Swag

Many of my students this year are enjoying the Hundred Day Writing Challenge, but there is one guy who has definitely embraced it. He has posted every day without fail, and his writing is quirky, funny, and engaging.

When we did the first round of prizes for the month of March, he won a pair of aviator sunglasses and they have been the star of nearly every poem he has written this month starting with his haiku:

I got sun glasses
They are so swag-o-lishis
They give me such swag

and continuing on through simile:

My sunglasses are as swag as a Ferrari
hyperbole, my swag sunglasses keep the world spinning
credo poems, And I believe that no one has ever won as cool sunglasses as I have

and the tribute to his birthday month:

Smell of flowers in the air.
Wearing swag sunglasses.
That is what it is like in June.

his praise poem refrain:

swag is in his blood

of course his six ways of looking poem:

I
On my dresser
I saw my swag glasses
The glass reflected my books in the background
The glasses stared at my books

his ode to Earth:

but best of all, without you there would be no such thing as swag sunglasses!

his ode to Mars:

You fill us with wonder and questions,
is there life? Is there water? Are there swag sunglasses?

and finally in his Shakespearean sonnet:

My sunglasses are so extremely swag,
They are the coolest things on the planet.
Sorry, but you can't have them, so don't nag.
Their rim is the same colour as granite.
I do really love my swag sunglasses.
They really are so, so very awesome.
They make me look sweeter than mallasses.
They look as cool as an awesome possum.
They are very much the best things ever.
I really like to wear them all the time.
Also they are as light as a feather.
I won't sell them for a knickel or dime.
My sunglasses are so very epic
and they belong to me, not Joe or rick.

I look forward to reading his post every day, and he reminds me why I do this activity.

Thanks, Marshall!

Sunday No Funday

We went out to run a few errands today and ended up shopping in

five!
different!
stores!

That's too many.

Uh Odes!

I spent a bit of my morning reading over and commenting on the odes that my students wrote yesterday in celebration of Earth Day. In general, I would say the opportunity to go outside for inspiration and details paid off-- their odes were sweet and concrete.  When it came to conclusions, though, there were a few challenges. See if you can tell what I mean:

O'Earth thank you for all you have done to the animals--
have a great day!

or

Even though you are insignificant
in the cosmic scheme,
we will always love you

or

O' little blue marble,
what would I do without you!

or

you are glorious
and glamorous
and yet
we still destroy you.
Oh Earth.

or

oh earth I will never forget your gifts that you share with us
thank you and happy birthday.

or

As we run, walk, and jog,
you are the birthplace
and home to thousands of people.

or

thx for being a
wonderful planet

and my personal favorite:

I feel the air is pushing me back and forth
O earth what would the world be without you?

Happy Earth Day to You

Last weekend when the girls were here, they both told me separately how proud they were of their long-distance running parents. "What about you and your sister?" I asked the oldest. "Do you guys do anything like that?"

"Oh, no," she told me, "we're more inside people."

I thought of that conversation today when I told my students that in honor of Earth Day we would spend part of our class outside gathering details for the odes we would write to our home planet when we came back in. Do we have to? sighed at least one student in every class.

Then there was the litany of concerns:

I have allergies. 
I need sunscreen. 
I'm afraid of bugs. 
It's too cold. 
Isn't it going to rain? 

"Guys!" I snapped them back. "We're only going to be out there for 10 minutes, 15 tops!" And off we went to explore the back field of our school where we found:

maple seed helicopters (that you can also stick on your nose)
buttercups (which many were unaware could show if you like butter)
dandelion seeds to send flying
redbud blossoms to sample
cedar foliage to feel
clover to search for lucky four-leafs
breezes to refresh us
mulch to pinch our noses at
smooth crape myrtle trunks to admire (it looks like mango! someone noted.)
holly leaves to beware of
pink dogwood flowers to commend
anthills to architecturally acclaim
crabgrass to metaphorically contemplate
and lots of
birds
and squirrels
and trees
and people

And when we came back inside each group was absolutely silent as they composed their odes to our home.

Royals

How strange that on the day that the longest reigning monarch of England, Queen Elizabeth II, turned 90, the artist once and for all known as Prince passed away.

One who was forced to grow up so early has grown so old, and the other who seemed somehow forever young will never truly grow old.

What a world.

Cause for Celebration

The day before National Poem-in-your-Pocket-Day is a busy one in my classroom. Students browse through thousands of poems in over a hundred poetry collections to find the perfect opus to carry with them the next day. They are also welcome to revisit all the great writing they have posted to our online poetry challenge and select an original work.

For some reason, these sixth graders were more excited and engaged than any other group I've ever shared the activity with. Can we have more than one? Can we trade with our friends? Can I pick something another student has posted?

The answers were, Yes. Yes! and YES! 

"It's like any holiday," I joked with them, "you can celebrate it any way you like!"

Yay! they cheered.

When I told my friend and fellow English teacher Mary about it? She said, "Look at you, creating a community of writers!"

Yes! Yes! and Thank you, Mary!

Kids These Days

Yesterday, I was recounting a bit of misconduct on the part of a particular student who happens to have Down's Syndrome, on our recent all-school field trip to a colleague who wasn't there.

"He just grabbed the map and speed-walked away into the crowd! So when I caught up with him, I grabbed his lunch box strap to make him stop, and then he tried to yank it away from me, telling me to let go or else! And the next thing I know we're standing in the middle of the convention center completely surrounded by thousands of kids from all over the area, and he's yelling that he doesn't want to fight me."

"Wow," she said only half-joking, "You're lucky nobody was filming you with their phones. That could have gone viral!"