We expected to be doing this
project on a lovely, warm spring day. Oops! That describes many of our winter
days this year!
Well, the day we wrote our poems it was 37 °, cloudy, gray, windy and rainy - a nice
spring day in NJ. Despite the weather, crocuses, daffodils, and forsythia are blooming in
Spring Lake and the robins are back! Magnolia trees and weeping willows are ready to burst
forth and we're getting ready for Easter and spring vacations.
Our winter books are tucked away and spring stories are "on the menu" now:
* That's What Happens When It's Spring by Elaine Good
This is the book that inspired our project!
Mrs. Toggle's Beautiful Blue Shoe by Robin Pulver
Simon Welcomes Spring by
Gilles Tibo
Are You Spring? by
Caroline Pitche
Turtle Spring by
Deborah Turney Zagwyn
Spring, An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur
Our prewriting started with a
class discussion about signs of spring. All the students' ideas were listed on the
chalkboard. The next day we wrote a class poem. Words were tossed around quite a
bit. We tried three other words before deciding on "dripping" in the first line
of our class poem.
This collaborative writing is very motivating to new writers. The modeling of
writing a draft (sloppy copy) and rereading for revision is essential for the children to
see and participate in. Much rereading takes place to "hear how it
reads." Changes are easily made and then changed again. I like to cross
out rather than erase. My fast writing usually leads to spelling mistakes but we keep on
going. Spelling is fixed at the end.
Our class poem has four parts (a version of the 4-line poem):
Line 1: describing and naming
words
Line 2: action words
Line 3: reaction, feeling, more description (can be more than 1 line)
Line 4: That's What Happens When It's Spring!
Spring
Dripping rain
Falling from gray clouds,
People opening umbrellas,
Animals drinking,
Flowers growing.
That's What Happens When It's Spring!
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Everyone wrote their own poem using a similar format. Here are two student poems:
Trees
Colorful buds on trees
Blooming everywhere
Making the earth look good.
That's what happens when it's spring!
by Caitlin
Worms
Slimy, slimy worms
going through holes
Helping flowers grow.
That's what happens when it's spring!
by Hannah
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This project is in alignment with the following standards:
New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards
Language and Literacy
3.2 listen actively in a variety of situations to information from a variety of sources.
3.3 write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and form for
different audiences and purposes.
3.4 read various materials and texts with comprehension and critical analysis.
3.5 view, understand, and use nontextual visual information.
Social
Studies
6.7 acquire geographical understanding by studying the world in spatial terms.
National Educational Technology Standards for
Students. (NETS)
Use technology communications tools:
Students use telecommunications to collaborate,
publish, interact with peers, experts, and other audiences. |
