Poetry: A Common Core Dilemma

Reflections on Teaching Poetry, a Freebie, and a Book Giveaway!

Believe it or not, teaching kids to love poetry is easy. It's a matter of finding the right poetry books to share and providing time to write about things that matter. It always amazes me how students who seem to struggle in other areas are able to write the most beautiful and expressive poetry. There’s something about the way poets can break all the rules and write from the heart that appeals to kids. I experienced this myself, and I often observed it in my students.

My own love for poetry began in childhood as I shared special moments reading and writing poetry with my best friend, Aleka. Later, as a teen, I found poetry to be a lifesaver when my family moved from New Hampshire to North Carolina. I love living in the South now, but it was definitely culture shock at the time! Writing poetry enabled me to capture my feelings on paper and to cope with the changes in my life.

As a result, I’ve always found time to share poetry with my students; teaching kids to express themselves through poetry is a gift I enjoy giving them. My favorite book for introducing poetry is Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher. It's written in simple language and includes poems about real life experiences. The poems are short, and they touch kids deeply with their simplicity.

Inspired by Kristine O'Connell George
One of the chapters in Poetry Matters is an interview with children's author and poet, Kristine O'Connell George. I loved this chapter, so I went straight to our school library and was delighted to learn that we had several of her books on our shelves. I wasn't disappointed in her work; books like The Great Frog Race: And Other Poems and Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems were perfect for teaching students how simple poems can express everyday experiences through imagery and precise language.

About a month ago, Kristine and I connected online and I invited her to write a guest blog post here on Corkboard Connections. Kristine sent me a copy of one her newest poetry books, Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems, and I fell in love with it! It’s a delightful collection of poems about the dilemma of being a big sister. In fact, the book is perfect for inspiring students to love reading and writing poetry, so I set out to create a short teaching guide to go with it.

Poetry: A Common Core Dilemma
When I began to think of ways to use the book in the classroom, I turned to the Common Core State Standards. Lately I’ve been trying to align my resources to the CCSS, so I went online to do a little research about how poetry fits in with the standards.

Guess what I discovered? If you've studied the standards, you'll know what! While there are a few mentions of poetry in the reading standards, there's absolutely no mention of poetry in the writing standards! Even the reading standards were disappointing because they focused on poetry as a genre and there was nothing about appreciating poetry or making connections to one's own life. The writing standards were even worse. Everything was either about narrative writing or expository writing, but there was nothing about poetry.

At first I was baffled, but then I remembered that the Common Core State Standards were designed for college and career readiness; nowhere do they include life skills like personal goal setting, coping with emotions, or learning to appreciate the beauty of the written word.

With this realization came the awareness that poetry truly is a Common Core dilemma! Students need so much more than college and career skills to be successful in life, yet with the focus on the CCSS now, it’s easy to feel there’s no time for anything else. I'm not suggesting that we put aside the Common Core State Standards, but if we don’t find time to teach life skills, who will?

Free Emma Dilemma Teaching Guide

With this in mind, I took another look at Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems. I thought, "Why ruin a perfectly good poetry book by dissecting it and creating a CCSS-aligned lesson?" Instead, I decided to create a lesson based on reading it aloud for enjoyment and using it as a springboard for personal writing and reflection.

You can download the free What a Dilemma! teaching guide to engage your students in some simple activities to explore the idea that we all face dilemmas in our relationships with others. Grab it now from my TeachersPayTeachers store so you can refer to it as I explain the lesson.

Share the poem "Snooping," which is included in the freebie, and discuss Jessica's dilemma in using Emma to retrieve a mysterious box high on a shelf. Then have your students write their own “dilemma” poems in the same format as “Snooping.” In the packet, I've also included a set of discussion questions you can use for small group or whole class discussions about the book. The "talking sticks" strategy works well to promote active engagement by all students in the discussion group.

The lesson might not be Common Core aligned, but it will probably leave a lasting impression on your students and By using Emma Dilemma as the focus of discussion and personal writing activities, you'll enable your students to connect with the story and come to a deeper understanding of themselves.

If you are interested in more poetry lessons and activities, visit the Poetry Page on Teaching Resources. I have loads of free poetry lessons, links to great poetry websites, and two poetry ebooks that will make it easy to foster a love of poetry in your classroom.

As April wraps up, let's remember that poetry is too wonderful to limit to one month of the year. If you find just the right poems to inspire your students, they will enjoy reading and writing poetry all year long. Emma Dilemma is just one of the many poetry books written by Kristine O'Connell George that will inspire your students; visit her website to find this book and many more!

Win a Copy of Emma Dilemma! After I posted this article, Kristine read it and kindly offered to give away an autographed copy of Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems AND an Emma Dilemma feather boa!  To enter the contest, you have to do two things.

1. First, leave a comment below to share your thoughts about poetry or just to say what you think is in the mysterious box! 
2. Then fill out this Google Doc form so I can contact you if you win. I will do a random drawing of all entries in this form on Teacher Appreciation Day, Tuesday, May 7th. 

Falling in Love ... With a Poem

April is National Poetry Month, and I'm honored to welcome nationally-acclaimed children's poet Kristine O'Connell George as a guest blogger on Corkboard Connections. Kristine is one of my favorite children's poets, and I know you'll love her work, too! Kristine shares her love of poetry with us and offers tips for teachers who want to foster a love of poetry in their students.



Falling in Love ... With a Poem
by Kristine O'Connell George

Have you ever fallen in love with . . . a poem? One of my first loves was tall and thin with a rhythmic, thoughtful voice. There was a touch of mystery.

The poem begins:

               This is my rock,

               And here I run

               To steal the secret of the sun;

I first heard David McCord’s poem in the first of what would be many, many classes with noted poet and anthologist, Myra Cohn Livingston. Suddenly, I was no longer in a classroom with adults; I was nine years old again, running down the street to my special rock. (Read the rest of the poem and learn more about McCord here.)

I fell head over heels for this poem—not at first sight, but at first hearing—because it kindled a personal connection. Did I know or care that the stanzas were tercets? That repetition of the first line provided structure? No. Had Myra launched into an analysis after reading the poem to my class, she would have broken my connection with the poem and squashed the magic that McCord’s words had woven for me.

Sometimes, I worry that we have turned poetry into the literary equivalent of broccoli. Or Brussels sprouts. Something you should eat because it’s good for you. Yuck! Too many see poetry as difficult and feel inadequate—uncertain and uneasy. Sometimes, even unsure as to how a poem is supposed to be read aloud.

The poets I know do not write poems as showcases for literary devices. They do not slip in a simile, add a touch of assonance or off-rhyme, and wrap it up in an anapestic rhythm to bedevil and torment teachers and small children.

The poets I know write, revise, and struggle with words to create their poems because something touched them deeply. Amazed them. Tickled them. They write because they want to share these feelings with others. They write—as I do—because we hope our poems will be read aloud and perhaps an unseen reader will share our delight. I like to think that David McCord had his own special rock where he “met the evening face to face.”

The late Charlotte S. Huck, Professor Emeritus of Ohio State, told me that she always read poems twice to her students. (She felt that since so much meaning is packed into a poem, kids needed to hear a poem at least twice.) She read poems aloud. No discussion. No analysis. Charlotte felt that—over the course of a school year—students would absorb, internalize, and begin to truly appreciate poetry. That they would hear and begin to understand the amazing things language can do and begin to use some of these tools in their own writing.

Charlotte also noticed the same thing that I have observed: It’s easy to read a funny poem aloud. The kids laugh! However, students often give us blank stares when it’s a thoughtful poem. They twiddle their shoelaces; we assume they did not understand the poem and we stop to explain it. However, Charlotte noted that it was often the thoughtful poems with surprising images that students would remember months later. While it might seem as if students are not paying attention, they’re listening and if they make a personal connection with a particular poem, they will take it into their hearts. I believe we need to trust that this process works, and get out of the way of a poem. Allow a poem to live and breathe before we analyze, dissect, and label its parts.

Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day

Poem in Your Pocket Day is a perfect way to share a love for poetry with your students. Find a poem you love. Share it. Simple! Each year this special day is celebrated in April, but the date changes from year to year. Click here to find out when it's celebrated this year.

So, how to find those poems you love? While there are reams of poetry on the Internet, I often find myself whizzing and clicking—never giving the poems I find the time and attention they deserve. Instead, I prefer to discover the poems I’ll share with children the old-fashioned way—in books.

Anthologies are a good place to start. Read some of the poems aloud. You might find the perfect poem for your pocket or discover a poet whose work you want to explore further. Here are some resources you might find helpful for celebrating poetry this month and all year long:

• Favorite Kids' Poetry Books
• 44 (and maybe more!) Ways to Celebrate National Poetry Month & Poem in Your Pocket Day

Or, listen to poetry readings on the Internet. Here are some links to get you started:

• Poetry Aloud - I’ve recorded a few of my own poems on this page.  
• Favorite Poem Project 
• Record-a-Poem, sponsored by Soundcloud and The Poetry Foundation 
• Poetry Out Loud – National Recitation Contest

What poems will you share this year? I'd love to hear what you have planned!

Kristine O'Connell George is one of the principal voices in contemporary children's poetry. Since her first highly-acclaimed book, The Great Frog Race, was published in 1997, Kristine O'Connell George's poetry has generated excitement and earned honors and praise. Awards for her books include the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, the Golden Kite, Claudia Lewis Poetry Awards, and many, many more. Visit her website to learn more poetry teaching tips and to find teacher guides for her books.

Math Games Make Learning Fun!

Math Games Round-up Linky

Spring is the perfect time to use math games with your students. Either you are finished with testing and the kids are restless, or you still have testing ahead of you and your kids are restless! Math games will motivate your students, keep them on task, and also help them review important skills ... while giving them the chance to put some of that restless energy to good use.

I love creating math games, and I've seen lots of terrific ones on Pinterest, so I thought I would host a Math Game Round-up here on Corkboard Connections! Visit each blog post linked below to find at least one free math game along with a tip about how to use math games in the classroom.

Selecting Partners for Math Games
Random partners are fun for some activities, but I don't recommend pairing students randomly in math. Instead, take a moment to pair students yourself before you pass out the materials. It's best for students with similar abilities to work together. It might be tempting to have struggling students play against strong students so they can get help, but that situation is going to frustrate both of them. It's best to keep students of similar ability levels together and differentiate instruction by giving them different games to play.

Island Conquer Game Freebie

One of my favorite math games is Island Conquer. I created this game for my 4th graders to practice area and perimeter skills. The game is for two players who take turns graphing coordinate points and creating rectangles on a grid. They claim ownership of the rectangle by calculating its area or perimeter, depending on the game played. My class loved it, so we decided that it needed a fun name. I remember Ryan piping up and saying, "Why don't you call it 'Island Conquer'? When you color the rectangle it's like you are capturing an island!" Everyone loved the name, and Island Conquer was born! You can download free it from my Geometry File Cabinet folder on Teaching Resources.

Monster Math Mix-up: Telling Time
My newest math game is Monster Math Mix-up: Telling Time. I created my first Monster Math Mix-up game when I was writing my Customary Measurement Conversions Power Pack, and it received rave reviews from the student field testers. In this game, each student receives a mixed-up monster puzzle and they have to assemble it, piece by piece, as they solve math problems. There's a bit of luck involved, though, because after each player solves a problem, he or she must spin a spinner to find out how many pieces to add ... or perhaps take away! The game was so popular that I decided to create a version of Monster Math Mix-up for telling time. This game is aligned with 2nd and 3rd grade Common Core objectives for telling time, and there are two sets of clock task cards to help you differentiate instruction. You can purchase Monster Math Mix-up from my TpT store.

The best thing about using math games is that they promote a positive classroom climate while helping students review and practice important math skills. When students play a game with a partner, they can have fun while learning, and you are free to work with individual students. It's a win-win for everyone, and a sure cure for spring fever!

The Core of Effective Discussions

With the attention given to the Common Core Informational Text and Literacy Standards, it's easy to overlook the other ELA standards, especially the Speaking and Listening Standard. But even though this is not a tested area, speaking and listening skills are extremely important. Knowing how to participate actively in a discussion involves the highest level of communication because both speaking and listening skills are required. Often it's through talking over ideas with others that we are able to dig deeply into core concepts and understand them fully.

Unfortunately, oral communication skills don't come naturally to students. We have to teach those skills explicitly and provide opportunities to practice them. Perhaps that's why the very first speaking and listening anchor standard is, "Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively."

Effective discussion is the foundation for all collaborative work, and there are two strategies I use regularly to promote these skills:

• Think-Pair-Share for whole group discussions 
• Talking Sticks for small group discussions

Before I share HOW to use these strategies, let's take a look at WHAT your students might be discussing when they practice collaborative discussions. Fortunately, the Informational Text and Literacy Standards give us the perfect opportunity to engage our students in effective discussions and teach them how to communicate clearly. These standards are rigorous, and in order to fully explore the concepts outlined in the standards, students must discuss them in both a whole group setting and in small cooperative learning groups or guided reading groups. The standards require far more than finding fact and opinion, making predictions, making connections, and many of the skills we have taught previously.

Creating Standards-Based Reading Questions
After examining the K-5 reading standards in detail, it occurred to me that an easy way to meet many of them would be to involve students in standards-based literary discussions. Simply take each standard, convert it into a series of related questions, and then apply those questions to a read-aloud or other shared text. For example, Standard RI.3.2 is, "Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea." After you convert that standard into a few related questions, it reads, "What is the main idea presented in this text? How is the main idea supported by specific details?"

You can create these questions yourself, but I’ve done the work for you by creating sets of Common Core Discussion Prompts for each grade level, K-5. Each grade level includes three sets of prompts: Personal Response, Informational Text, and Literature. The prompts are available in both a full sized PowerPoint format to display for the class and a smaller task card format to use in small groups. The questions to display for the class include the specific standard numbers right on each slide. You can purchase these items from my TeachersPayTeachers store.

Using Think-Pair-Share to 
Foster Whole Group Discussions

After creating a set of standards-based questions, the next step is to present them to your class in conjunction with a relevant text. For the question above, you’ll need a short informational text selection that can be read aloud to your students or that they can read in a basal text. If you are using an entire book, limit your read aloud session to just a few pages that have one clear main idea. For example, Nature's Green Umbrella has several pages that describe the rain forest, several pages about why rain forests are endangered, a few pages about rain forest solutions, and so on. After students read the text or listen to you read it, use the Think-Pair-Share strategy to discuss the question as a class. Follow these steps:

1. Think and Write – Present the standards-based questions for discussion, "What is the main idea of the text? What are the key details? How do those details support the main idea?"  Give students a few minutes of individual think time to jot down the main idea and at least 2 key details.
2. Pair and Discuss – Pair students with a partner and ask them to compare their ideas about the main idea and key details. Ask them to discuss how those details support the main idea.
3. Share with the Class – Call on individual students to share what they discussed with their partner as the main idea and supporting details. Before you confirm any responses as being correct, call on at least 3 or 4 students to share their thoughts. Ask if anyone disagrees, and teach them how to disagree politely and support their idea with details. 

Using Talking Sticks to 
Foster Small Group Discussions 

After you introduce each standards-based question in a whole group setting, it’s time to introduce them in small groups. You can do this in small guided reading groups using the Talking Sticks strategy I described in an earlier blog post.

Each team is given a cup with “talking sticks,” or craft sticks, and teach team member is given 2 or 3 sticks. Throughout the discussion, students use the craft sticks to signal that they have something to contribute to the discussion. They give up a stick when they are called upon to speak, and when they run out of sticks they may not speak again until everyone else is out of sticks. This strategy is great for equalizing participation and keeping individual students from dominating the discussion.

I created sets of CCSS Aligned Talking Sticks task cards for grades K - 5 that have the exact same questions as the full-sized discussion prompts. You’ll find complete directions for using the strategy in each Talking Sticks Mini Pack. You can also purchase the full-sized discussion prompts and the Talking Sticks task cards as a CCSS Aligned Reading Discussion Combo.

If state-testing is looming in the near future for your students, standards-based discussions are a terrific way to prepare them for the rigors of those tests. But even if testing is over, or you don’t teach in a school system that has adopted the Common Core, it’s important to teach students how to engage in effective discussions. Both Think-Pair-Share and Talking Sticks are excellent strategies to boost oral communication skills, and they'll take your students to the core of effective discussion.

Fun Games for Learning the 50 States

How well do you know your states and capitals? I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge gets rusty if I don't review them from time to time. I'm fairly good with capitals, but some of those state locations can be tricky to remember! I guess it's because I've never traveled to them, so they don't have any personal meaning for me. Imagine how difficult it is for students who've never traveled outside their own cities to learn all 50 states and their capitals! Fortunately, there are some great games and resources you can use to actively engage students in learning the 50 states.


Hands-on Exploration with Puzzles
One of the best ways to begin is to purchase a sturdy puzzle of the United States that includes the capital name on each piece. Place the puzzle in a center and let students work on it collaboratively when they finish other assignments. Over time, students will learn the state locations without even trying. I found this one online at Amazon.com, and it looks like the perfect item for states and capitals practice.

Online Interactive Games
Online interactive games also work well, and it's always a perk if you can find FREE online activities. I did a quick search and hit the jackpot on the Sheppard Software site. They have a terrific collection of free online games for practicing states and capitals, and I found myself stuck on the site brushing up on my rusty skills! It was a challenging test of my skills to listen as each state name was announced and then to click it on the map.

50 States Showdown Games
Online games are fun for some kids, but others quickly become bored with these types of activities. Playing on a computer just doesn't have the power to engage kids like playing with a real person. A more exciting way to practice states and capitals is with a fun cooperative learning game I created called 50 States Showdown. There are actually three variations of this Showdown review game, including Find the States Showdown described below. Students can play these games as a whole class or in teams of four to five. Each student will need a copy of one of the numbered state maps included in the packet and a dry erase board.

Here's how to play Find the States Showdown:

1. The first Leader selects a number card from the State Numbers deck and announces the number to the team. 
2. Everyone looks at the numbered map and, without talking, writes the name of the corresponding state (and capital, if desired) on his or her dry erase board. 
3. When everyone is ready, the Leader says, "Showdown!" 
4. Students compare answers and check the key to see who was correct. 
5. Players who are correct earn a "Travel Token" for that round. 
6. The next player becomes the new Leader, and steps 1 through 5 are repeated.

The game moves quickly and kids love it! It's a terrific way for them to have fun while practicing state names, capitals, and locations. 50 States Showdown is available from my TpT store, and the packet includes both color and black and white versions of the game directions and maps are included in the packet. If your students aren't ready for a game that includes all 50 states,  you can start them out with the five regional games in my States and Capitals Games Bundle.

US Regions & States Maps and Tests 
My talented daughter Wendy created the maps for this game, and she has a full collection of state and regional maps available in her Digital Classroom Clipart Store. She also created a huge packet of State and Regional assessment to test students' knowledge. There are three forms of each test, and one of them includes a place to record capitals and abbreviations. Answer keys are included of course! The US Regions & States Tests + Clipart Combo shown here includes both items. but you can purchase them separately, too.

Studying states and capitals can be fun for students when you provide hands-on practice with puzzles, opportunities to play games online, and the chance to test skills against classmates or team members. Do you have any favorite games or activities for learning states and capitals? Please share!