We are so lucky to live in beautiful northern Michigan. (Check back with me in January and see if I feel the same way!) One of my favorite activities this year was Beach Poetry, because we took advantage of our proximity to Lake Michigan the kids wrote amazing poetry after a walk to the beach.
First, we studied a mentor text: Hot Springs by Davis McCombs. His poem about a visit to Hot Springs, Arkansas has a specific organization. Each line contains four pairs of one-syllable words, for a total of 96 one-syllable words. It looks so simple, but when you actually try writing, it becomes pretty tricky. Gathering our notebooks, pencils, and clipboards, we trekked to the beach, just a ten-minute walk from our classroom door. I emphasized that this was a writing trip, not playtime. The students (for the most part) were serious about gathering ideas and taking notes for their poems. When we returned to the classroom, the students immediately starting crafting their poems. There were lots of whispered conferences and thesaurus consultations while students searched for one-syllable words to express their view of Lake Michigan. "Can you think of another word to describe the waves? All I have is rippling," one girl asked. Another said, "I'm making lighthouse into two words." "Is 'wet sand, dry sand, hot sand, cool sand' good repetition?" a boy asked his partner. After school, I went back to the beach and took some pictures for the kids to use in their published pieces, since I didn't let them take their iPads to the beach. They were able to finish their poems the next day in class, and we printed them to display on a classroom wall. Not everyone followed the mentor text exactly, which is fine with me. I want them to experiment with writing and try out new things. Look around outside your classroom. Do you have a nearby park? An interesting streetscape? Take your students on a writing walk and see what they produce. I think you'll be amazed by the results. ~Jane
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Sara MuladoreSara is currently a sixth grade social studies and ELA teacher at Charlevoix Elementary School in northern Michigan. She is part of the northern Michigan Social Studies collaborative. Sara has also taught math, science and reading. Jane GarverJane is a fifth grade English and social studies teacher in Charlevoix, Michigan and the MCTE 2018 Middle School Teacher of the Year. She loves teaching writing and matching students with books.. She spends her summers exploring the attic archives of the Little Traverse History Museum in Petoskey, Michigan. |