This week, we had our last ALO class for the third session. In class, we shared our poems and reflected on our time during this unit. I value the children's feedback and use it to plan future lessons.

Currently, I am working on putting together the poetry books for each student. I will be distributing them next week.

I have enjoyed working with your child this year. May you have an enjoyable and restful summer. I hope the kids can write some poems over the summer! 

Below is a link to a list of summer enrichment ideas that may interest your child. 

Summer Learning Enrichment Ideas

This week, the students finished their poems that they have been working on during this session.
Next week, we will compile all of the students' poems into a book  for each child to take home. 

We will also be sharing our poems with one another next week.

Be sure to look for the book of poetry coming home next week.

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This week the students had the opportunity to again work with Jan Wallace, a local poet and teacher. She took the students through the process of writing a poem based on one of her own poems, Refusing the Moon.

Topics discussed included:
-Using specific details.
-Making lists.
-Using sensory descriptions.

Next week, we will finish our poems and start compiling them into a booklet to take home.

This week the students observed an object from nature (shell, flower, leaf, rock) and wrote a poem that uses personification.

Here are some from the students:

The Flower by Oliver
The flower
smells
so sweet.

Its petals like hairs
with its
neck
so skinny!

Its
leaves like
hands
grabbing the
wind as it sways.


Rose by Alexandria

Beautiful delicate ballerina
stretching out her arms
before she performs.

Held up by thousands
of layers of skirts.
Rose is ready to perform.



Oyster Shell by Greta

Oyster shell is bruised,
swelling very fast.

What will happen 
if it grows?

It might just say,
"I'm heading 
to your nose!"

To review different parts of speech, students wrote poems using nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. Here are some examples:

Raspberry by Tadhg
Round, red balls go up
Round, red balls go up quickly
Round, red balls go up quickly into the clouds.

Cotton Candy by Charlotte
Puffy clouds fly
Puffy clouds fly lightly
Puffy clouds fly lightly into the sky.

Books by Ella
Vibrant books
Vibrant books open rightly
Vibrant books open rightly for you to read.

This week, the students analyzed "The Microbe." 
We practiced using context clues to define sanguine in the poem. We also looked at how the poet Hilaire Belloc used personification in the poem. 

Some recommended books that use personification include:
The Giving Tree
The Little Red Pen
The Day the Crayons Quit
Chopsticks

This week, the group explored adjectives in more detail by thinking about how words with similar meanings have different shades of meaning. In other words, we examined how words can have different "intensities." Students created their own 'thermometers' to demonstrate the different shades of meaning. 

An example from  Tommy Daly is shown below:
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To conclude the first part of this unit, the students wrote a poem about the life cycle of a plant using "The Caterpillar" poem as inspiration. They were encouraged to use adjectives and adverbs to make their poems come alive. 

Calla Friedman's poem is below:

Small seeds
scattered around on the 
soft soil ground,
seeds that are under the
dirt mound.

I felt four little roots
under my rain boots
as I walked
around the wet ground.

Stems shoot up
all around from 
plants below just as I 
walk by to say hello.

This week, we finished our analysis of the poem "The Caterpillar." We reviewed the importance of using the lines in the poem to support our reasoning. This is called close reading. 

On Thursday, we explored adjectives and adverbs in the poem "The Caterpillar." Students learned that these types of words make writing more visible, interesting and colorful. As the students start to write their own poems, they will be using these types of words to paint pictures with words.

I sent the students' folder home to have them show you what we have been working on so far. I will start doing this after we finish assignments. Please remind your child to return the folder and work to school by next Tuesday.

Some books about adjectives that I recommend  include:
Many Luscious Lollipops, Heller
Hairy, Scary, Ordinary, Cleary
Beast Feast, Florian

Some books about adverbs that I recommend include:
Dearly, Nearly, Sincerely, Cleary
Up, Up, and Away, Heller
If You Were an Adverb, Dahl

This week marks the beginning of the third session of ALO. Students were introduced to some of the unit's concepts this week. We read the poem "The Caterpillar" (see poem below) and sequenced the events in the poem to uncover the main idea of the poem.

Another strategy that the students are familiar with is using the "check for understanding" strategy to find the main idea. Students can ask themselves who and what the poem is about.

Some vocabulary words we discussed included:
stanza, rhyme, beat, and sequencing.

I encourage students to read poems and practice uncovering the main idea. 
Some poems I recommend: Caterpillar by Christina Rossetti, My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Dream Variations by Langston Hughes

The Caterpillar
Author Unknown_
A tired caterpillar went to sleep one day / In a snug little cradle of silken gray. / And he said, as he softly curled up in his nest, / “Oh crawling was pleasant, but rest is best.”
He slept through the winter long and cold,/ All tightly up in his blanket rolled, / And at last he awoke on a warm spring day,/ To find that winter had gone away.
He woke to find he had golden wings,/ And no longer need crawl over sticks and things./ “Oh, the earth is nice,” said the glad butterfly,/ “But the sky is best, when we learn to fly.”

This week, the students are putting together their books. They have been working hard at illustrating their How To stories and putting the finishing touches on them. 

Next Thursday, we will have a story share time with the two different ALO classes (9 AM and 9:30 AM). I will be sending an email out to invite parents and friends to this celebration. The location is to be determined. I am working on securing a bit larger space than the current ALO room. Look for an email from me.

The students have designed and created covers for their How To books. Some students will add a few more details to their stories this week. Other students are adding an illustration or two to their books. It is exciting to watch the final products come together. All of the children have been working hard on their projects, so they should be proud of their efforts.

Stay tuned for some photos of the final products in the coming weeks!