Poetry Friday: Thanksgiving Magic

I am sure you are all stuffed from your Thanksgiving meal! Here is another poem to make you feel full! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Magic

By Rowena Bastin Bennett

Thanksgiving Day I like to see

Our cook perform her witchery.

She turns a pumpkin into pie

As easily as you or I

Can wave a hand or wink an eye.

She takes leftover bread and muffin

And changes them to turkey stuffin’.

She changes cranberries to sauce

And meats to stews and stews to broths;

And when she mixes gingerbread

It turns into a man instead

With frosting collar ’round his throat

And raisin buttons down his coat.

Oh, some like magic made by wands,

   And some read magic out of books,

And some like fairy spells and charms

   But I like magic made by cooks!

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Poetry Friday: Stop Sniffling!

Achoo! It is that time of the year — cold season! This poem will make you and your students smile! Wash your hands and stay healthy!

 

Stop Sniffling!

ByBruce Lansky

If you should have the sniffles,

you’d better blow your nose.

Because if you should go “Achoo!”

you’ll mess up all your clothes.

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A classroom from Baton Rouge, LA

A huge thank-you to Morgan Simoneoux, a first-grade teacher from Baton Rouge, LA, for sending in these photos of her classroom. I love how colorful all of this is! A truly warm, welcoming environment. Send your pics to d.diller@live.com

 

 

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Poetry Friday: Learning to Teach/Teaching to Learn

OK, so this is not a poem on this Poetry Friday, but an essay about teaching and about poetry by John S. O’Connor.

 

Learning to Teach/Teaching to Learn

Last weekend my son announced that his 6th grade class was about to start a poetry unit. I thought I knew what this meant, having done guest spots in my kids’ classes since they were in nursery school. So, I asked my son to give me some lead-time to arrange my schedule for a visit. But this year would be different, I quickly learned. This year, HE was going to lead the class.

This was not cockiness on his part by any means. It was just that he’d seen me lead workshops before (in earlier classes and at local libraries), and it hadn’t frankly seemed so hard. So, he volunteered, and his teacher gamely agreed. He would lead two classes back-to-back.

 

Read the entire post on the Poetry Foundation website

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Poetry Friday: Perhaps the World Ends Here

It’s November and the holidays are just around the corner. I am sure we will all be spending lots of time sitting around tables with friends and family. Enjoy this lovely poem as you look forward to many happy hours spent around the kitchen table.

Perhaps the World Ends Here

ByJoy Harjo

The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.

The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.

It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.

At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.

Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.

This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.

Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.

We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.

At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.

Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.

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A classroom from Clifton Park, NY

It is so much fun to receive all of these great classroom photos from teachers across the country! These pictures are from Tara Leander who teaches second grade at Mother Teresa Academy in Clifton Park, NY. She sent in images of her classroom setup, library, and organizational system. If you would like to share your classroom photos, e-mail them to d.diller@live.com with a brief description.

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