Poetry, Poetry, Poetry

I am truly excited about our genre study, Poetry. I have really spent a lot of time trying to focus our lessons to meet the needs of all learners. Our Advanced learners will spend a good deal of time understanding, applying, and analyzing specific types of Poetry. Today they worked diligently on creating their own Acrostic, Limerick, and Haiku forms of Poetry. The Acrostic poem's theme revolved around our DCPS character trait this month, Respect and Tolerance. They also had to differentiate between a Limerick and a Haiku. Our class was filled with the sounds of clapping, tapping, and singing out their poetry lines to fit the Limerick style. Students easily transitioned to the Haiku and had the opportunity to stare out the window to inspire their nature theme. 

Our Gifted learners got their first exposure to metaphors in Poetry. We embarked on our two week focus on Emily Dickinson's, Hope is a Thing With Feathers poem. I am very excited about the activities that I have planned to help them understand metaphors in Poetry. They will apply this knowledge, analyze the use of, evaluate the use in, and create their own poem using metaphorical thinking. Students can only gain a deeper understanding of the piece through many readings and much dissection. 

I am also very excited about our upcoming Literature Study on the novel, Monster, by Walter Dean Myers. This book was chosen for the literary beauty of how the story is told. The author writes the novel in two forms; narrative and from the main protagonist's perspective, as a screenplay. The quality of the writing is outstanding and provides our Gifted learners with a challenging and complex story. They will need to be actively engaged, not only from a reader's perspective, but from a writer's perspective. This story's main focus is on our judicial system and its fairness. What a great opportunity to engage, challenge and inspire our students! 

Finally, I hope that the Gifted students are narrowing down their choices for their "Living Poets". I can't wait for their final projects to unfold into a true "Living Museum" for all our classes to enjoy. 

Please make my blog a weekly visit. I am always adding new and unusual things to the blog. Did you notice the image at the top of this post? In 1956, Benjamin Bloom developed a classification of levels of intellectual behavior important to learning. That image is the updated version reflecting relevance to 21st century work. Did you know that Bloom's is an integral part of my planning for your child's success? Did you also notice the calendar on the right hand side? Click on the link and a month view calendar will pop up. I will have a two weeks at-a-glance look at the homework, tests/quizzes, and Landon happenings. I hope this helps your child take a more proactive approach to their academic experience. It's a great tool for prioritizing!