Resources for Teachers - Elementary Math Ideas

My math class will be coming to an end this week. Over at Open Wide, Look Inside, my students are slowly posting the online component for their instructional resource sets. You will find topical posts that highlight children's books, web sites and other resources for teaching elementary math. Hop on over and take a look. I know you'll find these posts useful.

Poetry Friday - Ode to Marbles

I spent a good part of the day yesterday experimenting with soap bubbles in an attempt to determine what kind of middle school math activities might come from them. I'm still thinking about them and other childhood entertainments. When I was young I absolutely coveted my brother's marble collection. Here's a poem just for him (and me!)

Ode to Marbles
by Max Mendelsohn

I love the sound of marbles
scattered on the worn wooden floor,
like children running away in a game of hide-and-seek.
I love the sight
of white marbles,
blue marbles,
green marbles, black,
new marbles,
old marbles,

Read the entire poem.

The round up is being hosted by Jama at Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup. Do stop by and take in all the great poems being shared this week. Before you go, be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results. Happy poetry Friday all!

Poetry Stretch Results - Recipe Poems

The challenge this week was to write a recipe poem. It's only Tuesday, but folks got out of the gate fast on this one. Here are the results (so far).

Elaine from Wild Rose Reader shared this poem in the comments. It is a (slight) revision of an earlier poem.

How to Make a Morning

Melt a galaxy of stars
in a large blue bowl.
Knead the golden sun
and let it rise in the east.
Spread the horizon
with a layer of lemony light.
Blend together
until brimming with brightness.
Fold in dewdrops.
Sprinkle with songbirds.
Garnish with a chorus
of cock-a-doodle-doos.
Set out on a platter at dawn
and enjoy.

Tiel Aisha Ansari from Knocking From Inside shares a poem entitled Starfish Chili.

Laura Purdie Salas shares two recipe poems this week.

Diane M. Davis shares a poem entitled How to Make a Quiet Space.

Julie Larios from The Drift Record left this poem in the comments.

How to Make a 2-Year-Old

Start with Heart for the first year,
plenty of it. Add Head tad by tad
(plus a couple of toddles,
don’t go for name brands
like Mozart or Einstein –
a few lumpy smooches
and multiple grins and waddles
are fine.) To leaven, add tickles
(often) until you’re fairly addled
and softened, and the baby
is thoroughly moistened.
Allow to double in size.
Do not punch down
or allow to curdle. Keep warm
and dry in pj’s with penguins.
Serve with a sibling or two (or more.)
Share the results w/ all of your neighbors.

Kelly Fineman from Writing and Ruminating left this poem in the comments.

Recipe For a Mountain Stream
by Kelly R. Fineman

Carve a pathway down the mountain.
Line the streambed full of rocks.
Julienne tree roots and branches
if they keep you from your course.

Melt the snowcaps on the hilltops.
Whisk along where rapids roil.
Moisten every single pebble,
speck of gravel, mote of soil.

Here's the poem I wrote early this morning.

Island Surprise

Heat rock into molten magma
Pipe through cracks in the ocean floor
Let rise until well above sea level
Pound with surf
Simmer for thousands of years
Drizzle with sun and rain
Marinate in season after season
Dust with wind-blown seeds
Splash with the colors of the rainbow
Sprinkle with flora and fauna
Protect and enjoy for generations to come

It's not too late if you want to play along. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the results.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Recipe Poem

Lately I've been spending my evenings outside with a few trusty companions--my son, our dog, a notebook, my new fountain pen, and the book A Crow Doesn't Need a Shadow: A Guide to Writing Poetry From Nature. In the section Creating a Landscape, Lorraine Ferra shares a recipe poem and guides readers through the process of writing their own. Here's an excerpt.

Look through a cookbook. As you read the directions for several different recipes, write down the verbs which tell you what to do with the ingredients. Make a list of about ten or twelve different verbs. Keep in mind that you probably won't use all the verbs you find. Be selective for your poem.

Some possible subjects might be a recipe for a cave, foggy morning, a bird refuge, a season or particular month, a moonlit field, a river, or a sunset. Once you decide on your subject, start listing some ingredients.

Elaine from Wild Rose Reader is a master at recipe poems. Here are the directions she shares for writing them.

Directions for Writing Recipe and How to Make… Poems

• Write each direction in a separate sentence.
• Begin each sentence with a carefully selected verb.
• Try to use a different verb in each sentence.

You can read more at her post Recipe & How to Make ... Poems, Part II. This, of course, means there is also a post entitled Recipe & How to Make ... Poems, Part I.

So, there's your challenge for the week. Write a poem in the form of a recipe. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.

Poetry Friday - I Hear America Singing

With Independence Day just around the corner, I'm thinking about America. Here's one of my favorite poems about her.

I Hear America Singing
by Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand
     singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy's on his way in the morning, or
     at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of
     the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows,
     robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

The round up is being hosted by Tabatha A. Yeatts. Do stop by and take in all the great poetry being shared this week. Before you go be sure to check out this week's poetry stretch results.

Poetry Stretch Results - Acrostic Poems

The challenge this week was to write in the acrostic form. Here are the results.

Jane Yolen left this poem in the comments.

Undertaker

Victim look up.
Under a low and
Lowering sky, the undertaker comes
To carry your particulars
Up to a bleak, black heaven.
Read the set of wings, cruel beak, hooded eyes. This is no
Easing into eternity but a short, sharp shock
© 2009 Jane Yolen

Julie Larios from The Drift Record left this poem in the comments.

Green

Squash and tomatoes
Up, white clematis vining, cherries done,
Me down on my knees
Minding the weeds.
Each year, I hear their green
Rebellion

All around. And by the time I stand
Up again, another season’s come
To nudge me along. There, in the back yard,
Under the bare maple I see
Myself on my knees again, and next to me
Narcissus bulbs – named Polar Ice -

Waiting for their dark dirt.
I turn, I turn, the year turns with me.
Now it’s time for the person I am
To go inside, out of the snow, tuck
Everyone I love into bed,
Read them stories. What could be

Simpler or warmer? Later, I see someone
Putting small seeds in their trays.
Rain does its job, too, and the sun comes.
I hear the year’s green complications.
Now, the season whispers, go ahead.
Go ahead. Grow.

Tess from Written for Children left this poem in the comments.

Senses have their own symptoms.
You may experience or
Not experience
A sense perception that switches.
Even
Senses that are
Tactile such as your
hand, you may just hear it.
Estuaries can
Slide sideways suddenly
Into intuitive structures,into
Almost anything -- your salted lip!

Tiel Aisha Ansari from Knocking From Inside shares a poem entitled Azan.

Laura Purdie Salas shares two acrostic poems!

Dianne White shares a yummy poem entitled Pizza Patch.

Jone from Check It Out shares a poem inspired by her trip to Disneyland.

Elaine from Wild Rose Reader shares an acrostic for Tortoise, as well as some reviews of Fables in Verse.

Diane left this poem in the comments.

After a Month of Rain

Wearily I
read
each day's forecast
today a
chance of showers, tomorrow
heavy thunderstorms
expected with 60% chance of
despondency.

I've spent every day this week immersed in conversations about the teaching of math and science for middle school kids. With my brain swimming in numbers and theories, poetry has not come easily. Here is one of the poems I scribbled and scratched in the margins of my notes.

Phrases imperfect, imprecise
Ordered and reordered
Endlessly
Turned and twisted end over end
Revised
Yet again

It's not too late if you still want to play. Leave me a note about your poem and I'll add it to the list.

Monday Poetry Stretch - Acrostics

Last week when writing abecedarian poems Laura Purdie Salas mentioned she liked them because they reminded her of one big acrostic to solve. This sentiment resonated with me, so I thought it might be fun to write acrostic poems this week.

During the April Poetry Makers series a few folks weighed in on the acrostic form. Steven Schnur said "Though some have called my acrostic books poetry, I think of them as word play, as solutions to problems of verbal geometry." Avis Harley shared a number of acrostic poems. One example was from her new book African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways.

ABOVE ALL

Celebrate these
Long-standing giraffes,
Opening
Up clouds and eaves-
Dropping on the wind!

Far
Removed
In airy
Elegance,
Nibbling on high, they
Decorate the
Sky.

Poem ©Avis Harley

This is a fine example, far removed from the school-assigned poems to write an acrostic using your first name, or some vocabulary word being studied. What kind of acrostic will you write this week? Leave me a note about your poem and I'll post the results here later this week.