Saturday, April 30, 2011

I am Poem

This past week we began a lesson from Joann Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher's book Nonfiction Craft Lessons: Teaching Writing k-8 called "Writing Through a Mask". It is a lesson on perspective and creativity.  The mentor text I used was Sierra  by Diane Siebert.


Siebert writes, "I am the mountain..."(Which by the way...a great way to assess on understanding of landforms). Joann Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher say that the writers,  "..put on the mask of your subject and become that thing."

I meshed this lesson and a poem outline that my wonderful friend Lauren gave to me.
Sierra (Trophy Picture Books)

Some of the kiddos wanted to do their I am poem on themselves, and that was fine with me. Doing it from the perspective of another point of view can be challenging for some kids. I just wanted them to write and not feel pressured or forced to write something they weren't loving.

We began this on Tuesday before the terrible storms that ripped through, and we were out of school for two days. The kids came back in yesterday and wanted to get right back to work on this poem!


I am so proud of my babies! They have become very creative writers this year! Some of them are also very sensitive and aware of the world around them.

For example: One of my sweet darlins wrote: "I worry about the people in Alabama." (because of the tornados) I teared up and hugged her so tight when I read it.

This little lady told me afterwards that she meant to write, "I dream about talking TO animals." She saw what she put and said, "Whoa..."I dream about talking animals?!? That couldn't happen."

I smiled and agreed.

Here are some more pictures of their hard work.

My camera died before I could take more, but some of my kids wrote:
1. "I am a cat with an owner"
2. "I am a soccer ball"
3. "I am a dog who chases cats under tables"
4. "I am a fish"
5. "I am a dragon"

You can download the I am Poem rough draft I made by clicking the link below.

Hope ya'll have a wonderful weekend!

Amanda

9 comments:

Kristen said...

These are wonderful--very powerful! Thanks so much for sharing the rough draft sheet, I am going to print it right now!

Kristen
Ladybug's Teacher Files

Amanda K. said...

I'm so glad you like it!

Amanda
Third Grade Experience

Kristen said...

Hi Amanda, I saw your comment. Did you hit the "expand widgets checkbox"? Otherwise you won't be able to find that code. If you want, you can email me at ladybugresources{at}yahoo.com
Kristen

Amanda K. said...

Yep I did...I'll try again. Thanks for getting back to me!

Amanda

LjP said...

They have become such great writers! Maybe when we finish our hard back books we could COLLABORATE and yours could help mine write their own. FUN!

Amanda K. said...

YES PLEASE! Love you neighbor~

Mrs. Randall said...

I think I need to check this book out, I haven't read any Ralph Fletcher for a while and I def. have not read the one you mentioned. Thanks for sharing, these poems are great!

Kelley-3rd
Mrs. Randall’s Learning Library

Leanne Bongers said...

Totally have that Ralph Fletcher resource but it's been awhile! I think I need to dive back into his lessons this week and find the ones that shine. Thanks for dusting this one off! I love the I AM sentence stem sheet you created. It really gets to the heart of our kiddos - which ultimately is what good poetry is filled with - the poet's heart. Thanks again!

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