April 6, 2011 by plemmonsa

Book Spine Poetry 2011

Two classes have come to the media center so far to create book spine poetry. I got this idea last year after reading the 100 Scope Notes blog.

To make a book spine poem, you arrange a stack of books so that the titles create a poem. Each title of a book becomes a line in the poem.

In my lessons, we’ve done some examples together and listened to past examples from classes. Students get in groups of 3 and wander around the media center browsing the shelves for interesting titles that seem to fit together. Once they make their decisions on 3-5 books, they pull the books off the shelf and arrange them in a stack.

Stacks of books go to tables and a teacher helps students take a picture of their stack.

Next students bring the camera to a computer where another volunteer helps them download the picture into a class file. Students then find a space to practice reading their poem aloud.

Once ready, students come to me and use Photo Story 3 to record themselves reading their poem.

When students finish checking out, they sit on the carpet to hear their final product.

Enjoy listening to one of the book spine poems here.

Mrs. Brink’s Book Spine Poem

Mrs. Yawn’s Book Spine Poem

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April 5, 2011 by plemmonsa

Autobiographical Poetry: A 5th grade collaborative art project

The art teacher, Mrs. Foretich, and I love to collaborate with one another. Recently, we wrapped up a collaborative unit focused on digital photography, using technology to transform a photograph, and autobiographical poetry.

Students spent 2 days rotating through a center taught by Mrs. Foretich taking digital pictures of themselves and using Picnik.com to edit their photos and center taught by me about the many elements of poetry including personification, similes, strong verbs, and repetition. Then students spent 2 sessions in a writing workshop using their photograph to write an autobiographical poem that included some of the poetry elements learned in my center. Students typed their poems in word and printed them.

Mrs. Foretich had all of the student images printed at Snapfish, and she mounted these pictures on matting board. Now, an amazing display sits atop the shelves of the media center. Today was the debut, and students and teachers have been reading the poems all day. If you can’t stop by the media center during poetry month, take a moment to view the pictures of the display and watch a video tour given by two students, Maggie and Delia.

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