Why We Use Punctuation

Inspired by "You Oughta Meet Danitra Brown"

Reading Workshop students, write an inspired by poem about yourself. Please take note of the pattern of three line stanzas with the first two line rhyming.

You Oughta Meet Danitra Brown

By Nikki Grimes

From the book Meet Danitra Brown

You oughta meet Danitra Brown,
the most splendiferous girl in town.
I oughta know, 'cause she's my friend.

She's not afraid to take a dare,
if something's hard, she doesn't care.
She'll try her best, no matter what.

She doesn't mind what people say.
She always does things her own way.
Her spirit's old, my mom once said.

I only know I like her best
'cause she sticks out from all the rest.
She's only she--Danitra Brown. 

You Oughta Meet Your Teacher

Inspired by You Oughta Meet Danitra Brown

By Nikki Grimes

In sixth grade, the weirdest guy

Never see him wearing a tie

A casual Mr. McGuire

Even though he is a teacher

He acts a little like a preacher

pushing kids to do what's right

Always cracking a little joke

Finding ways in minds to soak

a little learning

Constantly yelling about hard work

No one dares act like a jerk

in his classes.

Singing out, a horrible sound

making students' brains pound

Another day in language arts

Need some rhyming help? Check out Rhymezone.

Where Do You Learn?

What Will Your Verse Be?

Will your inspired by poem tell your tale?

Inspired by "Where I'm From"

In an inspired by poem, writers use the original poem as a guide. Lines, spacing, rhythm, and stanzas usually mimic the model poem.  The topic is similar but adapted to fit the writer. 

Using George Ella Lyon’s poem as a model, write your own inspired by “Where I’m From” poem. Think about sensory details of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch in your life. Picture your house and your neighborhood. Consider people that are important to you--parents, grandparents, relatives, friends, and people you admire. Think about things from your life that made you like you are--activities, events, family traditions, and hobbies.

Where I’m From 

by George Ella Lyon

I am from clothespins,

from Clorox and carbon tetrachloride.

I am from the dirt under the back porch.

(Black, glistening

it tasted like beets.)

I am from the forsythia bush,

the Dutch elm

whose long gone limbs I remember

as if they were my own.

I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,

from Imogene and Alafair.

I’m from the know-it-alls  and the pass-it-ons,

from perk up and pipe down.

I’m from He restoreth my soul with a cottonball lamb

and ten verses I can say myself.

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,

fried corn and strong coffee.

From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger

the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box

spilling old pictures,

a sift of lost faces

to drift beneath my dreams.

I am from those moments–

snapped before I budded–

leaf-fall from the family tree

Do You Know A Lot?

Reading Poetry

Poems are built on ideas, experiences or emotions in a condensed form that makes the reader search for understanding.  The reader should slow down, think about each line and the words in it, and then reread and reconsider.

However, to understand poetry the reader must not go gently, but should attack.  As we begin to spend time in Reading Workshop with poetry/word study, students must overcome their fears and dive into the language of poetry.  Whether it be as a reader, analyzing the work of others, or when revising their own work, students must go full speed ahead.  They need to take the advise given by Eve Merriam.

How to Eat a Poem

Don't be polite.
Bite in.
Pick it up with your fingers and lick the juice
that may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now, whenever you are.

You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth.

For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
or skin
to throw away.

What is Merriam's point?  What about the poem makes you think that?  What thoughts do you have when tearing into her poem? Or others? How does this compare to the way you revise your own poems?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/10362168/sizes/s/

How Would You End the Book Essay

Let's See, What are Good Poetry Titles?

Weird Students
Mismatched Socks
Riding Vader (My Horse)
I Ate Too Much Chocolate
Cheesy Biscuits and Garlic Breath
Hard Workers
Eli is Not So Shy Any More
Just Plain Megan
Cafeteria Noise
Why Do You Make Me Have to be Mean?
The General aka Mrs. Hardin
Frank the Tank (Kaminsky)
Frank Gets Class
Rainy School Days
Zoom aka Carter
Zoom Thinks He's a Super Hero
The Last Class Was Boring
It Was All My Fault
I was Boring
We Were Still Asleep
Last Night I Had Bad Dreams
Why Does Tacey Work So Hard?
Distracting Class
Off Topic
Writing
World Hunt
I Hate to Lose
My Truck Got Washed Today
I Want to Cry
Not
720 Classes in a Year
My Heart's a Stereo
I Want to Be the Next American Idol
Everybody Now, Slide to the Left
Courage Enough to Write
My Diet Starts Next Monday
Grandma Has Gas
Talk Less, Write More
Afraid of Poetry
Dreams, Desire, Dedication, and Dish Washing
My Chucks Have Blue Shoestrings
Whining Instead of Working
Flo Rider (I Cry)
Music Makes Me Think
Are We Going to Sing Today and Other Questions Students Ask Every Day
Can I Go to the Bathroom?
How Many Topics Should I List?
Is This OK?
Allison Got Her Name on the Sign
Seriously, Aren't you a Little Sick of Cats Because I Am
Alexis, Allison, and Ashton
Earn a Brave Buck
A Little Less Cry and a Lot More Effort
My Sense of Humor is Underappreciated
Nose Pickers
Eddie's Hair
Take a Load Off Fannie
Morning Announcements
It's For not Fur
Red Card
You Can't Have My List
I Wonder What You Don't Know That I Don't Know
A Spot in Time and It's Not a Dalmation
Spaghetti Face
I Hate Sporks

The Author's Feelings

Have you ever thought about what the writer was feeling? In most instances, great writing is the result of situations or problems that spark strong feelings. The writer is faced with an emotional situation and uses writing as an outlet. 

Sometimes feelings of joy need to be shared. Other times relief in dealing with sadness or grief comes from sharing through writing. In this poem, Mother to Son, by Langston Hughes, he describes facing the challenges in life. 

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor --

Bare.

But all the time

I'se been a-climbin' on,

And reachin' landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't been no light.

So boy, don't you turn back.

Don't you set down on the steps

'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now --

For I'se still goin', honey,

I'se still climbin',

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

What was he feeling as he wrote this poem? How does that relate to your feelings as a reader? Do think there is usually a connection between the author's feelings and the reader's feelings?

Image from http://beninjapan.blogspot.com/

Bring Some "Ing" to Your Poetry

Good poetry is alive, bringing the reader inside and making him think, or wonder, or laugh, or cry. And to bring the reader in nothing works better than action verbs. Thus the need for some "ing."

Screaming, shouting, racing, zinging, glistening, clinging, spinning, howling, catching, hooting, buzzing, violating, falling, sprinting, vaulting, pouncing, scaling, attacking, lunging, foraging, galloping, whipping, creating, gambling, whaling, slashing, wondering, listing, faking, destroying, escaping, dreaming, visualizing, imagining, bouncing, scraping, flailing, editing, revising, writing . . .

Make Your Words Count in Poetry

Cut out all those words.  This is poetry so you don't need them.  In fact, if the word doesn't do something to clarify meaning, or help make your point, just delete it.

Get rid of all those annoying little words and leave only the ones that matter.  You really don't need all those "it's" and "is's."  Nor do you need those are's and were's. Trim the fat and excess words.  Make your poem meaningful and exciting.

The best thing about poetry is that the author makes the rules.  You can choose whether or not to use capital letters, sentences, and punctuation.  The only rule is write in the best way to make your poem meaningful and understandable.  Just write so your reader relates to your message.

Author's note:  There are divided thoughts about using apostrophes in certain circumstances to show plural.  The general thinking is that it is allowable in a few instances if it helps considerably with making text more easily understood and more readable.

Image from http://kerileebeasley.com/

Make a Poem

Take this poem and rewrite it. Make it yours. Use your imagination. Be creative. You can read other student's poems HERE.

A boy
walked down
the path

He thought
about kids
at his school

He wished
they were
a little nicer

He didn't know
how to make
it happen

He tried
smiling at them
and it worked.

Tell Me About the Main Character

I Hope You're Learning Your Yours

Using language correctly tells others that you are intelligent, thoughtful, and responsible, some of the time. Then there are cases like this:

Image from @grammarly

Do You Know Your Yours?

Image from @grammarly

What Makes You Awesome?

So Reading Workshop students, what makes you awesome? What one thing sets you apart? What one trait defines you? When you think about your best quality, what comes to mind? What is the one thing that you do best? What makes you awesome?

Tell me about it.

Image from @bethhouf

Examples of Using Information From the Text

Listed below are four examples from the Reading Workshop Question of the Week Board.  Read each and then complete the form below.

Example 1

I think that every kid in the sixth grade should read the Divergent series by Veronica Roth because it has a lot of action and some comedy and romance. There are three books in this series, but there is an additional one. Out of all of them my favorite is the third one called Allegiant. I like the third one the best because it has the most action.

For example, kind of at the end of Allegiant Caleb( Tris' brother) has to go through death serum to destroy it so no one can ever use it. Well Tris is Divergent so she thinks that she should go instead because she thinks she can fight the death serum off like all the other ones but Tobias made Tris promise she wouldn't go. Then when Tris is walking Caleb to the room she has guards at the end of the hall pointing their guns. So Tris decides to go and she runs off to go to destroy the death serum.

Another pretty exciting part is when they break the faction and some people are going wild and other have no idea what to do so they go along with them. After that everyone is in the street and smashing things and yelling just doing everything you can possibly imagine. After everyone moves off the street Tris and Tobias look at what they did.

There is quite a bit of romance in this book between Tris and Tobias in this series. A lot of the book is based on there relationship. When something happens to Tris in this book Tobias comes and rushes to her side. Once Tobias meets her he sees her injured and broke. Tobias loves Tris and never want to let her go but then he had to and he was heart broken. After he saw Tris and left and went home and Tried to kill himself because he loved her so much.

I think you should read the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. They are really detailed and they have a lot of action and excitement and romance it's kind of like a few books in one. When you read it you will be amazed by this new world I really liked them and I hope you do too.

Example 2

Have you ever just looked back and wondered what was a must read book that you would recommend for every sixth grader? Honestly, I have thought about it a couple times but, I always think about so many books series. The process went from Divergent, to Percy Jackson, to The Hunger Game series. Finally, I thought about how much action and detail was in each book. So that's when I narrowed it down to just that Hunger Games.

In the Hunger Games there are some unusual things that you would normally never see in other books. For example there names are a little different than other books. In other books you would always see the same names, like Jessica, James, or maybe even Emma, but in the Hunger Games the names are Katniss, Petta (the main characters), Gale, Haymitch, and even Effie. There are more names, but there's too many name.

The Hunger Games has so many twists in it. For example, you would think that the book would go one way but really it would go the complete opposite. In the book when Katniss and Peeta finally go into the arena (the arena is called The Hunger Games) to fight, you would think that since Katniss is in the same district as Peeta then they would be working together to try to win (even though there can only be one winner at the end of the game). But does Peeta really want to work together?

Another exciting reason why everyone should read the Hunger Games is because in the second book (The Catching Fire), something very surprising happens. For example, every 25 years, they have this drawing to choose who is going to be in the Hunger Games that year, but they usually have the whole district in a glass jar. Well after 25 years, something different happens where there's only a few people in the glass jar. 

There are so many reasons why every sixth grader should read the Hunger Games, but I only wrote a few. There's also a lot more examples that could go along with the book but, I don't want to give the book away. There are three books in the Hunger Games series. They are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and last but not least there's the Mocking Jay. They are all really extraordinary books that I think every sixth grader should read.

Example 3

What books are must reads? There are a lot of books that I think 6th graders should read, but I'm only going to name a one. Some of you might have seen my blog posts. I have quite a few posts about must read books. If you think that one of the books on here is interesting, you can go to my blog, because some of the books on here I typed about on my blog.

Some books that I think are must reads are books by Wendelin Van Draanen. Her books are really good. Some books by her are Runaway, The Running Dream, and Flipped. I've read all three of those books and they were amazing. But the must read book would probably be Runaway. Runaway is perfect for a 6th grader because it has some action, survival, and just a cool story rolled up into one book.

Runaway is about a twelve year old girl named Holly. Holly doesn't get along with her foster parents, so she runs away. The action and survival starts after she runs away from her home. When Holly travels to different places, she meets really weird people. It's like seeing strangers at the side of the road: you don't know their story, you don't know their background, you just try to keep your distance. She sometimes has to run away from them or sometimes gets in fights with them. Holly is homeless, so she has to find a plan on how to survive. Survival is important because Holly needs food and shelter but she can't always trust the people around her. She digs out of garbage cans and hopes that she can find something good to eat and she lives in shelters and cardboard boxes.

Here's an example of action in the book: Holly needs another place to live. She travels all the way down the street, looking for a home. Holly finally finds a short bridge. When she goes to check it out, she realizes there are people already living under it. There's some crazy girl and then there's this guy named Martin that has tattoos and is always sticking his tongue out. Holly doesn't trust the crazy girl because she's always trying to look in Holly's stuff, but Holly especially doesn't like Martin. She thinks he looks suspicious. Holly always sees Martin lurking around the soup kitchen but tries not to be seen by him.

The next day, when Holly was walking to her home, she didn't realize that Martin was following her. When she turned around, Martin attacked. He tried to kill Holly! Martin was choking Holly! She was kicking back at him as hard as she could. Holly thought she was gonna die that day because of the way he was treating her. After many screams and cries, Holly's friend came to the rescue, picked up a spear and stabbed Martin. Martin ran away. The reason why I liked that part of the book is because I like to picture myself in that kind of situation. What if a big, grown man attacked me? How would I fight back? I would kick him. I would scream and run away.

You should really read Runaway. It has a lot of cool stuff in it.

Example 4

Today in Language Arts class, we talked about what book should every student read. My suggestion is the Hunger Game series. It's a book that has a look of action and adventure and many more awesome things. The Hunger Game series was made by Suzanne Collins, she was the writer of all three books, The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mocking Jay. All three books lead up to an exciting adventure, on which you will want to hear more of.

One of the exciting parts of the Catching Fire book is when Katniss (the main character) is going through the showing of the tributes, when her dress lights up, almost as real fire, but it was actually fake so it would not hurt her. Peeta (the second main character) his clothes catch the flame too, if you don't understand why it caught flame, here's why. Katniss and Peeta are from district 12. Each district has a symbol of what they do. Katniss and Peeta wore flames because their district is coal/mining. They wore the flames to represent the burning of coal.

Another awesome part in the book The Hunger Games, is when Katniss is running in the games looking for Peeta because the speaker of the games just said pair up again with your tribute from your district. While Katniss is running she stops at a little river to search around when she hears a noise. She looks around and thinks it is another person when she realizes the noise is coming from the ground. She then sees Peeta in the ground under some rocks with a rock like paint on his face. This is a really exciting part because you don't see it coming. You don't expect him to be under some rocks while reading the book.

One more exciting part is in the Mocking Jay book. Katniss has to decide if she wants to be the mocking jay and take responsibility now living in district 13. Katniss decides to be the mocking jay, the rebel of the capital. She must now take on duties, and now, prepare for war. She must prepare because the capitol is destroying the districts, and they will be coming to district 13 before long. This is an exciting part because It's just sounds so cool to be mocking jay. There's a dress with feathers that are blue and has long wings. It also sounds like a big role to take on, and Katniss must take on that rule. The districts are turning on the capital now, and everything is being destroyed. Mocking Jay is filled with lots of adventure and lots of action.

In conclusion, I think the Hunger Games series is a must read book/series. There is three books in the Hunger Game series, and I recommend to try reading them all. These books are a must read series for sixth graders if you like survival and a little violence, and a little bit of romance. If you're looking for a good book to read in the sixth grade, I would suggest the Hunger Games series. There is action and adventure in almost every chapter.

Using Details to Support Your Position

This year we have focused on supporting your writing with details from the text. Recently on the Question of the Week Board, students wrote about a Must Read Book for All Sixth Graders. If you were the teacher, which post would you use as an example? Which post does the best job using information/details from the book to back up their claim as the must read book? 

Keep in mind the writer must have a reason of what makes the book great and the details should support that specific reason. This is not about which book you like best. This is not about which post you like best. This is a selection of one writer/post that best uses details from the book to support their point.

Time to Read

Why are you smiling? Oh, because I said, get out your book. It's time for SSR.

Today in class when this happened, I smiled too. As a language arts teacher, nothing beats having students that enjoy reading. The sixth grade class this year has many readers. We are lucky too , because the library has about 10,000 books and all of them are geared towards adolescent readers. With such a great selection every student can find something interesting and exciting.

So thanks, Travis. You made me smile too. I am glad you enjoy reading!