Happy Poetry Friday! I have spent the entire week at Wealthy Elementary School in East Grand Rapids, MI, writing poetry and nonfiction with students, and it has been awesome! I’ll be sharing their poems throughout the next week.
The 4th graders and I wrote found poems about the moon . Their teachers and I selected several moon-related Wonders from Wonderopolis.org. Each student had a printed copy of his or her Wonder, and most had read them once ahead of time.
Most students aren’t familiar with found poems, so pulling out words from nonfiction texts to make a poem (which may or may not be about the topic of the source text) is a totally new concept to them. In our session, I showed them a couple of examples of found poems I’ve written recently and then explained my steps for finding a poem:
- Hard copy
- Highlight!
- Read out loud
- Meaning
- Free verse draft
- Look for small words when needed
Then we went through the steps together with our Wonders. We read through and circled words we loved. Then we spent a few minutes murmuring out loud to ourselves the different words in different combinations. We thought about what meanings suggested themselves. On fresh papers, we jotted a first draft of a poem. If we felt like we really needed a filler word like “a” or “then,” we went back into our hard copy to make sure the word was there.
I asked student volunteers to share their favorite line, so that we could share them here with you. They did a terrific job! And if you missed the biopoem excerpts from 3rd graders, that’s another fun way to make poetry from nonfiction topics.
What do you think?
And don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with Kimberley at Written Reflections (reflections–perfect for the moon!).
Here you go again with a great idea I can take right into my classroom. We have written Wonder poems but not Found poems from Wonders. I’m going to collect these ideas for April. Did you see my bio-poem about lotus blossoms. Thanks for inspiring my poet-self.
Finally got over to see it, Margaret–beautiful!
Completely brilliant. I am working on a unit about water with my third graders and I plan to do this tomorrow morning! Thank you for sharing what great work you do out there in the world and kudos to your students!
Oooh, I hope it went well!
This must have been a delight to see those kids “finding” such beautiful words for their poems. Just great to read them, Laura. Love “lunatic full moons enjoy nighttime” and “I just did the impossible”.
Aren’t they fabulous?
I love the werewolves howling bit. This is a great way to organize student responses. I have yet to fiddle around with Padlet. Looks like a valuable tool for teachers.
I’ve got to say I LOVED the padlet. This was the first time I did it live. It was fun for students to see their shared lines immediately (hooked up to projector), and THEN they could go back later and add their entire poems if they wanted. And the school and I can share the students’ work. Awesome!
I love found poems and I’m teaching working up a lesson for my students using your Writing Poignant Poetry! How perfect. Like Margaret says, a perfect idea to take to the classroom. Thank you!
Thanks! Hope you guys have a wonderful time:>)
Students were surprised with their found poems and the lines here are an example of how they were stretched by putting words together in new ways. Such pride in their work and willingness to share out with the group. Thank you Laura!
It really was a stretch for them! Something new. Delightful to explore with them. Thanks, Kim!
You are full of great ideas! What a WONDERful way to engage kids in poetry.
Thanks, Iza–it was definitely something new for almost all of them. A fun process to try:>)
What a fun exercise, and these kids did a fantastic job. Their creativity inspires me! I love all of the poems, especially The Moon’s Friend, by Abbott.
Thanks, Amy!
Ah, “I just did the impossible.” Sometimes writing feels like that. And I bet the moon does too… What a wonderful visit you must have all had together! Thank you for sharing a bit of it with us! xo
Thanks, Amy–isn’t that a lovely line? It was a terrific visit.
What fun! Some of my favorites: “words into found,” “the moon of morning approaches,” “stare stare,” and “in your sleep, reflecting light.”
Oops, I meant to type “star stare.”
That was one of my favorites, too–I had circled those words on my hard copy, too.
Gosh, those are lovely. So nice to read them again with several days’ distance. I told the kids, “Wait a few days and re-read your lines. You’ll be impressed with how great they sound!”
Very creative, Laura – your guidance, their responses, and the presentations of favorite lines. I LOVE found poetry and find kids open to trying it, even those who might be uneasy with a purely blank page. Thanks for sharing!
Yes! That narrowing of the word pool can work wonders:>)
What a great combination of science facts and mythology in your students’ responses. It sounds as if everyone had a great time, Laura!
It was great to get them trying new things, Laura:>)
Found poems are a great way to get kids to not only think creatively, but read with a new set of eyes. Nice to see the kids were so receptive!
They were! They looked at me like I was nuts a couple of times, but, really, they dove in and wallowed around in the words for a bit. It was fun to see what they came up with.
Ditto everyone else who commented on this brilliant way to marry NF and poetry!
Thanks, Mary Lee. I had a great time with these writers!
I love this idea! I want to use Padlet more often with my students and I love the freedom of a found poem. Basing it on wonders found on Wonderopolis is a great way to combine nonfiction reading and poetry! Brilliant!
It was fun–I’d recommend the more descriptive Wonders and not the more technical ones. Have fun! (Loved the padlet as a way to share work online:>)