Clay Creatures

Mold and sculpt figurines from modeling clay or dough. When they’re finished, write five words or phrases describing the figures.

Family Poetry Jam

Place books of poetry in a basket for examples and inspiration. Supply paper, pencils, and colored markers for your children to write poems about family members, topics of study, or any subject they wish. Use other poems as a guide or invent new formats. When finished, dim the lights, spread out comfortable pillows on the floor, and host a poetry reading. Serve milk and cookies!

[Kim says: Looking for a great poetry resource? The Random House Book of Poetry for Children has been our family's favorite. Compiled by Jack Prelutsky, this anthology is a delightful collection of both classic and contemporary poems children love. My own well loved copy has literally fallen apart!]

The Further Adventures of…

Collect a set of picture books with interesting, appealing characters. Read a book aloud, and then continue the story on paper, with additional adventures of a favorite character. Create imaginary illustrations and colorful covers for these new tales.

Order, Order, Please!

Provide envelopes of pre-written sentence strips, each envelope containing the lines of a familiar poem. Have the kids work together to read the sentences and figure out the correct sequence of each poem. Provide copies of the poems for the kids to check their efforts.

Pasta Punctuation

Each child writes sentences on construction paper. Using a variety of pasta shapes such as elbow macaroni, orzo, and linguini, have the kids glue on the “punctuation” where necessary. The children should incorporate all the punctuation marks they’ve been taught to this point: periods, question marks, commas, quotation marks, exclamation marks, and/or apostrophes.

How Do You Do It?

Ask your children to think of experiences they’ve had in which they’ve learned to do something all by themselves. Perhaps it was the first time they rode a bike without training wheels, learned to tie their shoes, or did the laundry on their own. Ask them to write a set of directions teaching someone else how to do this specific action. Illustrate the directions to provide more details. Then, have each child “teach” another child using his or her instructional page.

“I’m Thinking of…”

Each child writes a very specific description of an object nearby, whether in the living room, kitchen, etc., without actually naming the object itself. When finished, read the descriptions aloud and see who can identify the items described.

Related Post: Writing Activity Centers: Part 1, Writing Activity Centers: Part 3

. . . . .

Janet Wagner is a regular contributor to In Our Write Minds. For over two decades, Janet was an elementary and middle school teacher in two Christian academies, a public district school, and a public charter school. She also had the honor of helping to homeschool her two nieces. Janet and her husband Dean live on the family farm in the Piedmont region of north central North Carolina. Currently, she enjoys a flexible life of homemaking, volunteering, reading, writing, tutoring students and training dogs, and learning how to build websites. You can view her web work-in-progress at www.creative-writing-ideas-and-activities.com.

“Hey, Mrs. Wagner! Can we go outdoors and play the “Looks Like” game?” one student pleaded. He was joined by a chorus of “Please?”

“Sounds good to me!” I don’t know of any human being immune to the southern springtime scent of honeysuckle and wild roses.

Playing the “Looks Like” Game

The “Looks Like” game was a favorite metaphor exercise. Kids played the game everywhere: on the bus, in the classroom, and always outdoors. A quick method of jumping into creative images, it freed imaginations even within my most self-proclaimed “unimaginative’ kids.

We grabbed notebooks and pens, scattering into small groups.

Clouds drifted, veiling the sun, then rolled on again. “The sun looks like a puppy wrestling with the laundry,” a child wrote.

Leaves rustled against an azure sky. Another student jotted, “The trees look like feather dusters, cleaning the clouds.”

Dogwood petals and honey locust blossoms scattered across the fields. “The blossoms look like sprinkled soap powder,” penned a young lady.

Back inside our classroom, the kids’ metaphors birthed the images of a new group poem:

Spring Cleaning

The sun hides in a basket of clouds,
                 a puppy playing in the laundry.
Trees dust the sky,
                sprinkling soap powder blossoms
                over the earth’s green carpet.

As the kids demonstrated that day, we naturally see things metaphorically. We constantly compare the way one thing looks to another. Comparison is custom-built into our language. Writing a poem can be as simple as bringing images together through metaphor and simile.

Today with your children, grab pen and paper and play the “Looks Like” game.

What do you see around you? Focus on details and write down:

• I see __________
• It looks like __________
• I see __________
• It looks like __________

Keep going!

What shared poem will you and your kids write together today to mark a wonderful day of living? Post your poems here in our comment section!

You might also enjoy:

• Writing a poem of comparison
• Spring poetry ideas

. . . . .

Janet Wagner is a contributor to In Our Write Minds. For over two decades, Janet was an elementary and middle school teacher in two Christian academies, a public district school, and a public charter school. She also had the honor of helping to homeschool her two nieces. Janet and her husband Dean live on the family farm in the Piedmont region of north central North Carolina. Currently, she enjoys a flexible life of homemaking, volunteering, reading, writing, tutoring students and training dogs, and learning how to build websites. You can view her web work-in-progress at www.creative-writing-ideas-and-activities.com.

Haiku poems may be short in length, but they’re long on vivid

description and imagery that make the most of every word.

Though there are variations, the typical haiku poem contains three lines with a specific syllabic pattern:

Line 1 = 5 syllables
Line 2 = 7 syllables
Line 3 = 5 syllables

For a special holiday twist on the traditional nature-themed haiku, invite your children to pattern a haiku poem after a Christmas carol. This can be challenging, making it a good activity for teens, but younger children might also enjoy giving it a try.

Since it’s rare for the lines of a carol to match the requirement of 5-7-5 syllables, they’ll need to do some creative rearranging of words and lines. Just make sure they stay true to the message of the original song.

Tips for Turning a Carol into a Haiku

Add or remove words to create an accurate syllable count.

O what Child is this (5)
On His mother’s lap, sleeping? (7)
He’s the King of Kings. (5)

Silent, holy night (5)
The virgin mother and Child (7)
Sleep in perfect peace. (5)

Hint: If the line has too many or too few syllables, find a synonym or replacement for one of the words. Sleep in heavenly peace contains 6 syllables, but by changing heavenly to perfect, the line now has 5 syllables. Sometimes a thesaurus will be useful in helping your child find an alternate word.

Swap the order of the lines.

Earth receives her King (5)
Ev’ry heart prepares Him room (7)
Joy to the world. Joy! (5)

Pick and choose lines from the carol.

Hark! The angels sing (5)
Glory to the newborn King (7)
Join in the triumph. (5)

Babe in a manger (5)
Jesus lay down His sweet head (7)
Asleep in the hay. (5)

Combine ideas from several lines of the carol.

Town of Bethlehem… (5)
Tonight, everlasting light (7)
Shines in your dark streets (5)

O red-nosed Rudolph (5)
It’s a foggy Christmas Eve (7)
Drive my sleigh tonight. (5)

Dashing through the snow (5)
In a one-horse open sleigh (7)
O’er the fields, laughing. (5)

Choose a lesser-known verse from the carol.

Come to Bethlehem (5)
Worship Christ on bended knee (7)
He whom angels laud. (5)
(based on “Angels We Have Heard on High”)

. . . . .

Need some ideas to get you started? Ambleside Online’s Holiday Carol Book and Caroling Corner list dozens of popular (as well as lesser-known) Christmas songs, along with lyrics, to inspire your young poets.

Copyright 2010 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

   The English Language

A pretty deer is dear to me,
   A hare with downy hair;
A hart I love with all my heart,
   But I can barely bear a bear.

‘Tis plain that no one takes a plane
   To have a pair of pears.
All rays raise thyme, time razes all;
   And through the whole, hole wears.

A writ, in writing “right” may write
   It “wright” and still be wrong—
For “write” and “rite” are neither “right,”
   And don’t to write belong.

Beer often brings a bier to man,
   Coughing a coffin brings,
And too much ale will make us ail,
   As well as other things.

The person lies who says he lies
   When he is but reclining;
And, when consumptive folks decline,
   They all decline declining.

A quail won’t quail before a storm—
   A bough will bow before it;
We can not rein the rain at all—
   No earthly power reigns o’er it.

The dyer dyes awhile, then dies;
   To dye he’s always trying,
Until upon his dying-bed
   He thinks no more of dyeing.

A son of Mars mars many a sun;
   All days must have their days,
And every knight should pray each night
   To Him who weighs his ways.

‘Tis meet that man should mete out meat
   To feed misfortune’s son;
The fair should fare on love alone,
   Else one can not be won.

The springs spring forth in Spring, and shoots
   Shoot forward one and all;
Though Summer kills the flowers, it leaves
   The leaves to fall in Fall.

I would a story here commence,
   But you might think it stale;
So we’ll suppose that we have reached
   The tail end of our tale.

From Eclectic Magazine, January 1881

. . . . .

The author of this poem uses many homophones to create plays on words. But if some of these homophones regularly give your children trouble, consider All About Homophones, a wonderful resource that clearly teaches homophone spelling rules with fun games and activities. Contains exercises for grades 1-8.

Spring brings out the poet in me. I’m so rejuvinated by the deepening green of our lawn, the cheer of birdsong, and the cascade of fuchsia bougainvilleas along the garden walls that I can’t help but toss out lovely words like blossom, bloom, and bud.

Every day, clumps of feathery alyssum grow rounder as they fill in the bare patches of earth. Thanks to April showers, March’s seed is giving way to tender blades of new grass. And my perennial coreopsis is shamelessly showing off in the front flower bed.

Are you reveling in spring too? Have you been buying new garden gloves and seedlings? Planting vegetables and flowers? Eyeing a new fountain or bench for your yard? Are you savoring the sights, sounds, and smells of spring? Are words like garden, ladybug, and hollyhock rolling around on your tongue?

Then you’ve got the bug—and you’ll want to know about Horticulture Magazine’s Garden Verse Poetry Awards and a chance to win up to $250!

Poems about Spring

For inspiration, check out these websites and savor some spring poetry.

• Poems children will love
• More spring poems

Enter the Poetry Contest

Enter here. The deadline has been extended to May 3,  2010 so you have a whole week  to write a garden-themed poem. There’s no age limit, so why not make this a family activity? Linger over our Spring Word Bank for even more ideas and motivation.

Above all, enjoy the journey.

by Karla Kuskin

I’m shouting
I’m singing
I’m swinging through trees
I’m winging skyhigh
With the buzzing black bees.
I’m the sun
I’m the moon
I’m the dew on the rose.
I’m a rabbit
Whose habit
Is twitching his nose.
I’m lively
I’m lovely
I’m kicking my heels.
I’m crying “Come Dance”
To the fresh water eels.
I’m racing through meadows
Without any coat
I’m a gamboling lamb
I’m a light leaping goat
I’m a bud
I’m a bloom
I’m a dove on the wing.
I’m running on rooftops
And welcoming spring!

From In the Middle of the Trees by Karla Kuskin.
Copyright © 1959, renewed 1986 by Karla Kuskin.

Welcoming Spring

Spring is here, and I’m loving it! Every week brings something new to my garden: The grass is thickening and greening up. Our silver maples, usually waiting till May, are in full leaf—just behind the birch trees, fruitless mulberry, and white alders. Daisies, sweet alyssum, and vivid impatiens dance in pots on my porch and patio. A consortium of snails meets on the front walk every morning. And a good drenching rain each week is keeping everything blooming and blossoming.

A Spring Word Bank

There’s so much to write about in spring. Even if your children have been weakened by a bout of spring fever, a word list filled with fresh, cheerful spring vocabulary will help motivate them to describe the season in all its glory. If you’ve enjoyed our other seasonal word banks, you’ll love this one too!

Seasonal Fun

spring, springtime, season, weather, March, April, May, galoshes, hat, jacket, rain boots, raincoat, slicker, umbrella, baseball, bike, kite, roller skates, sidewalk

Over in the Meadow

creek, gurgle, icy, pond, puddles, seep, splash, stream, trickle; copse, dale, earth, farm, field, furrow, garden, hill, loam, meadow, mud, mulch, ooze, orchard, row, soil, trees, vale, valley, woods; apple blossom, bulb, bud, cherry blossom, crocus, daffodil, daisy, flower, grass, grassy, iris, leaf, leaves, lily, maple, pansy, petals, plants, sap, sapling, seed, seedling, shoot, snowdrop, sweet pea, tulip, twig, violet; chard, lettuce, peas, fence, hoe, spade, watering can, wheelbarrow

Welcoming New Life

babies, baby, born, birth, new life, newborn, animals, birds, nature; downy, feathery, fluffy, gentle, soft, tender; bee, bluebird, bunny, butterfly, calf, caterpillar, chick, duck, duckling, eggs, fawn, finch, flock, foal, frog, hatchling, ladybug, lamb, polliwog, scarlet tanager, slug, snail, robin, tadpole, worm; barn, henhouse, nest

In Like a Lion, out Like a Lamb

airy, blow, breeze, bright, brilliant, brisk, cheerful, chilly, clean, clear, clouds, cool, drip, drizzle, fair, fresh, melt, new, rain, rainbow, showers, sky, sparkling, sunny, sunshine, thaw, verdant, vivid, warm, warming, wind, windy, blue, brown, green, pink, white, yellow

Feelin’ Like Frolicking 

blooming, blossoming, bobbing, budding, building, buzzing, cavorting, chirping, darting, digging, dipping, diving, flapping, flourishing, flying, frolicking, gamboling, gardening, germinating, growing, hatching, hoeing, leafing, leaping, nesting, planting, playing, pruning, romping, running, scampering, singing, spading, sprouting, sugaring, swimming, teeming, tilling, waving, winging

Copyright 2010 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

. . . . .

Share a comment: What does spring look like outside your window today? Pick 5-10 words from the Spring Word Bank that describe spring at your house, and list them in the Comments section.

Spring is in the air—and it’s a great time to look for some fresh writing opportunities for your children. Considering my wacky schedule this week, I thought I’d visit the archives and find some creative writing ideas that will help you dispel spring fever. Give them a try!

Poetry

New birth, fresh growth: springtime fairly explodes with life! Poetry is a perfect way to capture the fragrance, blossoms, showers, sunshine, and birdsong of the season. Visit these mini poetry lessons for some inspiration.

• Writing a cinquain - A simple five-line descriptive poem
• Writing a diamante - A seven-line poem of opposites
• Writing a haiku poem - Imagery-packed poem in seventeen little syllables

Creative Writing

• Spring into writing, part 1 - Journaling prompts and descriptive writing ideas
• Spring into writing, part 2 - More poetry for spring: acrostics and color poems

Brighten up your schooling: let your children dabble in these simple, creative, colorful writing exercises. You’ll love the results!

First Place

We have our winners in last week’s haiku contest! I used random.org to select the first place winner, Cullen. Here’s his haiku poem:

The grasses are green
dew is sparkling here and there
earth’s morning beauties. 

Second Place

Second place goes to Andrew K., age 9, who wrote my personal favorite and won a World of Animals StoryBuilders card deck. Here’s his haiku about a yellow jacket:

buzz-black, yellow bug
in garden flying, eating
stinging all the worms

It was a tough choice because there were some very clever and well-written entries. But in the end, Andrew’s won out because he:

1. Followed the format.
2. Avoided “to be” words.
3. Made every word count.
4. Picked a nature theme.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Keep up with your haiku!

Words Matter Week: Day 1

Every single day, almost without fail, the poetry lessons draw more folks to this blog than any other article (with the two most frequently accessed posts being Writing a Diamante Poem and Cinquain Poetry). 

This inspired me to launch right into Words Matter Week by introducing a brand-new lesson: how to write haiku (and offer a fun contest too)!

What Is Haiku?

Japanese in origin, haiku is not based on rhyme, but on a pattern of syllables. At three lines long, haiku is a poem of economy. Traditionally, only 17 syllables are allowed, so a finished haiku may end up being just 12 or 13 words long.

By its nature, haiku is concrete and concise, capturing a single moment in a mere handful of words. It’s a tall order to write a poem full of rich imagery, paint a picture in the reader’s mind, and leave an impression on a heart or soul—and do so with so few words.

Every word counts, and that’s why—perhaps more than any other poetry genre—haiku is especially fitting for Words Matter Week.

Writing Haiku: An Experience with Nature

Choosing a Subject for Your Poem

Haiku poems celebrate appreciation for beauty and nature. Plants, animals, water, weather, and seasons are often subjects of haiku. Powerful yet sensitive, these poems communicate a mood or tone without actually using words to describe feelings. 

Red and gold poppies
explode with fresh spring colors,
invading my yard.

Notice how this haiku expresses a crisp, springy, bright feeling. You can picture a tired winter garden coming to life. The words never actually say, “After a cold, colorless winter, I am so happy and cheered to see flowers again!” Yet this is the message the poem brings. 

In the darkest wood
with heads hanging mournfully,
weeping willows cry.

This poem gives a feeling of sadness, even though the words don’t tell you how the poet feels, or how you should feel. Notice how personification helps to communicate this tone. When writing your haiku, think about the emotions you want your reader to experience. Paint a picture with your words to express a mood.

Formatting Your Haiku Poem

Some poetry forms require the writer to follow a certain format, or structure. You may remember that cinquains and diamantes, for example, call for you to use an exact number of words within an exact number of lines. Haiku, on the other hand, requires you to carefully count syllables instead of words. This form of poetry always uses 3 lines and 17 syllables.

Line 1: 5 syllables
Line 2: 7 syllables
Line 3: 5 syllables

When counting out syllables, listen to the beat within a word, silently tapping it out on the table. Usually, a syllable is marked by a vowel sound. “Butterfly” has three syllables (but/ter/fly). The word “cocoon” contains two syllables (co/coon). The word “exuberantly” has five (ex/u/ber/ant/ly). “Flight” has only one (flight).

Because your entire poem is only 17 syllables, every single word must be carefully chosen to say exactly what you want to communicate. Rely heavily on a good thesaurus for terrific, specific words! Your thesaurus will also be useful when you need to find a synonym of more or fewer syllables that will fit better on a line of your poem.

What to Do if a Line Contains Too Few or Too Many Syllables

> Either leave out or add articles (a, an, the) to shorten or lengthen the number of syllables. Example: a six-syllable line must be shortened to five syllables.

A/ small/ frog/ trills/ loudly = 6 syllables
Small/ frog/ trills/ loud/ly = 5 syllables (drop the “a”)

> Use your thesaurus to find a similar word that will fit.

Suppose your haiku looks like this:

Thunder clouds follow me (6)
booming from behind (5)
the sky is so mad. (5)

Do you see how each line has too many or too few syllables? Let’s look at them one at a time.

Example: the first line of a haiku poem must be 5 syllables long.

Thun/der/ clouds/ fol/low/ me = 6 syllables (it’s too long – you need 5 syllables)

Now, look up follow in the thesaurus. Can you find a one-syllable word that will fit? (chase)

Thun/der/ clouds/ chase/ me = 5 syllables (this will work)

> Look for a word to drop.

Thun/der/ clouds/ fol/low = 5 syllables (just drop the “me”)

> Find a different way to say a similar thing. Often your thesaurus will help, but sometimes you just need to think! How can you express the same message while adjusting the number of syllables?

Example 1: The second line must be 7 syllables.

boom/ing/ from/ be/hind = 5 syllables (it’s too short – need 7 syllables)
bel/low/ing/ from/ a/ dis/tance = 7 syllables (use longer words)

Example 2: The third line must be 5 syllables.

the/ sky/ is/ so/ mad = 5 syllables

The number of syllables is correct—so what’s wrong with this line? Remember that you want to avoid “to be” words such as is, and empty words such as so:

the/ an/gry/ sky/ shouts = 5 syllables, OR
the/ black/ sky/ threat/ens = 5 syllables

While still expressing a “mad” feeling, these lines use more specific words that paint a fuller picture.

OK, here’s the finished haiku poem:

Thunder clouds chase me (5)
bellowing from a distance (7)
the angry sky shouts. (5)

Should haiku have a title? Typically not. If you think it needs a title to better explain the poem, do your best to work the title into the poem by removing and replacing words. Use your new syllable skills to help!

Copyright © 2010 Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

A Haiku Contest for Words Matter Week!

Now it’s time for you and your children to write some haiku! Everyone who posts a haiku poem in the comments section between now and March 7 will be entered in a contest.

• First Place: One winner will be chosen randomly to win your choice of a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card or a $20 WriteShop gift certificate.
• Second Place: I know it will be hard to decide on a winner, but I’m going to give second place to my favorite haiku poem. If there are too many “favorites,” I’ll draw from among them.

The Rules

1. Only one entry per person is allowed, so pick your best poem.
2. More than one family member may enter as long as each entry is separate and email addresses are different.
3. Your haiku must be formatted properly in order to qualify for a prize.
4. To win a physical gift, winner must have a U.S. mailing address.
5. I will notify winners on March 8. As soon as they’re confirmed, I’ll announce the winners on the blog.

Happy Words Matter Week . . . and happy writing!

~Kim

I’ve always been a big fan of writing across the curriculum. After all, it just makes sense to tie writing into as many subjects as possible. Why separate the two when they’re so much happier married?

It was’t hard to assign related writing when studying history, art, geography, Bible, or literature, though I must confess that dovetailing math and writing was a stretch for us. (I did sometimes have the kids write their own word problems. That counts, right?)

My new friend Jimmie at Jimmie’s Collage took up Math Mama’s challenge to write a poem that puts a positive spin on math. I think it’s a brilliant idea, and both she and her daughter Sprite wrote some very creative math poems. Here’s one by Sprite. Isn’t it clever?

Untitled, by Sprite
Dividing is divine,
And four plus five is nine.
Adding is just fine,
Four plus five is nine.
Negative and positive are always great.
But four plus six is is not eight.

There are no prizes involved, and no deadline, so why not plan a time to squeeze this activity into your homeschooling—and join Math Mama’s challenge. And if you’d like to share your poems here as well, you know I’d just love to see ‘em!

Meanwhile, you can visit a page filled with fun number poems you’re sure to enjoy. Here’s the first one to whet your appetite!

Money Poem
Penny, penny, easy spent,
Copper brown and worth one cent.
Nickel, nickel, thick and fat,
You’re worth 5. I know that.
Dime, dime, little and thin,
I remember—you’re worth 10.
Quarter, quarter, big and bold,
You’re worth 25, I am told.
Half a dollar, half a dollar, giant size.
50 cents to buy some fries.
Dollar, dollar, green and long,
With 100 cents you can’t go wrong.

Edit: Jimmie duly chastized me, wondering where MY poem is. So I too am rising to the challenge! Here’s my humble offering.

Of Sides and Angles
Geometry, ordered and tidy,
Pyramid, circle, and locus;
Precision of sides and of angles,
A midpoint that keeps me in focus.

Symmetry, area, compass,
Diameter bisects a chord;
Distance, dimension, and drawing,
You see why I never get bored.

Parallel planes and perspective,
The measure and tilt of a line;
Volume and ratio and surface,
Geometry suits me just fine.

~Kim