Hello There!
Today was another great day with this group. They are such a blessing as we continue to work and learn together.
As usual, we started the day with a Quick Write–since we are working our way through poetry, we watched poet Phil Kaye perform his poem called “Before the Internet.” Afterwards, students wrote about what stood out to them most about the poem and the way it was delivered. Then they were challenged to brainstorm some of their own early childhood memories and to add sensory details and “word pictures” to help bring the memory to life. I think the results were pretty amazing!
After that, we took a few minutes to recite the poem we are attempting to commit to memory: “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. The homework was to memorize it up to stanza four. After reviewing for a few minutes, students stood up and attempted to recite it from memory. Keep working on it! The goal is to recite it at our Poetry Event on the last day of class.
Writing
Now that students have turned in their FINAL formal essay for me (whoohoo!) they will submit a more informal Reflection Essay. Reflect on what, you ask? At the beginning of the year, students were given a Blue Book, a simple writing prompt and a 20 minute timer. Today, I passed those same Blue Books back and gave them the same prompt and set the timer once again. Their Reflection Essay will ask them to compare their writing from the beginning of the year and to evaluate their own writing growth. I hope students will be encouraged to witness their growth this year! I passed out the guidelines for that assignment. It is due the last day of class (May 7).
Literature
After that students had another opportunity to try their hands at writing some original poetry. We read George Ella Lyon’s autobiographical poem “Where I’m From”--and listened to the poet recite it. They had some insightful observations! Students had time in class to compose their own autobiographical poem in a style of their choice or based on the “Where I’m From” poem template.“I could tell some really got into “the zone” writing these and my hope is to hear some of these performed at our Poetry Event.
They are to consider which committee they want to join and as homework, they are to answer two Discussion Questions by Sunday, April 26th! The questions are about their first and second preferences of which committee they’d like to participate in and the two poems they would like to perform. The poems can be any combination of “found poems” and original poems. “Found poems” can be from our poetry book, your own poetry collection, from the library or another source. Each poem should be 4-5 lines long minimum and should be CHAT appropriate! I mentioned that if the poem is from a source outside of our class poetry book, it must be submitted to me for approval. If it is not approved by me, the poem will not be able to be performed and you will miss out on the points for this project. We will spend the bulk of next class period on committee work.
Grammar
To conclude our Grammar for the year, I have a Mastering the Comma Test that they will take next week. For this week, they have a review sheet that they should complete and then correct. (The Key is on the Google Classroom assignment.) Correcting their own work will further help them review and will be much more beneficial than waiting a week to see if they got the answers right.
We have a couple fun weeks planned to finish out our year, so let's make sure you get caught up on any late work.
Blessings,
Mrs. G
Assignments for Next Week:
–Which Committee? Discussion Question–due Sunday, 4/23!!
–Which Poems? Discussion Question
--Choose 2 poems for your contribution to the Poetry Event
--Any combo of found and original poetry
–Finish composing “Where I’m From” poem
About the Reflection essay
–Reflection Essay (due May 7)
Complete the Mastering the Comma Review sheet and correct it. (Bring the corrected version to class)
Links for This Week
“Before the Internet”
“Annabel Lee”
“Where I’m From” George Ella Lyon audio
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