This week marked the end of the third ALO session. 
The students shared one of their poems in class, and we discussed Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken.

I am compiling the students' original poems into one book for each student to take home. Look for those next week.
I am impressed by the students' poetry skills this session. It was sure fun to read all of the poems! Students, be sure to share the poems with your parents.

Below is a link to a list of summer enrichment ideas if you are looking for some things to do this summer.

I have enjoyed working with each child this session. 
​Write some poems this summer. Have fun and play outside!

_Summer Learning Enrichment

This week the students finished writing some of their poems and then  typed them on a Google Document. We will be compiling the students' poems into a class book for each student to take home.

We started exploring the poem "Table" by Edip Cansever. We will be looking more at the use of imagery, personification and metaphor next week. 

Using a checklist, pairs of students offered feedback on their written responses about the Sylvia Plath poem "Mushrooms." 

Then, the students followed some steps to start crafting their own poems that use personification.

Some other poems we analyzed to further explore personification included:

Emily Dickinson's The sky is low, the clouds are mean 
Langston Hughes's April Rain Song

I look forward to hearing the final versions of their personification poems next week.

This week the students read the William Carlos Williams poem "This is Just to Say."
Students traced the tone in the poem and then wrote their own original poems inspired by his poem. Check back next week for some of the students' poems on the blog.

We also read, discussed and analyzed "Mushrooms" by Sylvia Plath.  The students did a fine job of digging deep into this complex poem. We discussed how Plath used assonance, consonance, allusion and personification in the poem.  I'm sure some of the students will think about the common mushroom differently now. 

This week, we wrapped up our discussion of Dickinson's poem "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" Students discussed a focus question and then analyzed and wrote about the tone in the poem. Some students were able to start writing an original poem using a line from one of the poems we have studied.

To assist students in their discussion of tone, we examined a list of tone words. I encourage students to practice using some of these new vocabulary words in their other classes. 

To demonstrate the performance side of poetry, we listened to a high school student perform another Dickinson poem "I felt a Funeral in my Brain."

This week the students continued exploring metaphor by analyzing metaphors from "Introduction to Poetry." 

We started discussing the Emily Dickinson poem ["I'm Nobody! Who are You?"]. We looked at Dickinson's change in tone from the two stanzas. We had a thought-provoking discussion today about the importance of being humble and being 'somebodys' with values. 

In class today, the students wrote their own poems inspired by the poem "What is the Sun?" by Wes Magee.
Here they are for your enjoyment!

What is a Volcano?
By Mollie McLaughlin

A volcano is a giant's fire,
where he hangs his washed clothes
each night.

A volcano is a monster
exploding time after time 
over the years.

A volcano is a black hole
wiping everything green around
off the face of the Earth.


What is a Rainstorm?
By: Sasha Snavlin

A rainstorm is when the angels cry
of disappointment from Heaven.

The lightning is when God claps in anger

A rainstorm is when the fountain of fortune
praises us.

A rainstorm is an opened water bottle
kicked high to the sky.

The thunder is when a light bulb is dropped
from the clouds.


What is a Cloud?
By: Eleanor Skov

A cloud is a wad of crushed paper
thrown out a window.

It is a puff of smoke
rising from a chimney.

It is a pure white tunnel
made by angels.

It is a bunch of soapy suds
in a sky-high bath tub.

It is the doctor's puff balls
which exploded in the office.


What is the Sky?
By: Felix Martinez

The sky is a sea of vibrant colors at night.

The sky is endless blue.

The sky is an illusion of birds
drifting out to sea.

The sky is a sad song.

The sky, its clouds a field of snow
in darkness.

The sky, everything.


What is the Sunset?
By: Addie McLaughlin

The sunset is brilliant colors
splashed across a piece of paper.

It is a red ball of yarn sinking
lower and lower in the sky.

It is rose colored pillows
drifting across the sun.

It is a ball of fire in the 
middle of a sea of colors.

It is a drop of blood on a
rainbow lake.


What is the Sky?
By: Jack Rosenberger

The sky is an endless illusion of baby blue.

The sky is as blue as caribbean sea
drifting into shore.

The sky is full of happy birds
singing their daily song.

The sky can be rough with clouds as big as boulders.

That is what I think the sky can be
at anytime, anywhere.



What is the Sea?
By: Mollie McLaughlin
The sea is a mirror
reflecting the universe.

The sea is its own world
with houses of coral and stone.

The sea is a mountain range
with all the little white capped waves.

The sea is a huge, blue sidewalk
connecting all the continents of the Earth.

This week, the students examined metaphors in Billy Collins's poem "The Introduction to Poetry."
We learned how the term 'metaphor' can be looked at in a broader sense. Other types of figurative language are actually metaphors, too. 

We watched this video to explore this topic of metaphors.

Here is another quick video that sums up metaphors and how we use them in our everyday lives.

Keep your eyes peeled for metaphors in your daily interactions, and for those found in the books and poems you read. 

This week marked the beginning of session three of ALO. The fourth grade students will be reading and analyzing poems. Discussion and constructed responses will be the format for critical analysis. After studying poems, students will have an opportunity to let their creative lights shine by writing their own poems inspired by the poems we read in class.

Students read, analyzed, discussed and wrote about Billy Collins's poem The Introduction to Poetry. 
on Wednesday and Friday.
​
Note sheet from class April 6th.