Poetry Unit

Here we are, finishing up our first unit in Moving Beyond the Page of the 2011-12 school year. Two year's ago, we were finishing up our first unit of the year and it was poetry. I said at the time, that it was NOT a good way to start a school year for Joseph. http://laughinglaceandlegos.blogspot.com/2009/08/poetry.html This year started out with poetry, also. What a difference two years can make! Joseph LOVED poetry this time around. I don't know if it is a general switch in attitude or if having a poetry book that is all about nature and science can change one's attitude that radically. Both Joseph and Caroline loved The Tree That Time Built. It's a great book for kids who are impressed by electrons and Darwin or anything else scientific. Joseph's reaction to Haiku two years ago was less than enthusiastic. He is still not in love with that form of poetry, but he is more willing to try and understand it. One of the first assignments that Joseph and Caroline had was to write a poem about an endangered species and then create a sculpture of it. Our car was out of commission during most of the month of August, so we had to use what was on hand. We had used up the air dry clay a few days previous and the celluclay was almost empty also. But, we did have several packages of sealed fondant on hand! So, a blue and yellow panda it is for Caroline. Joseph made a manatee, but then promptly ate it.

During the three week unit, they were required to write several different pieces. The requirements ranged from subject matter to poetry style. The end of the unit project was to pull all of this together in a lapbook. This is Caroline's. Joseph, apparently, has inherited my opinion of lapbooks and he would not assemble his. All the parts are there though.

Here are Joseph's poetic creations of the last three weeks:
 

and, last, but not least, the Haiku:

 
 
These are Caroline's:

And Caroline's Haiku: