Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Poetry Perks

Greetings,

Monday, the 6th grade boys started thinking about poetry. There is going to be an all-school poetry contest at the end of the month! All the boys 5-8 are going to get a chance to perform their poems...but first we need to find the poetry that best fits each young man.

Today, we spent about an hour during language arts time in small groups of four. The groups looked at different books of poetry, practiced reading some of the pieces aloud while focusing on volume, vocal inflection, or one of the other 4 aspects of poetry performance that the teacher had mentioned. It was wonderful to watch them have fun with the poetry.

They laughed about some of the silliness of the poems or skipped over the romance poems. Quite a few of the guys had questions about who the poets were or why they might have written about the topic. Near the end of class, the gents were supposed to be choosing a poem to work on and as for a photocopy. The teacher proofed the choice and I was stationed at the copy machine...I saw Poe, Whitman, Shakespeare, Silverstien, Frost, Confetti, Soto, Carroll and many, many more.

It's my secret hope to hear the "Saint Crispan's Day" monologue from Henry V or "The Jabberwocky" from Alice in Wonderland. I know I should have more deep and meaningful tastes, but I love the power in Shakespeare's poem for King Henry and Carroll's nonsense words make wonderful imagery in his lines. Ah well, back to my own homework.

Blessings,

5 comments:

Mrs. McDonald said...

i can't wait to hear what the gentlemen have chosen. it should be interesting :)

Sister Carol Jean said...

I haven't told them that my family sisters will be with me...as opposed to sister sisters...if you get my drift. I will be sure to introduce you, the boys can be quite proper when meeting new people.

Mrs. McDonald said...

internally laughing. i bet the kids will be trying to pump information out of me about you. that, or they'll be marveling at the fact that i have the same glare over the glasses that you do :)

Sister Carol Jean said...

I slipped today and told the boys you might be coming with me...and I quote... "Ah-Miss, Nooo, oh-no Miss!" Ah-Yes, I replied with an conspiratorial glee.

Mrs. McDonald said...

hehehehe!