Amy shows readers we can hear kindness through questioning, encouragement, empathy, understanding, invitations, walking, teamwork, and validating. This book encourages us to slow down and be aware of things going around of us. There's another message encouraging us to listen to the language of kindness; reminding us our words matter.
Teresa Martinez is the illustrator and she did a very interesting illustration move that I didn't notice until I read it a third time. There are several people on each two page spread. The faces of the people not engaged in the kindness conversation are shown with muted colors. They blend in with the setting. The people engaged with the kindness conversation are natural skin tones and are wearing brighter clothing. I'm excited to see if my students notice this in the fall.
Here's an example.
I reached out to Amy and asked if this was one poem spread across the entire book, like she did with Every Day Birds and she said yes. I hope she shares the full version on her blog when it's released. I know my students are curious when they learn a poem is one picture book and they want to know what it looks like together on a page. I think it adds a layer to their understanding/comprehension for the text.
There are some notes in the back for readers describing a kindness walk with variations. I can't wait to find kindness discoveries in the fall in our classroom and our school community.
Thank you Buffy Silverman for hosting Poetry Friday this week.
Projects help me be accountable. I'm diving into Amy Ludwig Vanderwater's Poems are Teachers How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres again. This week Amy and Irene Latham guide readers with Let Art Inspire. I just happened to visit The Columbus Museum of Art last night for a workshop and snapped this picture of original art from Maurice Sendak's Little Bear series of books. I wish I had snapped a picture of the title. "Poetry after the art allows us to bring ourselves into the piece, not just as an observers, but as participants," Irene Latham. Irene's website has more ideas called Art Speak. Little Bear was part of my first daughter's "mom approved" VCR video collection and we rewatched this beloved series many times. Looking at this print and thinking outside the frame brought back memories of bedtime with her and her sisters.
Thank you Buffy Silverman for hosting this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup.
I know last week I restarted a poetry plan and I decided to pause that plan for an impromptu moment from my classroom. I saw a tweet this morning from @amylvpoemfarm where she was sharing her Friday post on her fabulous resource, The Poem Farm. I was intrigued with the idea of making an if list for poetry. My class has been reading poetry to start our Fridays. Just last week we started picking one to share with others and I felt an itch to help them write poetry.
We started our day by reading poetry and a quick morning meeting. We paused our time together for music and shared poems we wanted others to hear when we got back. Then I shared with them one of our favorite authors Amy Ludwig Vanderwater had a blog and I saw an idea I thought we could try. We read Amy's post and listened to her recording. I wondered if we could write an If...poem together and then they could try one in their writer's notebooks.
We collaborated using a shared writing format. A pattern emerged as students took turns. We had the ending before the third and fourth stanzas. We talked about short lines and slowing down as we reread our developing draft. This represents our community. It represents our us as learners and it represents our physical space.
We had to publish our writing and each child did an illustration. It was joyful to listen to the illustration conversations. They knew which lines they were specifically illustrating. We are going to put individual copies in our Poetry Folders we use for practicing all things fluency.
Thank you Amy LV for inspiring our writing thoughts and hearts. XO
Thank you Jone for hosting Poetry Friday this week.
The author line of me is clever and a subtle point of view to observe. The rest of the poetry collection is authored by various animals until you read the last poem where me returns to end the book with a poem about writing poetry and loving animals.
Informational poetry is interesting! I read them with an inquiring mind looking for pieces of information to teach me more about a creature. This morning I learned the gargantuan tarantula cannot dine on birds and they can't because birds can fly. Did you know bottlenose dolphins live in pods and stay together for protection from hunters or predators? It's Not Difficult by American Alligator is the perfect piece of text when there is confusion or a need to identify an alligator versus a crocodile.
The illustrations are done using granite sketches painted digitally and enhance each poem. The illustrations help the reader understand what each animal looks like and where they live in a simplistic yet detailed way.
I can't wait to spend more time with this text and look at Amy's poetry craft moves and weave these into our upcoming poetry unit.
Thank you Kat at Karthryn Apel for hosting Poetry Friday this week.
Sylvia writes a poem about spring arriving and hangs it on a birch tree. The next morning her poem is gone and another one is in its place. She assumes the tree wrote poetry back to her. In school Sylvia can only think about her poem and gets really excited when the teacher teaches them about haiku poetry. She begins thinking about rhymes and sees poetry everywhere. She writes more poetry on the sidewalk, leaves another one on the tree, and then Walt a classmate shows up at the tree. I'm going to leave you here and hope you get the book to discover the ending for yourself.
Laura Shovan is hosting Poetry Friday this week.
