April is Poetry Month! To celebrate the month Teacher Margaret offers two challenges to any student (or adult) in the community.
This year the stakes have risen a bit. If an original poem is written and recited (rules below), that person earns a tea party and a popsicle!
I. Write an original poem and read it to Teacher Margaret, Teacher, Jillian, or
Teacher Cindy - earn a popsicle and a tea party.
A.The poem must have two stanzas with at least four lines in each stanza
B.The poem must have at least one of the following elements
1. Simile
2. Metaphor
3. Rhyming
4. Alliteration
5. Onomatopoeia
C.You must bring a rough draft, a second draft, and a final draft to show
1. You should be able to show the changes from one draft to the next
2. The final draft should be beautifully written
D.Successful poets earn a tea party with Teacher Margaret and their names
and poems on the SPARK Board.
II. Recite a poem to Teacher Margaret, Teacher, Jillian, Teacher Cindy, Teacher
Lily, Mister Wayne, Nurse Maggie, Nurse Brigid, or Teacher Carol - earn a
popsicle.
A.Poem Length
1. Poems must be more than eight lines long for students in the Second
through Fifth Grades.
2. Students in Sixth to Eighth grades need poems that are at least 10 lines
long. The average line length must have at least 14 syllables in all
cases.
a) Two Haiku or two Sijo may be substituted for one longer poem
3. You may recite a portion of a longer poem. 8 lines is the minimum but
this opens the door to Langston Hughes, Amanda Gorman, Seamus
Heaney, Nikki Grimes.....Mary Oliver, Kwame Alexander ... Be
adventurous. Discover a new poet.
4. Students in Kindergarten and 1st Grade may recite four-line poems.
5. Prek and Preschool students are invited to learn a poem of any length!
They may learn poems as a class or in small groups. Teacher Margaret
will come and listen!
B.Other Rules
1. Each week, you must choose a different poet and poem to memorize
and recite
2. Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky are reserved for students in
Preschool through First Grade.
C.Reciting your memorized poem.
1. Politely ask an adult if they have time to listen.
2. If the adult agrees, hand them a copy of the poem you will recite (if you
write it down yourself, you may find this helps with the memorizing
process. If you do this be sure to include the title and the poet!)
3. The adult will decide whether or not you are 100% correct.
4. If you are successful, you will be added to the list of popsicle receivers
for the week. If you are not successful, you are welcome to try again
the next day.
5. If you and a friend are coming together to recite poems to the same
teacher in the same time frame, you must each recite a different poem!
III. We will chart everyone’s progress on the board outside of Teacher Margaret’s
office.
The first student to recite a poem this year 5th grader, Ellis M.