where I'm from poetry

Friday's student quote -

do you remember love of my life wild child whom I would adopt tomorrow? did I tell you he is the middle of three brothers? he has an older brother in fifth and younger in first. I work with all three.

well, I ate lunch with the youngest on Friday, and here the best part of our conversation:

mr. I'm so cute the camera guy at picture day asked to take extra photos of me: maxey, can you wear flip-flops in the rain?

maxey: well, I wouldn't because I think my feet would get wet and I don't think I would like that. what do you think?

mr. I'm so cute: I think only three people can wear flip-flops in the rain.

maxey: ok. who are these three people?

mr. I'm so cute: Jesus.

maxey: alright.

mr. I'm so cute: Jesus's mother. I mean, someone has to buy the flip-flops for him.

maxey: makes sense.

mr. I'm so cute: and Jesus's step-dad.

maxey: wait, what?

mr. I'm so cute: you know, his step-daddy. Joseph.

maxey: oh.. right.

I mean, it might be a technicality, but he has a good point. Joseph was not the daddy of Jesus, so I guess that qualifies him as the step-father. I honestly had never thought of it that way.

Fifth Grade

I am starting to look ahead to what we will be learning after the state tests. Usually at my school, in the upper grades, we rejoice for the little time we have before scores come back in  we save poetry for the end of the school year.  our entire school has a Poetry Picnic one evening in May. it's a big potluck dinner for staff, families, and friends. and there are tons of poetry activities, including a poetry reading.

ANYWAYS - in the upper grades, I try to branch out from the traditional poetry forms used in the lower grades. I am going to share with you one of the poems frames I use in my collaborative  fifth writing class.

Where I'm From poems 

after a little research, I found this website from the author and poet George Ella Lyon. I don't know if she is one who "created" Where I'm From poems, but she seems to be the source of the poem. her website has some great history on Where I'm From poems and some great resources to see more examples.


here is a video of Lyon reading her poem.

here is a version written and read by eight year old Sage, based on Lyon's poem.

here is MY version of the Where I'm From poem that I share with my kiddos each year.

didn't know I was from NC now did ya? Or part Cherokee?

what I love about this poem is that is autobiographical. the students are telling about themselves and sharing little pieces of their lives. for a lot of my kiddos, sharing what they already know allows them to feel more successful then generating new ideas.

but the mini-scholars do not have to follow the template to a T. as we all know, some students LOVE to follow the guidelines, while some would rather venture out on their own.

{here} are the templates for you to use. I have included the original temple that I used (a kid friendly version of Lyon's), brainstorming sheet, a blank template, a template for the younger audience, and a template to use the poem as a character study. like that differentiation, huh? :)