"Isn't it great when students write and read because they love to? Or, when a child or young adult values his or her library card as much as the latest electronic game? At Pine Tree Poetry, we believe fine writing nourishes everyone's soul. It exercises brains with creative thinking and adds a palette of words and colors to life.
We've created Pine Tree Poetry to interlace students, their peers, parents, teachers and school librarians in a quest for poetry writing excellence. Rarely do students earn kudos or trophies for their writing, but at Pine Tree Poetry, we are dedicated to rewarding the fine writing achievements of students who are 5 - 18."
"Last week, I began to sketch out the current poetry unit I am teaching in the seventh grade. I am still not ready to share the "paper work." You now the objectives, essential questions, assessments, and criteria. I have it all planned out, but I don't feel the need to document that part of the story on my blog just yet. I want the story of this unit to be like the work with my students; we are still trying to pry ourselves away from the literal. English is not their first language you see, so they are having a difficult time allowing language to set them free. They still cling to what they know and write exactly what they see. They cannot see that poetry is the key that will free them from the shackles of language acquisition"
iF Poems is new poetry app for the iPad, described as 'a poetry app for school-age children and for adults of any age'. It's the first great poetry app I've seen for the iPad - apologies for the spoiler but I needed to mention that right off the bat.
"Not all books are good for easy listening. Audio books on goal setting and motivation lend themselves well to listening while walking. That's not to say you can't enjoy an audio narration of a novel or even a bit of poetry."
This week I've been working with our librarian and our Grade 3 teachers to prepare our students for a skype call with the poet Kenn Nesbitt on Friday. The students are working on the How We Express Ourselves unit of inqury which is focusing on poetry and song.