Poems about Colors

I read Rimbauds poem Voyelles (vowels) in which he assigned colors to the vowels and described them in unusual ways. I brought in some paint sample cards from Home Depot and we had a good time reading the names of the colors, such as peanut butter and squirrel aloud. The students chose something like letters, numbers, days of the week, months, and described them in the fashion of Rimbaud.

Gabrielle R
K

G is green like go
A is red like a crab
B is yellow like bananas
R is blue like a folder
I is purple like a book bag
E is white like eggs
L is black, a tree with no leaves
L is brown like hot cocoa
E is orange like the fruit

Christian R
K

Monday is purple
with green dots
Tuesday is red
Like a barn
Wenesday is yellow
As the sun
Friday is all colors

Brad H
K

Monday is orange like a flag
April is white like a box
Downtown is silver like a book
Summer is yellow like pancakes

Dejah
K

Winter is white
Like clouds
Fall is yellow
Like leaves
Falling from the trees
Spring is red
Like blood
Summer is pink
Like lipgloss

Tyhren
K

1 is orange like the fruit you eat
2 is green like apples
3 is red like blood
4 is purple like a worm
5 is blue like Mia's shirt

Taylor S
1st

November is pink
Like a pig
The sky is rainbow
Like a dress
My mom's anniversary
is red like a rose
My neighborhood is purple
Like a sweater

Dwayne B
1st

Friday is green
Like a tree
Sunday is yellow
Like the sun
Tuesday is orange
Like carrot sticks

Tyree P
1st

Math is red
Looks like apples
and tomatos

Spelling is blue
Looks like blueberry
and blue crayons

One is black
Looks like my desk
and shoes

Six is orange
Looks like an orange
and a juice box

Swan Of Bees Poems

Young children love to make up odd juxtopositions of things. Because they don't truly grasp the concept of things that do not exist, this lesson works really well. They get excited combining things together that would not normally make sense.

Taylor C
1st

A girl made of glitter
The store made of chicken
A pool of chocolate water
A tire swing
Made from packs of charcoal

Kayla G
1st

People made of brown sugar
Trees made out of bees
Food made out of froggies
Grass made out of candy
Candy made out of markers

Bryant
1st

A house of dollars
A bed of trees
A car of nails

Taylor S
1st

A house made of diamonds
A gate of glitter
A girl made of
Sugar honey iced tea
Boys made of juice
donuts made of clay

Tyler
K

House made of candy
Car made of goats
Dog made of leaves

Jeremiah
K

My Grandma made of fancy
Made of gold
Her house made of silver
And dogs of diamonds

Seandell
K

I want
A house made of $100
Pants made of diamonds
My dog made of dog food
My chair made of strawberries

Chloe G
K

A rocketship made of books
A green bean made of paper
Pictures made of letters
People made of bread

Zahira S
K

A box made of blocks
A train made of dirt
A telescope made of worms
Rocks made of silver

Poems about Family: Roethke's My Papa's Waltz

I thought a good second lesson for young new poets would be to have them write about members of their family. I read the poem and we discussed how the poet describes his father, the things they do together (horsing around, wrestling, rough-housing), the kind of job the father my have. We talked about other qualities of people...grandma's favorite thing to cook, mom's favorite shirt, things brother likes to do.


Laila L
k

My dad sits
in his favorite rocking chair
He likes to talk
on the phone
He likes to go to work
And be happy


Victoria E
K

My baby doll Muffin
Likes to sleep in her stroller
I take her to the park
and Navy Pier
I let her sit
on my lap in the car


Brad H
K

My grandma likes
to drink coffee and pop
She takes me to school
And my friends house

Zahria S
K

My cat likes
to play with yarn
She likes coming into my room
to watch T.V.
She likes watching
squirrels on the windowsill

Sentwali N
1st

My sister runs
and falls alot
She runs
against things
My sister has
golden earrings
We play sometimes
My sister likes
music

Gregory R
1st

My dad got stung
by a bee
and it hurt so bad
you don't want
to hear the rest.

Nadia A
1st

My mother
has a store.
She works hard
and I work hard, too
Just like my mom.

Wishes

For the kindergardeners, the first lesson with me is really their first introduction to poetry that is not nursery rhymes. I use Kenneth Koch's Wish lesson to give the children an idea of how far poetry will let them go. Often new to school, too, the spend their new days learning concrete things and I wanted them to understand poetry is about whatever they can imagine.



For the writing, I ask that they start each line with "I wish" so they understand poetry has a different form to stories.


Jericho A
K

I wish for two wishes
I wish for a pet rabbit
I wish I could go to the park

Zahria S
K

I wish I was
Elephant
Butterfly
Ant

Taylor C
K

I wish I was
Flying on
A butterfly

Taylor S
1st

I wish I was a queen
I wish I could do
Whatever I want
I wish Myles
Was king
I wish I had a star
I wish I had
2100 candies
Do you?

Sentwali N
1st

I wish I had a motorcycle
I wish I had a bingo tiger
I wish I had a lot of balls
I wish I had a lot of games
I wish I had gymshoes

Taylor C
1st

I wish that I had
A pretty pony
I wish it was
A girl
It would be good!
Her name is
Jewelanna Patrice Princess
I wish I was a princess