Today, 14 classes came to our poetry cafe to read their original and favorite poems. Many people attended via Adobe Connect: parents, grandparents, other Barrow classrooms, and more. If you missed the day or want to relive it, you can view the archives below.
Category Archives: Poetry Month
2nd Annual Barrow Media Center Poetry Contest
Our 3 top winners
Almost 90 students entered our 2nd annual poetry contest. It was once again very tough to decide, but ultimately one overall winner was chosen for PreK-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, and 4th-5th grade. Other winners were chosen in a variety of categories based on the elements of poetry and various forms of poetry. Some of these awards included list poetry, rhyming poetry, acrostic poetry, descriptive poetry, story poetry, and unique poetry.
The winning Prek-1st poem from Diana:
The winning 2nd-3rd poem from Eli:
The winning 4th-5th poem from Emma:
Here’s a gallery of our other fantastic winners!
Book Spine Poetry
Today Mrs. Yawn’s 2nd grade class made book spine poems. This is a project that I started with classes a couple of years ago, but over time it has developed. I’ve learned more about crafting book spine poems that make more sense than randomly pulling books off the shelf. One tip that I give students is to look for book titles that don’t have character name in them. I also suggest looking for one book title that speaks to you in some way and building upon that. For example, the book I know Here refers to a place, so you might look for other books that refer to place to make a strong poem. Here are the results of today.
Poem In Your Pocket Day 2012 LIVE!
On Thursday April 12th & Friday April 13th, we invite you and your family members to tune in to our live poetry broadcast from the Barrow Media Center. Every class will visit the media center to read original and favorite poetry into our open microphone. You can view these readings via Adobe Connect online where you will see and hear the students and also type comments for the students. To access the webcast, follow these instructions:
- Visit http://clarkecounty.adobeconnect.com/barrowmediacenter
- Select “Enter as Guest”, type your name, and click “Enter Room”.
- Mr. Plemmons will approve you and you should be able to immediately see and hear the broadcast.
- In the event that the image or sound suddenly disappear, just stay in the room and Mr. Plemmons will work to get everything reconnected.
- If you have technical difficulties at your computer, you can type comments to Mr. Plemmons in the chat and he will do his best to assist you.
- All poetry readings will be recorded and published on the Barrow Media Center blog soon after the event. https://barrowmediacenter.wordpress.com
We hope to “see” many of you (and your family members) at our live webcast. It means so much to the students to know there is an audience listening and commenting on their work. Mr. Plemmons will share any comments you leave with the students.
Schedule for Thursday April 12th
| Time | Class |
| 8:20 | Sheppard-2nd |
| 8:40 | Hart-1st |
| 9:00 | Wyatt-1st |
| 9:20 | Em-K |
| 9:40 | Li-K |
| 10:00 | Watson-1st |
| 10:20 | Stuckey-1st |
| 10:40 | Shealey-3rd |
| 12:20 | Brink-2nd |
| 12:40 | Brewer-2nd |
| 1:00 | Yawn-2nd |
| 1:20 | O’Prey 5th |
| 1:40 | Boyle-K |
| 2:00 | Vertus-K |
Schedule for Friday April 13
| Time | Class |
| 8:00 | Slongo-5th |
| 8:20 | Cross-5th |
| 8:40 | Carney-K |
| 9:00 | Hocking-Prek |
| 9:20 | Spurgeon-3rd |
| 9:40 | McCannon-3rd |
| 10:00 | Griffith-3rd |
| 10:20 | Clarke-PreK |
| 10:40 | Olin-4th |
| 11:00 | Freeman-4th |
| 11:20 | Selleck-4th |
Poetry Lessons 2012
We’ve once again been busy in the media center preparing for our annual “Poem in My Pocket” day. We have stretched the event across 2 days, April 12 & 13 to create a 20 minute space for each class to come to the library and read their original and favorite poems into our open mic at a poetry cafe. We will once again broadcast the event live via Adobe Connect. You are welcome to attend virtually on those 2 days (schedule will be posted soon) by visiting http://clarkecounty.adobeconnect.com/barrowmediacenter
Some of our poetry lesson ideas can be found by visiting http://technopoetry.wikispaces.com/.
This year, I’ve been using Poll Everywhere a lot to craft list poems with whole classes. After looking at several mentor texts, the students each create one line in a list poem about “Things in Our Desks”. The idea is to choose one item in your desk and add some describing words in front of the noun to make the line sound more poetic. Using the iPads, the students submit their line for the poem. All lines appear on the smart board, and we read the poem together and talk about revisions we might make if we were to finalize the poem. I’ve also been using Poll Everywhere to create shape poems. Students submit their description of a cat. Then, I copy all of their lines and paste them into Tagxedo and put them into a cat shape. Before the class leaves, I print a copy of the poem for them to take with them.
Our 5th graders have been working on a collaborative project between the media center and art. Students are taking digital photographs of themselves, altering the photos in Picnik (before it disappears), and writing an autobiographical poem inspired by their photograph.
Our 5th graders have also been learning about many elements of poetry such as rhyme scheme, alliteration, personification, similes, metaphor, hyperbole, and more. After looking at each element and hearing multiple poems that showcase different structures of poetry, the students have a poetry scavenger hunt through stacks and stacks of poetry books in order to find each of the elements that we discussed.
We are also hosting our 2nd annual poetry contest. Students have been busy submitting their poems for judging on Monday April 9th. We hope to have all poems judged prior to Poem in Your Pocket Day.
Using Poll Everywhere to Craft Poetry « Georgia Library Media Association
5th Grade Poetry Contest Winners
Last week, the two students who had the top poems in the 4th and 5th grade category of our media center poetry contest came in to read and record their poems. You can listen to them here.
More Poem In Your Pocket 2011
Today, 7 more classes came to the media center to read their poetry. Even with power outages and our wireless network crashing, we were able to get every class’s reading recorded. Some of the recordings will have moments in them where the video feed is lost, but all students were recorded. Here are their poetry recordings.
Poem In Your Pocket Day 2011
Amazing! Global! Collaborative! Snap! I’m overjoyed by how today’s Poem In Your Pocket Day went. For the past 3 years, we’ve been observing national poem in your pocket day by carrying poems in our pockets, wearing stickers to promote the day, and holding a day of poetry reading in the media center where every child (and adult) has a chance to read poems into our open microphone. This year, we tried something new: a live webcast. Using Clarke County’s new purchase of Adobe Connect, Joel Frey setup a room for the Barrow Media Center. The link was sent directly to the PTA listserve and an online registration was setup via Google Forms for anyone else interested. Registrants on Google Forms were emailed the room link.
Today, 18 classes came to the media center for 20 minute poetry reading sessions. Students came up one at a time and read their poems. We all celebrated with snaps. At the same time via Adobe Connect, parents, media specialists, classrooms within our school, classrooms across the district, and family members in other parts of the United States and the world were watching, listening, and making comments about the student poetry. As online participants made comments, I shared the comments with the students in between poets walking to the microphone. Amazing things started to happen. Students started huddling around the computer waiting for the next comment to come in. They got excited when they saw that someone was typing. They wondered why someone didn’t make a comment about their poem. They kept asking, “You mean people can really see us? They’re watching us right now?” It was electric.
Online, participants made comments about how much they appreciated being able to connect with their child, nephew, cousin, etc. People joined us from multiple locations: Mrs. Marsha West, Barrow’s former media specialist, joined us from Lincoln, Nebraska. One student had family members join us from Chicago, Illinois, Cohutta, Georgia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. Another student had an uncle tune in from Afghanistan. Parents explored a technology that many had never tried, and they appreciated this opportunity to think about learning and connecting globally in a new way.
At the same time, every teacher in the school got to see a new technology in action, and now the ideas are beginning to spark about how this can be used in the future. At least two teachers have already approached me with ideas for future events or lessons.
This afternoon, as I walked down the halls, a student stopped me and said, “Mr. Plemmons, did anyone else make a comment about my poem?” Kids want authentic audiences beyond their classroom walls. Thank you, Clarke County for giving us this tool. Now, our task is to keep using it, seeking out authentic audiences, connecting with experts around the globe, and collaborating with classrooms in our own district and beyond.
You can listen to every class recording on Adobe Connect below. At each link, you will hear and see the students reading poetry. You will also see the chat comments that took place during the webcast and hear my announcements to the students each time a comment came in. I hope you will take some time to see what an important day this was for us in the media center.
You are also invited to tune in on Monday April 18th, where several PreK, Kindergarten, and 1st grade classes will read their poems between 8:00AM-12:20PM EST.
2011 Poetry Contest Winners
Today we announced the winners of the 1st annual Barrow Media Center Poetry Contest. We had a staggering 156 students who submitted a poem. After many hours of reading, debating, and discussing with others, two top poems were chosen from PreK-1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade, and 4th-5th grade. We also recognized 43 other poets who had outstanding poems in the following categories;
Most Unique (a poem about a napkin written on a napkin)
Acrostic Poets
List Poets
Shape Poets
Digital Poets
Group Poets
Rhyming Poets
Pondering Poets
Nature Poets
Form Poets
Story Poets
Personal Story Poets
Congratulations to all of our winners!
Expect the Miraculous 