Color Poems

“Poems should express the unique thoughts and feelings of the writer. But poetry writing does not have to be reserved for special occasions. We can weave poetry into the writing workshop throughout the year and across genres. We can use poetry to introduce ourselves and build community in a classroom.” (Dorfman & Cappelli p.1798)

Poetry is one of the hardest things for students to get interested in and understand. When taught in the classroom it's common for teachers to only teach it at the end of the year. This is really neglectful to students as they don't get the time and attention that poetry deserves. I have never enjoyed writing and reading poetry myself and I feel it could be attributed to my teachers not spending enough time on it. In elementary and middle school the only time I remember doing poetry was when it was for a contest or a homework grade. If I ever had to write poetry I felt it had to rhyme because all the examples I had been shown in school rhymed. Poetry was never presented in the fun and exciting light that it could be. “When writing poetry, students should be allowed to concentrate in the feeling and images they wish to create through precise language rather than on rhyming patterns.” (Dorfman & Cappelli p.179) Poetry is all around us in so many different formats that we need to open our eyes and minds to.

The Color Poem:

A type of poem that I have never heard of is writing about a color using the five senses. When I came across this poem I was really excited because when I write poetry I have trouble using descriptor words. To use this format I started off with listing the five senses with like at the end to be able to write my ideas for the senses. I expected to have multiple ideas for each sense so I made sure to leave space to write these multiple ideas. Once I started coming up with ideas I realized that I had a very specific idea of what I wanted to say for each sense in connection to my overall poem. This is very unusual for me as I tend to change my ideas and re-write lines in my poem because I feel they are never right. Having some ideas already written down for lines in my poem were really helpful when it came time to actually start writing. Some of the ideas I originally wrote down didn't seem to flow well with the poem so I changed them up but I did not have too much difficulty in doing so. Overall I am really proud of how my poem turned out. At the beginning of this year I would consider to be horrible at writing poems but as I have explored different poem formats and strategies I have come to see myself as a better poem writer. I can always grow more in my poetry writing but it something that takes time and practice and I'm starting to realize that.

My sensory ideas related to the color yellow:

Sounds Like: children laughing

Look Like: parents smiling

Smells Like: summer

Tastes Like: cool lemonade on a hot day

Feels Like: a warm hug from your favorite person

The Color Yellow Poem

Yellow is the color of happiness

It's the sound of children laughing as they play

The smell of a fresh rain still lingering in the air as the sun pokes out from behind the clouds

Yellow reminds me of summer and the taste of fresh lemonade on a hot day

A warm color that can make you feel happy like a warm hug from your favorite person

Yellow is the color of the sun, looking down on us as we enjoy the happiness of summer

Color Poem in the classroom:

This poem format is a new favorite of mine because just like last week with the 6-room poem I feel as though the beginning acts like a graphic organizer for the poem. I am a huge supporter of graphic organizers because I feel they truly help us riders to organize our thoughts before writing.

Hook:

Talk to students about their favorite color. Invite the students to be opinionated about why their favorite color is their favorite color. Do not accept simple answers such as: because it's pretty, I just like the way that it looks. Students should start to think about what feeling colors can invoke in them.

Brainstorm:

Read the book Red: A crayons story by Michael Hall to students. This story has a lot that a person can interpret so after the first read aloud of it I will just give students a minute to sit and think about the story they just heard. Before reading the book a second time I will tell students to pay close attention to the different colors mentioned in the story and some of the emotions they may be feeling. After the second read-aloud lead students in a discussion about how this book gives colors real human characteristics and feelings. Ask students to point out some of the feelings these colors had throughout the book. After a 5 minute discussion with students, introduce the poem topic of the day.

Shared/Guided Writing:

The color poem is something that is so simple and fun to create that I would do a poem together as a class as well as have students pair up and create one on their own. Start with doing a poem together as a class so students can get an understanding of how this poem format works and how it looks to take your list ideas and make it into a poem. Students should suggest a color to write about and for each sense some up with different ideas to go with the senses. Ideas can be written on the whiteboard but it is important to write the collaborative poem down on paper. Writing the poem on something that is more permanent will make students feel that you are proud of their work and feel proud of their own work.

Independent Writing:

Once the class poem is written either pair students up to work on their own poem or let them choose their own partner. The list of ideas and the collaborative poem should be left up in a place that students can reference it when they are writing their own poems. Walking around the room is important so that students feel that they can get support and feedback on their poem easily without having to come find you. As long as students are working productively there should not be a time limit on how short or long of a time students have to write. If a pair finishes before the others encourage them to choose another color and write another one.

Reflection:

After students have finished writing their own color poems bring them all back together to have a closing conversation. Ask students how they felt about the process? Was it easy, did they enjoy writing the poem or was it too complicated/difficult to come up with a poem. Ask students what are some things they enjoyed about writing this poem.