I am...

As I said in an earlier post, the fifth and sixth graders have been writing poetry. Each student was issued a poetry journal (a large sheet of construction paper folded in half with 10 pieces of lined loose-leaf paper stapled inside). 

Because St. Mary's School turned 100 this year, we had a wonderful celebration. I wanted to have some student work on display, so I decided to have the fifth and sixth graders publish one of their poems. I found this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect! The pin took me to a  wonderful blog called Runde's Room.  The backgrounds for these poems were made in their art class with their art teacher.

They started out by using pencil to draw curved lines on a piece of thick paper. Then they filled in the lines they made with paint. Her focus was for them to mix and blend colors. 

After painting in art class, they came to English class. In their poetry journals, the students made a list of adjectives - as many as they could think of. Next, they needed to rank their adjectives in order of significance. 

Once the paintings were dry and flattened, the students took Sharpie markers and drew over the lines between colors. You can see on some of the finished products that some of the lines between colors were difficult to find because of the blended colors. I actually really liked that effect! Next I had the students write their adjectives on the lines. I told them the top of the letters should reach from the top to the bottom of the space, and that the most significant adjectives should have the biggest letters. I also encouraged them to use fancy writing to improve the aesthetics of the piece. I told them to write the top ranked adjectives first so that they would fit the most important ones on the poem.
 
Some of the students realized right away that they should write the words in pencil before they went over the words in Sharpie. If I do this project again (which I definitely think I will), I will make that a requirement. It also would have been nice to have a way to allow the students to create a rough draft. Then if the students were not following directions, I would have been able to redirect them more easily. As you know, Sharpies are called permanent markers for a reason!

I Wish...

My example

 Today the third and fourth graders finished a week-long project! You can see my example to the right.  The silhouette is a student's because, let's face it, they're cuter than me. The wishes, however, are mine! This project is a conglomerate of multiple posts I found on Pinterest. I saw this picture of a student with puffy cheeks blowing on a dandelion with the "I Wish" poem underneath. Then I saw a blog post by That Artist Woman, and I loved the idea of using the watercolors and having a silhouette instead of an actual picture.

The first day we tackled was the background. I had forty-ish minutes to get every student to have a water-colored background without any white spots. I had them work in pairs to share the paint, and they did a great job of keeping each other in check! My vision would be that it looks like the sunset in the background. It takes a lot of newspaper because the students needed to use quite a bit of water in order to get both light and dark colors in their paintings. I would highly suggest not forgetting to have them write their names on the back of the white paper before you start. I had to make a mad dash around the room while they were painting to write their initials in the top corner. (Thankfully they all started on the bottom!) When they finished the painting, I had them carefully carry their paintings to the back room to dry. You would not believe how carefully they carried them!

I have a prep period after their class, so toward the end of the period, I wet a brush and dripped over the drying paintings. This is what created the drip effect.










The next day, I had them write a journal in a list format with the words "I wish..." I told them to make sure the things they wish for would make the world a better place (For example... as much as they wish for an X-box, having an X-box will not make the world a better place.) Because it was right around Earth Day, the students had all kinds of ideas for cleaning the environment, and most of their wishes had to do with that. I had them brainstorm in their journals for seven minutes. I also told them each bullet point should sound like a sentence if it had "I wish" in front of it. At the end of seven minutes, I asked them to circle three wishes they would like to use for their project. This way I could edit them that night. Then we attacked the dandelion puffs.

Making the dandelions was the WORST part of this project. It is very difficult to show a room full of kids how to make a puffball when you aren't standing right next to each of them. Also, I had them us wrap the yarn loosely around their three middle fingers instead of pieces of cardboard...Something that seemed so simple in my head became quite the nightmare in reality.




Also that morning I had duty outside before school. As the 3rd and 4th graders arrived at school, I took their picture sideways against the brick wall. I know what you're thinking, "Wait a minute, there's no picture in these final projects!" Well, you're right! I was very stressed out about how I was going to  find the time to get all of their silhouettes traced and still find something for others to do. My wonderful principal gave me the idea to take their picture -- but that is for another day of the project!

I wanted the I Wish poems to be on unlined paper, which is quite a bit to ask of 3rd and 4th graders, but they were troopers! I actually gave them index cards to put the poems on. Because there is a lined side, they used the lined side as a guide for writing on the unlined side. They wrote the wishes in pencil on the card, and then wrote over them with permanent marker. It is amazing how much I take for granted being able to go over my pencil writing with a permanent marker. This was a difficult task for some of the students.


Now for the silhouettes. As I said before, I took their pictures sideways against the brick building. As one of my students pointed out, "It's kind of like the sideways mug shot!" Your guess is as good as mine... I told them to pretend they were blowing on a dandelion and making a wish. After I took their pictures, I cropped them so that each head took up most of the picture. I printed them out on regular copy paper. The program I use allows me to choose a size, so I made them 5"x7".  

We taped the picture to a piece of black paper (only using one piece of tape so it could easily be removed). Each student then cut around their picture going through both the black paper and the copy paper. I told them to make sure they get right up to themselves so they would easily show up. It turned out to be a pretty great way to get a silhouette for each child in a short amount of time! (I printed out two copies of each student just in case someone cut off their nose.) 

All that was left after that was to glue everything together. (I precut the black background paper for the wishes.) 

Characteristics of Christ Poems

Isaac, Grade 7

 Well, this post has been a while coming. These poems were written way back in January, but I'm just getting around to writing about them now. A contest came across my desk in January in which the theme was "Jesus is Reflected in Me." We were strongly encouraged to have our students enter the contest. About the same time a bit of divine intervention came across my Facebook feed! Scholastic had a post about poems using all five senses. You can find that post here. The poems had the students write a poem about an abstract feeling or characteristic using all five senses.

I found the a website that listed the characteristics of Christ. Suddenly I had a MAJOR BRAINSTORM!! What if had the students explain how the characteristics of Christ are reflected in them in the form of a poem? The poems could then be entered into the contest that had just landed on my desk and the students would have a taste of abstract nouns and explore the characteristics of Christ more in depth.

Rebecca, Grade 8

 Every student in grades 3-8 wrote a poem which was displayed during Catholic Schools Week. After writing a first draft of their poems, each student either carefully printed poem on Celtic border stationary I found at teacherfiles.com. The older students were given the opportunity to type the poem. Either way, the students decorated their poems any way they wanted.

 The 3rd and 4th grade class was the first to write their poems.They started off by brainstorming traits that Jesus possessed. They came up with LOVE, KINDNESS, FAITH, PEACE, JOY, and HOPE. (I'm going to take a small moment to brag -- those are the very traits I thought they would name!!)

We wrote a poem together using HAPPINESS -- I used a characteristic they couldn't choose so there wouldn't be any temptation. I had them think about things that reminded them of being happy. Then I had them think about things they could feel, taste, smell, see, and hear that reminded them of being happy. I also reminded them to use a lot of wonderful adjectives. This is the poem we wrote as a class...

 Happiness

Feels like snuggling with a furry dog

Tastes like warm pizza

Smells like fresh roses and burning candles

Looks like the smile from a friend

Sounds like jingling coins 

Jesus' happiness is reflected in me.

The students had some trouble writing with such figurative language, but they did a wonderful job in the end!

Kindness
Feels like soft blankets made of sheep wool
Tastes like cookies freshly baked
Smells like spring roses just picked
Looks like people giving money to the church
Sounds like people having a good time.
Jesus' kindness is reflected in me.
~Will, Grade 5

Creation
Feels like cattle with soft fur
Tastes like corn with a sweet crunch
Smells like flowers with a sweet smell
Looks like fall leaves that bring a great color to the world
Sounds like the wind that blows the leaves showing its power from God
Jesus' creation is reflected in me.
~Patrick, Grade 7

Love
Feels like a hug with my mom
Tastes like fresh baked cookies
Smells like fresh brownies
Looks like people hugging
Sounds like someone saying, "I love you"
Jesus' love is reflected in me.
~Gavin, Grade 4

Patience
Feels like a soft, fuzzy blanket that took awhile to sew
Tastes like Grandma's cinnamon bread that has been baking all day in the oven
Smells like flowers' beautiful scents as they are finally blooming in the spring
Looks like babies that take nine months to form in the mother's womb
Sounds like music solos that the performer has been practicing for months
Jesus' patience is reflected in me.
~Olivia, Grade 8

Love
Feels like a furry cat's chin
Tastes like my mom's cooking
Smells like fresh air from the woods
Looks like cute baby kittens
 Sounds like birds singing in the spring
Jesus' love is reflected in me
~Seth, Grade 3

Humbleness
Feels like a hug after an argument
Tastes like humble pie
Smells like an "I'm Sorry" bouquet
Looks like a handshake
Sounds like saying "I'm sorry"
Jesus' humbleness is reflected in me
~Olivia, Grade 6

 Love
Feels like holy water that we bless ourselves with
Taswtes like hosts that we receive during Holy Communion
Smells like the sweet roses on a summer day
Looks like the crucifix about the altar in church
Sounds like God's wonderful nature
Jesus' love is reflected in me
~Daniel, Grade 7

Gentleness
Feels like  the peaceful, calm winds during a warm spring day
Tastes like warm, delicious cookies you have for a snack
Smells like fresh, red roses from the rose bush by my house
Looks like the colorful, beautiful sunsets at the end of each day
Sounds like the kind and generous words that people say to one another each day
Jesus' gentleness is reflected in me.
~Anna, Grade 8

Song Parody

To kick off the poetry unit for the fifth and sixth graders, my students worked in groups to write song parodies.

I started off by singing some of the songs from Take Me Out of the Bathtub and its companion, I'm Still Here in This Bathtub, by Alan Katz. These silly dilly songs are great! (There is also a Christmas themed booked titled Where Did They Hide My Presents? Also, while looking for the covers to these books I have now discovered there is a school themed book of silly dilly songs and one of morning songs -- both of which I MUST now have.) My favorite songs are "I'm Filthy, I'm Dirty" to the tune of "It's Raining, It's Pouring" and "Stinky, Stinky Diaper Change" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." I swear this man is a genius! But I digress...

I made my students hum the tune of the original songs while I sang the new lyrics. I'm a pretty comfortable singer in front of groups, so this was acceptable for me. In the past, I have used a document camera attached to my projector, but the words are still really small sometimes and difficult for some of the students to read. Regardless of how you share the songs, the students will love them as well as the wonderful illustrations by David Catrow.

The music teacher helped with this project as well by showing them a parody of  "Dynamite" using the words of Pope John Paul II on YouTube. I also showed them an example of a parody written by an actual student that was on YouTube - a parody of "Single Ladies" called "Scholar Ladies."

Next I split the students into groups to choose songs and write parodies. 

I am amazed by the wonderful parodies they came up with. They came up with some wonderful lyrics:

Two of my girls came up with a parody of "Stay" by Rhianna. It was about food... guess where these lyrics go:

food mmm ya food mmm ya food mmm ya food you know. 

It was hilarious to hear such funny lyrics in such a serious melody! 

A group of boys chose to parody "I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas." I had never heard this song before they chose it, but now I just can't get "I'm Getting Kicked Out of Walmart" out of my head! Read this stanza --

I  ate all the candy in the candy aisle,

Somebody told on me. 

I made a fort of all the toys, 

Somebody told on me. 

I rode all the bikes around the store, 

The tires don't have air no more, 

The cashier I hit is gonna be sore, 

Why'd she tell on me? 

Two more of my girls lamented about their pile of homework with a parody of "Call Me Maybe" called "I Hate Homework." 

I'm throwing tantrums.

Ripping up my papers. 

Mom is yelling at me: "Whatcha think you're doing honey?"

Hey!  This work is hard! 

Can anyone help me? 

I'm going crazy: 

I hate homework! 

A particularly outdoorsy group of boys took "Everybody Talks" and turned it into "Everybody Shoots"

It started with a grunt call

then that was when I shot it,

It made the deer run, 

I could hear the twigs crack, 

Take me to the deer shack, 

The deers always got a back trail, 

When everybody shoots deer. 

Hey deer, you could be on my plate

You could be my new protein meal,

and too much could make me too strong, 

all this food is making me stuffed. 

Oh my deer, 

everybody shoots, 

everybody shoots, 

everybody shoots deer.

I am absolutely tickled with their creativity.