Poetry Friday

I mentioned the possibility of this poem yesterday in my post. An exercise that I tried was to take a noun and write as much as possible about that topic. Another exercise that I did was to lift a line from this entry and turn it into a draft of something else. I lifted four lines:
1. fly through the air so gracefully
2. soaring high above the tree line, gliding and swooping
3. mother bird tell them not to fly so high
4. the mama sits in the tree and squawks

Another exercise is to "top ten" something. I used the word: glide
soar, coast, float, balance, swoop, rustle, swing, fly, flex, levitate

Another exercise I used was to write from another person's perspective.
Here is the poem that I came up with:

Bird, Spread Your Wings and Fly

My little one from egg so small

I sat upon you

keeping you warm

protecting you from enemies and prey;

You are my little one, my pride and joy.

I brought food to your closed eyes

and your ever open mouth

Crying out in hunger,

you rocked and cried

rocked and cried

I fed you from my beak to yours

your belly fully satisfied you rested, safely.

Your wings have grown

your feathers soft and downy

are now full and strong

Your once closed eyes are now open

Take in your surroundings,

Experience life's joy

Ever watching for life's pain

Open your wings and fly through the air

gracefully, gracefully, floating

soar, high above the tree line

swoop and glide

swoop and glide

let your wings stretch and flex

feel the earth's wind in your feathers

open your eyes to the sights

listen to the sounds of your world

Go my little bird

stretch your wings and fly...

Where seed stories come from...

I have been trying many of the activities in Aimee Buckner's book just for myself as a writer. I have to tell you that I dig living the writerly life! I started with an activity where you take a noun and just write as much as possible about that noun. I reread some of my former notebook, another idea in the book, and found the word bird. I love birds, and I thought, I want to write a whole page about birds. This was easier than I thought! Aimee says to write anything, and if other things lead from that topic it is okay. So I began my piece about birds. Meaningless at first, I began to see the poetry of words coming together, I want to reread and highlight soon this one piece and change it into a poem about birds. So, a meaningless topic has been the seed to a poem.
Next, I was just doing some writing about a childhood memory. Aimee Buckner says that the start of writing with children in her classroom is through oral storytelling. My children and I were driving to the pool yesterday and Sophie asked me about my deceased grandfather. I began telling her that I have a lot of really great stories I could tell about him, as he was such a vital part of my life. I began telling her the story of family reunions and his watermelons. That oral storytelling led to me writing a piece about that memory.
I can't wait to share these workshop ideas with my kids this year. They will catch on fast I know, they are such great writers. I know that having these personal writing moments myself will encourage them that even I can do it! Kids love the fact that teachers write themselves!
Today, Sophie got her notebook out and wrote about flowers. She noticed that my notebook is filling up with all kinds of words. I read some of it and mentioned the noun activity. She said, "Can I get my notebook out and try that?" Well, duh, yea... I pressed her to pick a topic that she can write a whole page about. "I want you to fill the whole page!" Daunting it seemed, she began her piece about flowers. At first, it was about me planting flowers, how she gets to help, then it turned to labeling the parts of a flower, and then planting a seed, and growing a flower.
So what could this piece become?
All about
A story about planting flowers with her mom
A research project about the different types of flowers
The smells of flowers, a senses piece

The possibilities are endless...

My Own Learning

Lately I have been reading Notebook Know How by Aimee Buckner a book that has been on my shelf for at least two years. When our facilitator gave it to us she said that she thought it would be for older students and I didn't read it. Wow, I wish that I had read it and at least tried some of the great ideas within it for myself. One of the first things that Aimee tries to stress is the importance of the notebook. She gives many quotes from the greats, Fletcher, Caulkins, Graves, etc. One of the greatest things that I am coming to understand is the importance of writing everyday, something, even if it is just a small happening. She says, "Interview after interview, book after book, writers talk about having a place to write every day... The concept is the same- to have a place just to write... a lot." She goes on to discuss that her first notebook she wrote a lot, and she seemed to think that there was not significance to what she was writing. This is how I feel a lot of times about my own writing. There doesn't seem to be anything significant to what I write about, who will really care. She began to notice though that as she wrote she began to get further away from diary like writing because she was revisiting, revising, and being a fluent writer. You see just from overly writing she began to notice things she could pull out from that mundane writing and turn it into something extraordinary!
I am thinking that that is the key to the notebook, we must encourage students to write even when they think they have nothing to say, to go back and revisit, and then write from those seeds.
Vicki Vinton says, "It is an illusion that writers live more significant lives than non writers; the truth is writers are just more in the habit of finding the significance that there is in their lives."
That significance comes in the form of writing, writing, writing...
I am making a commitment to write everyday, at least something, even if at the time it is insignificant. I want my students to know how writing mundane can translate into the seed of something bigger later. So, adios, I am off to write...a lot!

Things I am Pondering...

So, because I am marinating after the All Write Conference here are some things that I am trying to study or research:

1. More about launching Writer's Notebooks- I am launching WN because I know my class and they were already complaining about the use of folders, three pages of stories and their inablity to organize. I need more information about launching, collecting things to write about, and teaching the concepts of the Writer's Notebook.

2. I need to purchase more books for my students that are on a second grade level since I am looping. I hope some of you have some great titles that you would like to send my way for that grade level. My students are pretty great readers so send me whatever!

3. Mini lessons for both reading and writing workshop. This is going to take some time and a little help from the curriculum department of FWCS. I hope they have these things ready, because it is time to get geared up for second grade.

I am awake and ready to go, my fire is ablaze! Here we go...

The All Write Conference (year 2, for me anyway!)

Since Sunday I have been without husband and children. I have had no responsibilities, just taking care of myself. I have been in Shipshewana, IN attending a reading and writing conference. I have been a life-long learner.
Recently I discussed with my dear friend my summer motivation. I am teaching swim lessons, attending this conference, preparing for one at the end of the summer, waiting for July 14th Sydni's surgery date, going to the library... on and on and on my summer goes. I am not doing very much professionally. Lately I have been unwilling to pick up books, plan lessons, or even think about school. And then June 22 rolled around and my dear friend Kirsten picked me up in her Honda to go on a journey. This is where the story really begins, this is the heart, Penny Kittle and Georgia Heard would draw a heart around this part.
My journey over the last couple of days has been very reflective. You see prior to the conference I have been stagnate, just letting the days of the summer "stuff" roll over me and keep me busy. I think we all need to just let the moments of life rush over us, collecting, and brewing until a moment comes when we are ready to release our thoughts, passions, and ideas into the world. Katherine Bomer, on Monday, says that "we should write what we are obsessing about," because these are the things that are really going to matter. She gave me time then, to go off into the sunny summer day to lay on my belly and just expose my writing "bones." I produced some really great things in my WN, I hope to share them someday with all of you.

I also had a chance to hear the greatest speaker ever, Lester Laminack, I am a huge fan. Even though I probably have heard him say the same things, they still touch my heart each time. His passion for placing words within the realm of young minds is addicting. I needed addicting right now. I needed someone to relight my flame. Not burned out, my flame had just not been stoked, and fanned. The conference gave me a chance to reboot, reload, rejuvenate. I am marinating...

Finally, I leave you with a quote from Pamela Munoz Ryan (actually it's not hers but I can't remember to whom she gave credit, and yea, I heard her too!):

"Every time we ask a child to read aloud in school it is a test.

When we read aloud to a child in school it is a gift."

The face of Joy...

Yesterday I awoke with soreness in my biceps and an achy upper back...
Friday, was the last session for swim lessons, I teach the toddler and preschool classes at the local pool. Friday was the family swim, this is where toddlers and preschoolers have the chance to zing themselves with an adult or by themselves down the slide. This is why my back is sore and my biceps are screaming out in pain! I was the "catcher!" I caught all the littlest swimmers as they went down the slide. I have had approximately 49 students this session, times their 10 times down the slide! Yep, I caught roughly 490 times! OUCH...
My husband summed it up best, not a writer, he put it into words that perfectly matched the moment. He said, "yea, you may be sore but you witnessed the purest childhood joy! Little people doing something in the "big" world, that' joy!"
It made the soreness so worth it. As I turned around at one point I saw about 12 parents standing by the slide, they had video cameras, cell phone cameras, and digitals pointed in my direction! Ah, but I caught the faces first, hiding them in my mind's memory.
The face of joy...

Poetry Friday...

So my "job" this summer is to teach swim lessons at a public pool. So far I have loved every minute, teaching while kids have fun doing something is very rewarding! I am on an antibiotic though that cut my week short because it makes me super sensitive to the sun. Being an almost redhead that means that by Wednesday night I had blisters, and basically a bad case of sun poisoning. I called my boss, who was very understanding, (thanks Jen) and was let go of my duties until Tuesday. Here is my poem about my experience:

Sun Poisoned

by Sarah Amick

The day wears on...

antibiotic sensitive

splashing all around, smiles, and laughter

"The Wheels on the bus..."

smathering on sunscreen

keep applying...

blistered, tender, prickly heat

superpowered antibiotic breaks through

keep applying...

core temperature rising

nausea, dehydration

surrounded by water

like a sizzled egg where skins exposed

healing now, itchy skin, daily waiting

for the nerves to heal

the skin to mend

returning to normal

swim lessons

Tuesday...