Mrs. Kuhr's Language Arts Blog

MAY

Hail, sweet month of May!
Hail, bright month of May!
Bring sunshine with thee,
Chasing clouds away.
March has left us sighing
In cold and chilly blast,
April’s tears have fallen,
May has come at last!  ~Anonymous

Student poetry is featured this month on The Author’s Page.  See more on the sixth and seventh grade blogfolios.   ENJOY!

 

                                   Spring Time        A poem by Me/Rachel L.

If I was Spring

                           I’d wrap the world in my warmth.

                         I’d blow a breeze and cool down.

               I’d make the world colorful

With wild flowers.

           Everyday would be play

              With animals in the trees.

               We would go to the beach

       And play in the water

With the fish.

                              The world would be my playground

           And the ocean my pool.

               We would run in the grass

                                             And stop only for ice cream and lemonade.

                      And to cool down in the shade.

                  As we run where ever I step

                        Flowers spring out of the ground.

                When I sing the birds join in

        And the animals dance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Ocean I Am 

If I was a ocean

I’d be making waves

that are huge and tall

I’d sometimes be very calm

or sometimes be very rough

I’d have many seashells

that lie on my ocean floor

crabs, fish and other sea

animals live in me

 

My water would earthier

be cold in the winter, and fall

then hot in the spring, and summer

also, I would be very salty

 

My floor would

be all sandy

I love it when

the sand comes

into me from

the seashore.

 

I love when

children and adults

come running in

they swim they surf

people will surf all day

they will compete they

will learn how to surf

I try to make great waves

so then kids and adults

will be able to surf big waves

I never get tired I never get sick

 

When people come into me they

will swim and play

all day long I love when lots

of people come to me

I love being the ocean!

By Casey B.

ONE WORD POETRY PROMPTS

STORIES

Stories are what we rely on, You and I
to take us to places lost somewhere nigh
amidst glued, sheltered minds
You and I
You and I are now
but we were You and I then
and we will be You and I again
until these moments become stories
stories You and I will only remember
and You and I will remember
We will remember ~ by Lily

Page by page around the bends
On the edge of your seat until it ends

Word by word it all makes sense
I really can’t take the suspense

About frosty towns or foxes dens
Silky paint or colorful pens

You don’t need to sit there, just read ~ by Sam

Tell your life
in a quick,
shortened way
tell my stories,
my shortened life
in a few words

~ by Montgomery 

Stories are just a bunch of words mixed together
They can mean nothing
They can mean something
It depends on the writer
It depends on the reader
It depends on you. ~ by Jilliyn

 

BURNING

the world is a flame in the shadow
like wood being torn to shreds to ash
floting in the wind so heavily
the world is a war of flame burning in the night of the shadow
world is never sweet like smores burning . . . only the ash brings the world to peace  ~ by Cayla

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ by Shira D.

CHAI Reading: due May 8, 2013

• Genre: Historical Fiction
• Book Review: Posted to Shelfari AND linked on blogfolio
  CHAI-light:  Assume the persona of your book’s protagonist and write a blog post using his/her voice.  Post to blogfolio with reflection.

POETRY Recitation: week of May 20-24

• 6:  “How To Eat A Poem” and other sensory works
• 7:  Assorted poems by Frost, Browning, Dickinson, Poe, Donne, etc.
• 8:  Shakespeare’s monologues

POETRY Written Exam: May 29

 

 

 

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com

The clock is ticking, and the kids are counting the number of days to graduation and the school year’s end.  Teachers are counting, also.  For us, the clock ticks much too quickly – there will always be one more story to tell, one more discovery to make, one more page to write (including this one).

 

CLASS UPDATES

All Grades:

• Poetry tests were taken this past week.  Results are not what I had hoped for.  Next week we will re-review in preparation for a retest on Thurs. 5/31 or Fri. 6/01.  (More on this, later.)

• Using piclits.com (an awesome tool new to this classroom) students created some awesome poetry, which you can find on their blogfolios.
• 6th: haiku
• 7th: diamantes

• Poetry recitation continues Wednesday, 5/30.
• 6th: “How To Eat A Poem” by by Eve Merriam
• 8th: selected scenes from “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand

•  LAST Chai Reading due 5/30/12
• Chai-light: Write a journal/diary entry as one of the book’s characters
• Rubrics have been shared with all students on Google docs
• Genre: Children’s Literature for the Primary Grades (Have fun!)

LOOKING AHEAD

• 5/28/12     No School:  Shavuot, Yizkor, Memorial Day (Chag  Sameach)
• 5/31/12      Talent Show 2:00 P.M.
• 6/01/12      School-wide Kabbalat Shabbat 3:15 P.M.
• 6/1-7/12     Housekeeping
• 6/06/12     Middle School Graduation 10:30 A.M.
• 6/06/12     End of last 9 wks.
• 6/07/12     Last Day of School – Noon Dismissal
• 6/08/12     Summer Break Begins!  

 

Photos courtesy of Wikiimages, Public Domain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ”Perhaps,” I pondered, “my penchant for Poe’s poetry  partnered with my profuse passion for painstakingly ponderous puzzles might just proffer the perfect opportunity to propose a perfectly peachy Happy Mother’s Day packed with promise.”

Yes, the Bard has paid a visit to Room 108, and poetry abounds in all LA classes.

• Grade 6:  Elements of Poetry (sensory and figurative language, sound devices, and characteristics of lyric and narrative poems); composition (see “If” poems on blogfolios); memorization/recitation: “How To Eat a Poem” by Eve Merriam
• Grade 7:  Elements of Poetry; memorization/recitation of classical poetry: Longfellow, Dickinson, Dylan Thomas, Kipling, Frost, Kilmer (see poems, poet bios and reflections on blogfolios)
• Grade 8: Elements of Poetry; poetry as performance art; plays written in verse: memorize and perform selected scenes from “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand

LOOKING AHEAD

• Grades 6-8:
  • 5/15/12   Chai Reading due
  • Chai-light: Imagine that you are a set designer.  Create a miniature stage setting (actual or virtual) that depicts a crucial scene in your book.  Include a written explanation of the scene.
  • 5/23/12      Poetry Test (proposed)
  • 5/21-24/12  Poetry Recitations
  • 5/28/12     No School:  Shavuot, Yizkor, Memorial Day
  • 5/30/12     Chai Reading due
  • Chai-light: Write a journal/diary entry as one of the book’s characters
  • 5/31/12      Talent Show
  • 6/01/12      School-wide Kabbalat Shabbat
  • 6/01-05/12  Housekeeping
  • 6/06/12     Middle School Graduation
  • 6/07/12     Last Day of School – Noon Dismissal
  • 6/08/12     Summer Break Begins!

 

Unsolved puzzle courtesy of jigzone.com

 

 

Wake up early on the morning of testing

Eat a good breakfast, don’t be late

Your mind is blank-you wish you were resting

Will  you do well?  It’s all up to fate

You are sitting in the classroom

Your  pencils  must be #2

Time is limited, and  you must zoom

The test begins-the minutes are few

Have no fear

How will you do?

No pressure here

It’s all up to you

Out on your own

Cold and alone… again

Now it’s slowly tearing me apart

Grey would be the color if I had a heart.

This place where I sought out to hide

Screaming outward to shoot me back inside

Where death is all I see

It’s just a fading reminder of how I used to be.

Authored by Victoria L.

If I were a bumble bee
I’d buzz like a buzzer at a game
I’d soar through the sky
and say hi as I buzzed by.

My loud buzz would warn
people that I was here,
they would be afraid of me
but they wouldn’t have to be.

I am a friendly fellow
and also bright yellow,
it would take a while
for people to see
my big smile.

My wings
would flap and take me
up high,
like a bird
in the sky.

All day I would play
and people would say
hey look at the bumble bee,
I wish that was me.

If I were a Plane
I’d comfort those who’d be with me
Spread my wings
And soar through life

During important times I’d hover
During unimportant times
I’d fly by

Sometimes I’d be in
A cloudy mood, But I’d always
Make it to blue skies

My tail and wings
Would comfort me
When things got bumpy

When I feel gray
I get away and go
Up…
Up…
Up…