I'm getting ready to do my ekphrastic poetry writing unit with the second and third graders at Rose and David's school. I'm co-teaching with the art teacher, and she gave me the challenge of coming up with some activities that would help the wigglers stay focused.

In other words, just listening, talking, and writing was not going to work for them. And yet, it can't be too active. I've already nixed tossing a ball of yarn to the next voice in the poem. I'm just picturing all the kids pulling and tugging at the yarn. I need an undercurrent of motion not a tidal wave.

I would love suggestions ad modifications of the ideas I have. All of these would happen after I have taught them the poetic concept.

Color bucket

Directions
1. Have four buckets on the table representing four colors. (or provide four different colors of paper.
2. On a slip of paper, write an image, little story, or dream that includes that color.
3. Put your paper in the right colored bucket.
4. Shake the bucket up and have everyone draw out one slip from each bucket.
5. Glue the slips in any order you like to your paper.
6. Give it a title.

Problems I imagine:
Not everyone getting done at the same time, so there is an uneven amount of strips to choose from.
The lesson plus the activity will take longer than our 35 minutes allotted time.
Bucket passing is active but could be too active.

Possible solutions
Each person only do two colors.
Work in pairs.
Forget the buckets and work in pairs with each person contributing two colors.



Weaving poems--the magic of cutting things out

1. Have strips of paper and precut weaving mats.
2. Write lines on each strip. (I'll come up with some fabulous direction on what they should write.)
3. Weave the strips. Your new poem will have half the words missing.
4. Then you could add in new words in the blank slots.

Problems I imagine:

1. A lot of prep work.
2. Just weaving might be more dexterity than they can handle.



Build a Poetry Mobile

1. Provide everyone with notecards, yarn, and something to hang it from. (I'm already getting nervous.)
2. write on each notecard on one side something you see in the painting, on the other side something you don't see
hear/don't hear
smell/don't
taste/don't
3. Holepunch your notecard
4. Tie the notecards to yarn and dangle from the stick or whatever.

Problems I imagine:

1. Again it's just going to take too much time with the lesson on top.
2. And those sticks or hangers--Danger!



Counting syllables on their body

1.Count syllables on their body and only let them have a certain number of syllables per line. They already do this in class, so this will be fine.



Cutting the line

1. After a lesson on line breaks, give them lines from a group poem we wrote earlier.
2. Working in pairs, have them cut the lines and reglue the poem.