The Best Way to Get Stronger

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Want to be a Better Reader?

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Will It Be You?

Reading Workshop students, will you take a minute today to say something to make someone else's life better? Before you say yes, think about when and where this will happen. Thank you for taking the time to share some of yourself for another.

Want to Read a Mystery?

Take a Grammar Test

Are you a grammar expert? Take a test and prove it!

Grammer Monster Tests

Are You a Winner?

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Is This You?

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I Have Trouble With What to Write

I had this conversation about poetry with a student:

Student:  I have trouble with what to write.
Me: Really?
Student: Yeah, I don't know what to say.
Me: You like sports a lot, right?
Student: Yeah
Me:  How many sports poems have you been working on?
Student:  Two
Me:  So you have twelve drafts and only two are about sports?
Student:  Yeah
Me:  But you really like sports?
Student: Yeah, a lot.
Me:  Then why don't you write poems about sports?
Student:  I don't know.
Me:  If that's what you are interested in, that's what you should write about. You know, write about what interests you. Write about what you know.
Student:  Oh, OK.

Reading Workshop students, if you are struggling with what to write, maybe you need to give the topic a break and write about something that you find interesting.


Poem written by Shel Silverstein. Image from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/331296116310627083/

Hard Work

Image from @AustinFraserLtd

Revision

Poems are never finished. Eventually though, we just stop working on them.

Naomi Shihab Nye said:

If a teacher told me to revise, I thought that meant my writing was a broken-down car that needed to go to the repair shop. I felt insulted. I didn’t realize the teacher was saying, “Make it shine. It’s worth it.” Now I see revision as a beautiful word of hope. It’s a new vision of something. It means you don’t have to be perfect the first time. What a relief!      

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Poem For A Grade

The Reading Workshop Poetry Rubric

Component	4/A	3/B	2/ C	1/D
Rhythm, Form Structure, Organization	Creatively uses poetic form. A natural rhythm and structure.	Structure and rhythm seem natural to the reader.	Structure and rhythm need revised for better understanding.	Unorganized structure and rhythm.
Content, Impact	The purpose of the poem is evident leading to a natural conclusion. The poem engages the reader.	Poem is developed with content that engages the reader.	Content is basic with only a hint of the author's intent.	Content is basic and undeveloped.
Word Selection, Word Usage	Word choice is exact, colorful, and interesting. Uses sensory details to help the reader see, hear, feel, and/or think.	Word choice is interesting with the use of sensory details.	Vocabulary is basic with a few attempts at improving word choice.	Vocabulary is very basic.
Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation	No errors and mechanics used as needed to fit with the poetic structure.	Minimal errors in spelling and mechanics used as needed for understanding.	A few errors in spelling and mechanics.	Errors in spelling and mechanics that interfere with reading.
Effort	Work shows an understanding of poetry and reflects the effort to create a special piece of writing.	Developed piece of work that is the result of revising and editing.	Basic piece of writing that shows a need of improvement.	Undeveloped without signs of editing and revision.
Created by http://www.thereadingworkshop.com

Why Kids Should Blog

Ten positive benefits of student blogging:

1.  Increased Communication Skills

2.  Develop and Improve Writing Skills

3.  Interact with Different People

4.  Improve Technology Skills

5.  Engage in Social Media

6.  Understand Online Social Responsibility

7.  Explore Hobbies and Special Interests

8.  Self Development

9.  Learn to Deal with Comments

10.Develop Social Skills for Life

Just click on the picture to see it full size.

Image from www.kidslearntoblog.com

Happy World Book Day

Revising Poetry

Take a piece of advise from Lee Bennet Hopkins in his poem titled, Dear Poet. Take one of your drafts, Reading Workshop students, copy it twice, and write three versions.

Dear Poet,

Do you want
to write a poem?

Forget it . . .
until
you have
rewritten it.

Make your poem
stronger
by
not
writing a poem

but
rewriting it
and
rewriting it
and
rewriting it

until--

what you
have
is
a poem
like
no
other
poet
has
ever
written--

or

rewritten--

before!

Poem from Seeing the Blue Between compiled by Paul Janeczko.

Do You Use Commas?

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