Poetry Slam

Today we celebrated the end of our poetry study with a Poetry Slam! In front of our audience of classmates and families, each student stepped up to the microphone to read a poem of their own writing. This truly felt like a culmination of our efforts throughout this poetry writing unit. We were so proud of each child's poise as they spoke slowly and clearly - reading their poem the way they intended it to be heard. 

Some poems were beautifully descriptive selections about various subjects from the sky, the sun, the wind, sunset, animals,  plants, seasons, an Apache helicopter and even donuts! Others wrote heartfelt poems about people and pets in their lives they dearly love. We had students who shared poems expressing their concerns about the world - oil spills, wildfires, erosion, while still others wrote about their wonderings about mythical beings and our own world. The final poems shared were inspired by treasured memories of things, people, places and challenges we face. The event was capped off by a very rhythmic, lively and passionate poetry presentation by Amy Mevorach (Sarah's mom) about summoning up courage and facing our fears (particularly poignant for our students rallying the nerve to face the crowd).

Take some time to look through your child's poetry collection of poems they've written themselves and those they've loved by other authors. Don't forget to open and read your child's "Doors of Poetry" as some of the topics they are passionate about are revealed there. Have them share their inspiration and their process in writing their poetry - for example, using descriptive words, conveying strong feelings, using repetition or wordplay to create music in their poem, powerful action words.

Check out the pictures below from Poetry Slam: