Wednesday, August 22, 2012

To Begin Again


Here I am at the waning days of summer and it seems like the mind is swimming with ideas.  This leads me to the subject of this post: Environment.  I want to draw on the collective intelligence of the digital world and share some great places to find some great ideas about environment.

It is always great to post a poem at the entrance of your classroom door.  A poem is an invitation to fall in love with words.  Amy Ludwig VanDerwater wrote an incredible poem for her students.  It is posted below and can be found on her blog at http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/2012/08/dear-students-new-book.html



Another great poem to "roll out the carpet" to the beginning of a new school year is Invitation by Shel Silverstein.  I think I stumbled onto the idea for this poem when visiting Stacey Shubitz and Ruth Ayres blog at http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com  several years ago.

"If you are a dreamer,
come in,
 If you are a dreamer,
a wisher, a liar, 
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer... 
If you're a pretender,
come sit by my fire 
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!  

Finally, a poem  that will be a mantra that will echo in student minds all year long and fuel a love of reading is Good Books, Good Times by Lee Bennett Hopkins.  This poem provides wonderful opportunities for shared and choral reading as kids love the beat, pace and power of this poem.
 



1 comment:

  1. Hello! I just wanted to thank you for including my poem here on your blog! I just found it, and I appreciate your kind words. All best to you and your students... a.

    ReplyDelete

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