Terupt, this book's narrators are all of the students in the class.  But unlike Terupt, all their voices are in verse.  More and more books are being written in verse these days and you know what? That's awesome!  Just in the past week I've read two--this one and Free Verse by Sarah Dooley--and I love it.  Let's get everyone hooked on poetry!  Isn't that so, Kwame?

 

With a backdrop of folk songs, the 18 diverse kids in Ms. Hill's fifth grade class wonder if there are "some things worth holding onto."  Unfortunately, their school isn't one of them.  Come June these kids will say goodbye to the walls that held their memories where they were taught how to read, write and do arithmetic to say hello to a shopping mall.  Yes, that hurts.  But it will not come without a fight with a side order of every form of poetry you can imagine.

It's summer and we were at the public library so we talked to Laura via the iPad mini.
It was mini, alright! Can you spy Laura?

Today when we got together to talk about the book, we started out by sharing what we were looking forward to in the coming school year.  The fourth graders are excited about having "three teachers" and "doing science with Mr. C" and one of the fifth graders said that he is looking forward to "a big field trip" at the end of the year.

Thank you, Laura!

We also discussed our favorite characters.  "I like Rennie because she is saving the school for her sister" said a fourth grader with a younger sister.  Another girl likes Sydney "because she likes sports and I like sports." Other favorite characters were Mark, Edgar and Katie.  I don't know who my favorite is--so many of them have qualities and characteristics that I admire and love.  Is it Rachel because she has Jewpanese roots like my own children?  Or Tyler because he is from Texas and you know how much I love Texas.  Or Newt because he grows from writing haikus to way more.  Or Jason because I grew from thinking he was kind of "meh" to really liking him in the end and I loved his concrete self portrait poem. Or? Or? Or? I could go on and on about all 18 of them.

We also got out sticky notes and followed Jason's instructions on how to make a Mr. Stick Guy flip book (p. 76).  That was fun!

I asked the kids to give me a one sentence review and here is what they came up with:

"I liked the poems" [YES!]

"I like the book because it had a realistic ending."

"I liked the poem, 'Time Capsule Rap'."

"I liked the book because the class was very different." That says a lot because our classes are NOT very different in Castleton.  I'm glad I can expose my students to different cultures and people through literature.

Along the same lines, "I like it because it had Spanish."

And of course, the simple, "It was funny." "It was interesting."  Well, it is summer, after all, and I'm just happy they read and chose to spend an hour with me on a beautiful August afternoon to talk about a book! Lucky me!

Check out Laura in Zack's hands!

Everything but Kwame...

Happy Birthday BOOKED!

Pre-Party 

The incomparable volunteer, Mrs. Warland, baked 80 red velvet cupcakes,
cut out the soccer balls and put them on each cupcake!

Then she spelled out BOOKED!

Before the party even started, I took a few #BookedAllStars and #BookedSoccer photos:

She couldn't come to the party but she dressed the part anyway!

Let's Get This Party Started!

This afternoon about 60 kids showed up for the birthday party for Kwame's new book, Booked. We had a blast celebrating the past two days at school wearing our Converse. Today we even threw some soccer shirts in the mix.

I'd call that a good crowd for a book birthday!

First we listened to Kwame's interview that was on NPR on Sunday and kids followed along in their books.  

Nearly half of them purchased a book ahead of time.  I even had one young man come with three crumpled five dollar bills hoping to snag one if I had extras.  Lucky for him, I did!  This is the same boy that worked tirelessly last year to create our documentary on the road leading to Kwame's visit to CES in May.  He called it "The Kwame Project."  

I also shared this video that the 2015 Newbery Committee put together.  It was great because I had some of "my" 2015 Newbery Committee members come to the party!  We will forever be bonded.

Books You Find on Google

What's a birthday party without singing?  So we sang!

Finally a picture with feet so you can check out the #BookedAllStars !

Double Messi!

While some kids were on line for the food, others came up and wrote reasons they love poetry.  Imagine this--they like it!  I also handed out some pages from Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library and Honey to try out Blocked Poetry but we ran out of time.  I'm hoping someone worked on it tonight and brings it in to share tomorrow.

Overall, great party! Thanks to Mrs. Warland for everything. Mia from the Castleton Public Library for her help, the teachers from CES and the MS for helping out.  Mrs. Hoffman from the Teacher Center for the popular M&Ms and pretzels. The only thing missing was...KWAME.  But he was certainly there in spirit.

So from all of us in Schodack, we wish Booked a very happy, happy book birthday!

When I got home, I had my cupcake.  But I couldn't help snap a selfie of my own converse with the book.  The top one my #BookedAllStars are in focus and the bottom one has the book in focus.

****************************************************************************
Just in case you want more, here's The Crossover video the kids did last year: