The official National Poem In Your Pocket Day is April 24 this year. Since this date is mixed into our state testing days, we celebrate a bit earlier at Barrow. Over the past few years, Poem In Your Pocket Day has grown into a 2-day event in our library. Every class comes to the library across 2 days. I setup the library like a coffee shop or cafe with a poetic atmosphere: tables with colorful tablecloths, lanterns, lighting, and a microphone. Each student steps up to the microphone to share an original or a favorite poem and we celebrate each poem with lots of finger snaps.
Also each year, we have been broadcasting our poetry reading live via Adobe Connect. This year we will continue this tradition. I’ve created a Smore to show our schedule and to have access to the login link.
To view our poetry readings, you simply visit the Adobe Connect link and sign in as a guest. You will see students reading their poetry and also have a chat window to leave comments for them. To spread the love of Barrow poems to the world, we also encourage you to tweet about our poetry using the hashtag #BarrowPoems We invite you to tune in to some or all of our readings. The schedule is packed for 2 whole days. Our students love knowing that they have a global audience listening and celebrating their poetry. We will see you next week!
Thursday April 3, 2014
|
Time |
Class |
|
8:30 |
Ramsey |
|
9:00 |
Choate |
|
9:30 |
Em |
|
10:00 |
Carney |
|
10:30 |
Clarke |
|
11:00 |
Slongo |
|
11:30 |
|
|
12:00 |
Spurgeon |
|
12:30 |
Yawn |
|
1:00 |
Wright |
|
1:30 |
Wyatt |
|
2:00 |
Jarvis |
Friday April 4, 2014
|
Time |
Class |
|
8:00 |
Boyle |
|
8:30 |
Li |
|
9:00 |
Olin |
|
9:30 |
Watson |
|
10:00 |
Freeman |
|
10:30 |
Brink |
|
11:00 |
Shealey |
|
11:30 |
|
|
12:00 |
Ramseyer |
|
12:30 |
Doneda |
|
1:00 |
Selleck |
|
1:30 |
Seeling |
|
2:00 |
Stuckey |
Expect the Miraculous 
This sounds amazing (as is so much of what you do!)! I’m curious how you prepare students for the Poem In Your Pocket Day. How do they choose poems and from where? Do they have time during library to write their own and are they taught how to write different kinds of poetry (or do they do much of this in the classroom)? What about students who really struggle to read (or kindergartners who may not know how to read yet)–how do they read their poem for the class (is everyone required to read aloud?)? I would love to implement this in my school, but need a little more information. Thank you!
I encourage original poetry, and I’ve started a schoolwide poetry contest to support that effort. Also, I do poetry lessons in the library. This year we are doing it so early that I haven’t done as much in advance. Teachers are helping students write poems or copy favorite poems. In lower grades, the teacher usually helps students read or they memorize their very short poem. Also, students don’t have to come up to read, but almost every student does!