It’s Poetry Friday! Welcome back to Northfield Elementary, where the third grade poets are using their five senses to write about food. When I’m working with young writers on food poems, I want to guide them away from catch-all words: delicious, yummy, tasty, good, disgusting. Pizza and ice cream are both delicious, but they don’t […]
Student Poems
Friday, 19 May 2017
Friday, 12 May 2017
Happy Poetry Friday, Readers. It’s May, my month to serve as poet-in-residence at Northfield Elementary School. This is my longest running residency through the Maryland State Arts Council. 11 years! When I had my orientation meeting with third grade educators this year, they had important information for me. This year’s 3rd graders are active. They […]
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Happy Poetry Friday! Today, I’m sharing a concrete poem written by a poet named Jackie Kozell. Let’s take a look at it first, and then I’ll share the story behind this poem. Jackie is a talented artist, which you can see in the shape of the poem. But her artist’s eye also makes her observant […]
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Today was the poetry open house at Northfield Elementary School. It was an emotional day. I’ve been poet-in-residence at this school for ten years. The third grade teachers’ stories about how our poetry workshops have impacted their students, and their own teaching throughout the year, were so moving. There were lots of tears and hugs. […]
Wednesday, 25 May 2016
We’re wrapping things up at Northfield Elementary. Our third and final poetry workshop focused on odes. Tone is a difficult literary concept. The website Literary Devices defines it this way: “Tone, in written composition, is an attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience. Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or […]
Monday, 23 May 2016
Greetings, poets and friends. The Northfield third graders are working on imagery today, by focusing on our five senses. The five senses are an important tool in communication, whether you are telling a story to friends at the lunch table, or writing a poem. Appealing to your audience’s senses creates that “you are there” feeling. Using […]
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Welcome back to the Northfield Third Grade! Our poets are continuing to work on list poems, using Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Words in My Pillow” as a mentor text. You can read more about the model poem and how the students are using it to create their own list poems at yesterday’s post. Mackenzie is a […]
Monday, 16 May 2016
Hello, Readers! After my new middle grade novel launched in mid-April, I took a month off from blogging. In that month, I’ve visited schools and bookstores in Albuquerque, New Mexico, New York City, and Baltimore. Now I’m back in my own neighborhood, teaching at Northfield Elementary. I’ve been poet in residence with the Northfield third […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
