Monday, April 28, 2014

Poetry in the Present... Voices from the Past

At Lafayette School, our annual Poetry Parade is in full swing! We're reading and writing poems, sharing them with friends and family. Sometimes, we find inspiration in history and cultural tradition.  Here's a Lafayette Original celebrating a modern international sporting event evolved from games held in ancient Olympia, Greece:

Olympics
by Kaleigh C.

Work hard
All the time
You'll get the gold
And always shine

You're always first
You're never last
Otherwise
You won't be fast

You're standing there
Tall and strong
While the crowd is chanting
Number 
One


Let's take a look at a Lafayette Original created by Rory and Sam, inspired by an important historical and cultural event.  Passover commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt:



Check it out in the LMC: Hand in Hand: An American History through Poetry presents illustrated poems detailing lives and events that shaped our nation's story.  Here's a poem featuring a Revolutionary War patriot with a famous signature:

John Hancock

"There,"
he said,
signing 
his name

BIG,

BOLD,

FAT.

"King George
won't need
spectacles
to see
that!

He can read
it from here
to his
British clock,"

proclaimed
the rebellious

John Hancock.

--Lee Bennett Hopkins


Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Finding the Light: Illuminating Line Breaks

Eureka!  We've seen the light about line breaks!  In library classes, we've been exploring this useful poetic tool.  Line breaks may occur at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a thought.  They change the pace of a poem, asking readers to stop or to continue, to speed up… or to pause and think.  Line breaks highlight a word or image, and they help a rhyme along.  When they work their magic, line breaks turn prose paragraphs into magnificent poetry! 

First, we read the paragraph:

Light Bulb by Juan Olivarez
The light bulb shines in my eye.  In its ray of light I see hope.  It offers a bright future.  I feel a sense of optimism than can only be felt by a child learning to read for the first time.  I fee tranquil, serene.  When the switch is flicked off.  Shhhhh.  Darkness arrives and everything changes.

After a lesson about line breaks, we read the poem:

Light Bulb
by Juan Olivarez

The light bulb
Shines in my eye
In its ray of light I see
Hope
It offers a bright
Future

I feel a sense of
Optimism
That can only be felt by a child
Learning to read for the first time

I feel
Tranquil
Serene

When the switch is flicked
Off

Shhhhh
Darkness arrives and
Everything
Changes

Fresh from a Writer’s Notebook: Check out a Lafayette Original that makes good use of line breaks, transforming a personal narrative paragraph into an expressive poem about a Cape Cod experience:

The Surprise

Then 
He
came up 
to the boat
He
swam away
but

We followed him
We followed him

Until the water
got too shallow

His gray head
disappeared
under the sea
heading back
to his
seal family.

-- Jack W.

Finally, we share Helen Keller, written by American poet Langston Hughes and performed by Emma and Grace.  The poem features powerful line breaks and pays tribute to an American heroine’s spirit and courage... her inner light.  


Helen Keller

She,
In the dark,
Found light
Brighter than many ever see.
She,
Within herself,
Found loveliness,
Through the soul’s own mastery.
And now the world receives
From her dower:
The message of the strength
Of inner power.

--Langston Hughes


Poetry not only helps us see the light, it helps us feel the light.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

We're in This Together: Celebrating Earth Day

The Earth's a Big Blue Marble
When you see it from out there.
The Sun and Moon declare
Our beauty's very rare.... 

Happy Earth Day!  Big Blue Marble, a 1970s-80s television series, featured stories about children from around the world, encouraging us to be kind and respectful to each other-- and to be good caretakers of our planet.  The show's name refers to a famous photograph of Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 1972.

After all, we're in this together! Take a look at a Lafayette Original, written and performed by Brooke and CC:


Go Green!
an Earth Day poem written by Brooke and CC

The grass is green,
And the sky is blue,
And we want to keep it 
The way it is, don't you?

Imagine if the sky was gray
Everyday!

And what if the grass never grew
And it looked like poo?

So listen to what we are about to say:

We have to help EARTH every day!
Or else it may not stay this way.

Sooo...
Let's keep the earth green and keep it clean!
We can do it, so let's get to it! 

Some communities extend Earth Day into Earth Week, planning seven days of earth-friendly activities.  But why stop at one day or one week?  Let's make Every Day Earth Day!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Three-Times Sparkle and Little Twinkling Stars!

Poetry on Parade celebrates the language of poetry... and poetry in many languages.  Let's take a look at Sparkle, a Lafayette Original written and performed in English by Emma.  Sparkle continues, recited in French by Molly and in German by Gemma, helped along by their French and German-speaking Grandmothers!


From Sparkle to Twinkle: Here's an early nineteenth-century poem that became a popular lullaby, a soothing piece of music played or sung to young children.  The poem includes six stanzas of rhyming couplets, although we usually sing only the first group of metrical lines.
The Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark--
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

--Jane Taylor, Rhymes for the Nursery, 1806

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Hatter performs a parody of The Star:

Twinkle, twinkle little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle little bat!
How I wonder what you're at....

The Hatter's humorous imitation is interrupted by the Dormouse, leaving us to wonder and wonder and wonder how those final sparkling stanzas would go!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hair Days

Did you ever have one of those days?  A day when everything seems to go wrong, when nothing works the way it should... when your hair is completely unmanageable?  Today, Poetry on Parade celebrates these less-than-perfect times with poetry about Bad Hair Days:


Bad Hair Day

I can’t do a thing with this hair-do
I've tried but it's simply no use.

I can't make it stay where I put it today

with styling gel, hair spray or mousse.


No bobby pin, brush or bandana,
can get my hair under control.
I've tried every comb, every clip in my home,
but still I resemble a troll.

I've tried using forks in frustration.
I've tried using pokers and picks.
I've tried using straps; I've tried headbands and caps.
I've even tried shoestrings and sticks.

Regardless of how I attack it,
with rolling pins, wrenches or rakes,
it's simply no use, I'm the Gorgon Medusa;
my hair is a bundle of snakes.

--Kenn Nesbitt

Let's take a look at The Bad Hair Day, written by Karma Wilson and performed by Rachel and Despina:


Bad Hair Day

I’m having a very bad hair day today
‘Cause some of my hairs began to turn gray
And purple and pink and chartreuse and red.
I think I’ll go buy a big hat for my head.

--Douglas Florian

While we're on the topic of Hairy Poems, check out this one, written by Shel Silverstein and performed by:


Here's a styling tip, Poetry Paraders: Next time you're having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hair Day, put away the comb, the brush, the styling gel, and the mousse... and pick up a poem.  Things will look a little brighter!

Friday, April 11, 2014

Whatever the Weather: Wondering about Wind

The wind: whether it's gust or gale, tempest or typhoon, cyclone or zephyr, poets find inspiration in this mighty, magical force of nature. Let's take a look at a poem by a nineteenth-century English poet:

Who Has Seen the Wind?

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you;
But when the leaves hang trembling
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I;
But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.

~ Christina Rossetti

Hundreds of years and many breezy days later, poets are still wondering about the wind.  Check out a Lafayette Original that makes good use of personification, a figure of speech giving human qualities to things that are not alive-- the wind, for example:

The Wind

Oh wind.  You are a very loud person,
Outspoken.
You howl for no reason,
You get very emotional,
Especially when it rains.
You bang on my window and
Keep me up.
Oh wind
You make mankind run amok.

~ Kiara W.

The wind: we can't see it, but we feel it.  Poetry captures that elusive feeling and invites us to see the world in a different way.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Here Comes Our Annual Parade of Poetry!

Ah, April: it’s a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, rhythm-jamming, rhyme-slamming time of year!  Once again, Lafayette School is celebrating National Poetry Month—a thirty-day opportunity for Poetry Paraders to read poems, write poems, perform poems, and share the magic of poetry with friends and family.  
 
Poetry invites us to look at the world in new and exciting ways.  For example: what happens when an aquatic reptile visits a dental health care professional?  Let’s get our parade started with The Crocodile's Toothache, written by Shel Silverstein and performed by puppeteers Casey D. and Michael R:


Well, that puppet poetry performance painted a colorful picture!  (We're using lots of alliteration today). Speaking of colorful, take a look at these Lafayette Originals:

Blue

Blue the color of the sea.
Blue the color of eyes.
Blue different shades it comes in.
Blue is a color of gems and diamonds.
Blue the color of clothing.
Blue my favorite of all.

~Kiara W.


Created by Grace T.

Haiku

Beautiful flowers
Come in all shapes and sizes
Colorful petals

~Anna S.


Haiku Illustrations by Marianna Z.

Eyes

Blue eyes, Green eyes
Hazel eyes or maybe Evil eyes
To learn their expression
To know how they feel  
Big eyes, Little eyes
It doesn't matter
You see through them 
To play to laugh to giggle
Close you eyes and you'll see what's
Inside.

~Kiara W.

Haiku

I can't see a thing
I'm thinking I have gone blind
Who turned off the lights?

~Matthew S.