Poetry Centers
Boys and Girls,
There are five centers here that will take you on a poetic journey and help you discover your inner poet as you explore art, language, nature, and music. You may have poetry books at home that you love. If so, go and gather them up for this work. If not, explore the list of resources and print out a bunch of poems to use for this work. You will also need someplace to record your work, (either a notebook or lose sheets of paper) and some art supplies (crayons, colored pencils, markers), picture books and a newspaper. Get what you need and have fun reading and creating. When you are done be sure to scan/photograph and upload to your E-Learning Slides. Keep your originals! I’m excited to see what you create!
Ms. Boyer xo
Online Poetry Resources:
And one for fun:
Read, Write, Think (this is a great site to create your own digital magnetic poems)
ART CENTER
Reading for Visual Inspiration
Directions:
- Read several poems from books you may have or from the online resources listed in the introduction.
- Choose one poem that really creates a strong image in your mind.
- Copy the poem into your writer’s notebook (or any notebook).
- Illustrate the image you see or if you see several images, divide the poem and create several images.
DISCOVERY CENTER
Directions:
Go on a nature hunt in your yard or on a walk around your neighborhood. Fill a bag or bucket with interesting treasures such as pinecones, rocks, twigs, and leaves. Choose one item and take it to a quiet place and make several sketches in your notebook. As you are sketching, record the details you are noticing as well as other thoughts (what it looks like, reminds you of, questions you may have). Then in your notebook, divide a piece of paper into 4 boxes. Using the following headings, describe the object you’ve chosen:
Describe what it looks like.
Describe what it feels like.
Compare it to something else.
List three questions about the object.
Once you are done describing your object, create a poem from your notes. Read and use examples of observation poems for inspiration.
AMAZING LANGUAGE CENTER (this center has two parts)
Treasure Hunt
Directions:
Browse through the picture books you have at home (or a few from the epic website) and choose two or three to read. As you read, treasure hunt for poetic lines or words in the books. Record them in your notebook (along with the title of the book). Next, choose one line from your selection, copy it and illustrate it to make a bookmark for yourself or someone else. Be sure to include the title and author of the book.
Redacted Poetry
(check out this website for more information and examples on the Art of Blackout Poetry)
Directions:
Using newspaper and a sharpie. Select a page from the newspaper.
- Scan through the page (you don’t have to read the whole thing) and find words that are interesting to you.
- Once you have an idea of what kind of words are on the page, choose a topic. For example, you might want your poem to be about friendship, drama, love, etc.
- Finally, draw some images around the words you want so that the words stand out.
- Plan accordingly, do not accidentally block out the words you want.
- Be creative, draw an image, create a pattern, use colors, relate it to your topic.
SELF PORTRAIT CENTER
Directions: While reading poems in this center, you will be looking for a poem that reminds you of someone or something in your own life (a special birthday, a funny aunt or uncle, when you first learned to do something, a sibling, etc.). Copy that poem into your notebook and tell (in writing) how the poem is connected to your life. Then, in your own words, write your own poem about that connection in your notebook. Feel free to illustrate the poems.
MUSIC & PERFORMANCE CENTER
Directions: Read through the collection of poems in the resources listed in the introduction above. Select the one you’d like to put to music. Copy the poem into your notebook. Next, explore how the words might sound (long, short, smooth, bumpy). Add some movement to the words (this will usually center around the verbs). Find an instrument (or make your own with found materials around the house) whose sound expresses or matches the word or words you’ve chosen. For example, for the word “sparkling stars” choose an instrument that sounds “sparkly” to accompany the words. Then read the poem again, and don’t speak the selected words, only play them.