Spring is Finally Here!

It was 7pm, as I quickly headed out the school doors. On my right shoulder, my crimson, worn out, Longchamp shoulder bag weighed heavily, full of test papers I probably wouldn’t grade and my left hand held tightly to a plastic bag full of clothes, an old tupperware container I finally was taking home and a pair of shoes.

I suddenly stopped at the bottom of the stairs outside my school. I was amazed. Not by the pink petals from the cherry blossom trees in full bloom. Not by the empty soccer field usually full of squirming kids in uniforms. Not by the chilly, light jacket weather. I was amazed that it was still bright outside.

The sun was slowly starting to set as I could see the sky ever so slightly changing shades in the distance. However, I was able to walk home in the light. Spring is finally here!

Some photos from around our school:

For more slices of life go to two writing teachers!

Poetry Does Matters

I’m having a blast teaching our poetry unit in writing workshop right now. Our poetry wall which I shared about in previous posts is all FILLED up now! It was really cool seeing the students put up their own poems on the wall and read each other’s poem.

I’ve also introduced the self portrait anthology project where the students will be filling in a blank book with poems and “choice” pieces that express who they are. They were really excited about getting started on this project.  We will also start preparing for our joint fifth grade poetry cafe as well!

Our full poetry wall!

chubby goldfish poem

I just started reading this book called Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher. I am even more excited to see him in person at the Reading Institute this summer in NYC! Anyways, there are some really good quotes from the book that I wanted to share:

“It has been said that writing a poem for someone else is like giving blood because it comes from the heart of the writer and goes to the heart of the receiver. Poems are filled with words from the heart.” –Ralph Fletcher

“A poem is like an x-ray of what is going on inside of you. ” –Ralph Fletcher

Reading & keeping my eye open for a seat on the subway.

The Ocean

Here’s my slice of life today in a poem.We are in the midst of our poetry unit and I’ve been writing poetry with my students. This poem I wrote with my students when we were learning about personification. I’ve always wanted to live next to the ocean.

* I made a small revision to the poem by changing the “it” to “she”. I would imagine the ocean to be a strong woman!

The Ocean

The ocean swaggers into the shore.

In and out.

In and out.

She tiptoes on tiny feet and freshly built sand castles.

She runs over shattered seashells and slimy seaweed.

In and out.

In and out.

She sprints back home and doesn’t look back.

For more slices, go to two writing teachers!

Poem A Day Challenge

I felt very inspired after participating in the two writing teachers’ slice of life challenge this past month and decided to do a similar type of challenge with my students. We’ve just started learning how to use blogs and I thought that this challenge would be a fun way to get my students immersed into the blogging culture! For the next two weeks, each student will be posting a poem a day on their blog. Their blogs are still a work in progress, so please focus more on their poems!

Please leave a comment on their poem! They love getting comments.  

Here’s a link to the first post of the challenge from our class blog:
http://mskimgrade5.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/poem-a-day-challenge-1/

Waiting.

As I was outside for recess duty the other day, I kept looking for signs of spring. I looked at the other playground where the cherry blossoms cover the sky and create a pink petaled floor in the spring. Yet, there was nothing. It’s April 1st. Come on spring. You can do it. I’m waiting.

Some photos that remind me of spring, because I’m almost forgetting what it looks like.

Cotton Candy & Cherry Blossoms

Yeoido Park Last April