Friday, April 09, 2010

Poem #9 -- More About Those Xs


Second grader came up to me
on the playground yesterday,
"Teacher, Teacher! There are so many Xs in the sky!"

I looked up,
and there were two immense contrails
making a huge X in the sky.

And then I turned and saw another...and another...and another...
five Xs in the blue spring sky.
I asked him how he thought they got there

and he said something about airplanes,
but I said I thought a leprechaun put them there
(X marks the spot for treasure)

and he ran off yelling about Xs
and treasure
and I was the rich one.

by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010



I wrote about this yesterday in haiku form. Today's poem is actually the text of an email to a friend telling the whole story. Because she loved it so much (especially the last line), I decided to make it into its own poem.

The Poetry Friday Roundup today is at Paper Tigers.



Here's a reprint of a bunch of the Kidlitosphere (and other assorted) NaPoMo projects that I'm following:

Gregory K. is once again hosting 30 Poets/30 Days with previously unpublished poems by favorite children's authors.

Tricia Stohr-Hunt is interviewing 30 children's poets, beginning with Mary Ann Hoberman, the US Children's Poet Laureate. The Poetry Makers list is stellar!

Jone MacCulloch shares Thirty Days, Thirty Students, Thirty Poems: original poems by students.


At A Wrung Sponge, Andromeda is writing a "haiga" (photo and haiku) each day. Her photography is simply stunning. The haikus are amazing, too!

Kelly Fineman at Writing and Ruminating will continue the Building a Poetry Collection series she began last year -- selecting a poem a day in a kind of personal Poetry Tag (see Sylvia Vardell's version below) and providing analysis. I call this The University of Kelly Fineman because I learn so much in each post!

Sylvia Vardell is inviting poets to play Poetry Tag. She will invite poets to "play" along by offering a poem for readers to enjoy, then she will "tag" a poet who shares her/his own poem THAT IS CONNECTED to the previous poem in SOME way—by a theme, word, idea, tone-- and offers a sentence or two explaining that connection. What a creative idea!

Laura at Author Amok is highlighting the poets laureate of all 50 states this month...well, all the ones that have a poet laureate... Fun Fun!

Laura Salas is posting a children's poem per day from a poetry book she loves.

Lee Wind is publishing many new Teen voices during April for National Poetry Month. GLBTQ Teen Poetry.

Bud the Teacher gives a picture prompt every day during April and invites readers to post the poem it inspires in the comments of his blog.

ORIGINAL POEM-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Checks these blogs daily for new original poems by the following people:

  • Susan Taylor Brown
  • Jone MacCulloch
  • Elizabeth Moore
  • April Halprin Wayland
  • Liz Scanlon
  • Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

  • If I missed your project, please let me know and I'll add it to my list!


    Thursday, April 08, 2010

    Poem #8 -- When Recess Duty Becomes a Blessing in Disguise: A Haiku



    Teacher, Teacher! Look!
    There's lots of Xs in the sky!
    How did they get there?!?

    by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010



    Wednesday, April 07, 2010

    Poem #7 Read Aloud Revelation--A Metaphor Poem


    Metaphors are wiley creatures,
    Usually only found by teachers.
    Today one let us glimpse its glory:
    "All I'm saying is your life's a story."

    by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010


    Background:
    My fourth graders are reading along as I read aloud 43 Old Cemetery Road, Book One: Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise. (I reviewed it here.) If you know the "Regarding the..." series by the Klise sisters, you have an idea what this book is like -- told entirely through letters, newspaper pages, documents, etc.

    Back bulletin board in our classroom:
    Currently devoted to similes, metaphors, and idioms written on sentence strips along with a hodge-podge collection of common and uncommon homophones and homographs written on index cards.

    Blurted out yesterday during read aloud:
    "I think I hear a metaphor!"

    The passage containing the metaphor:
    "All I'm saying is that your life is a story, and that you are the main character of that story. Is your story a comedy or a tragedy? Is it dull? Or is is a compelling, spine-tingling drama? My point, Iggy, is simply that each of us is the author of his or her own life. So if you're telling me that you've changed, I'm pleased at your authorship."

    Tuesday, April 06, 2010

    Poem #6 -- REVERSO!

    Back in March, I wrote this Samantha Bennett (That Workshop Book) quote in my writer's notebook:
    "When we are thoughtful about the way the day begins and ends, so much more is possible in the middle."
    I can't remember where I saw it -- Creative Literacy? Authentic Learner? The blog of someone who was/is reading it in a group or for a class. I wrote it down because I've struggled all my livelong career with the routines at both ends of the school day -- especially the end. So many days end in a whirlwind rush that leaves me exhausted and crabby. I'm constantly working to calm the end of the day down. I've got read aloud tucked in at the very end of the day now, and I like ending our day with our knees pulled together in a tight circle as we share our thoughts around the book we're reading together.

    At any rate, operating on the principle that sometimes all it takes to be a poem is short lines, I wrote the quote this way:

    When we are thoughtful
    about the way the day
    begins
    and
    ends,
    so much more is possible
    in the middle.

    I'm not sure what made me read it from the bottom up. Maybe it's because I've been so fascinated recently with Marilyn Singer's poems in Mirror, Mirror. It made a little bit of sense read bottom to top, so I played around with it and got these two poems. They're a bit clunky, but it was a thrill to even come close on such a complicated form!



    In the middle
    so much more is possible.
    Ending
    and
    beginning
    a day is
    when we are thoughtful.

    When we are thoughtful,
    a day is
    beginning
    and
    ending
    so much. More is possible
    in the middle.

    Monday, April 05, 2010

    Poem #5 -- Visitor


    If not for Girl Scout cookie sales,
    She wouldn't come back to see me,
    Wouldn't come telling her theater tales,
    Wouldn't help bring back the memory

    Of times when life was easier:
    A whole world contained in one room
    With one set of memories linked to one teacher.
    From across my desk, I watch her bloom.

    by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

    Sunday, April 04, 2010

    KITCHENAID



    Kohl's was having a sale and
    I wanted a new mixer.
    The one I received as a wedding present twenty plus years ago
    Could no longer keep up with my baking.
    Happy Birthday to me! (from my parents:-)
    Everyone had suggestions on what to bake first with the
    New red mixer. We decided on cupcakes from
    A favorite baking blog
    I follow.
    Delicious!

    Poem #4 -- The Last Day of Spring Break



    Reality hits.
    Back to work: grading, planning.
    The end is in sight.



    This haiku goes out to all the teachers who today will drag out the bag of school work they brought home and do at least a little bit of it. It even goes out to those amazing souls who didn't start their vacation until they had everything in place for the first week back. They, too, will have to set their alarm tonight for the first time in a week.

    Saturday, April 03, 2010

    Poem #3 -- Abecedarian Cupcake Lessons


    ABECEDARIAN CUPCAKE LESSONS

    After
    Baking dozens of
    Cupcakes this week, I've learned a few Life Lessons:

    Delight in the process as much as the product.

















    Each ingredient is as important as the next.

















    Forget about the clock,
    Go with the flow,
    Have fun.














    Improvise
    Joyously (and cover your mistakes with frosting).














    Keep working until the
    Last bowl is clean and dry and back on the shelf.

















    Measure ingredients with precision, but do
    Not forget that there are times when
    Observation is more
    Powerful than
    Quantifiable amounts or
    Results.

    Stop
    Tasting the frosting when buttercream becomes
    Unremarkable.














    Value your
    Work enough to make the
    eXtra effort worth the time
    You put into the project. Be
    Zealous, but never a zealot.















    cupcakes, photos and poem by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010

    Friday, April 02, 2010

    Poem #2 -- Learning



    LEARNING CURVE: SPINNING CLASS

    Week One:
    Fell off the bike.
    (You can't coast.
    She told us that.
    I tried anyway.)

    Week Two:
    Couldn't keep up.
    (My legs burned.
    Sweat poured.)

    Week Three:
    Stayed on the bike.
    Stayed with the class.
    Went shopping for cycling shorts.

    by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010



    The rest of the story: didn't buy cycling shorts, but after Week Four can tell a difference in my kick when I swim my mile. The best of the story: did a two-hour ride yesterday on a moving bicycle in the sun under the bright blue April sky along the river. The thrill of classroom learning pales in comparison to the application of learning in the real world.

    The Poetry Friday roundup this week is at Book Aunt.

    Thursday, April 01, 2010

    Poem #1 -- Teaching



    YOU ARE A TEACHER

    You are a teacher
    a believer in potential
    a guide
    a mentor to children of many backgrounds
    and diverse cultures.

    You lead them
    and love them
    and you seek to send them
    on the most beautiful path they can walk.

    Who is guiding you?

    by Mary Lee Hahn, copyright 2010


    (found poem -- in an ad for Alma Flor Ada's Smiles and Butterflies newsletter)