Dear Families,

May 18, 2013

We have begun our last unit of study in reading and writing workshop: POETRY. For the next four weeks, your child will be immersed in Poetry--reading poems, listening to poems, talking about poems and performing poems. The goals for the poetry unit are for students to understand that: Poetry has features that make it the same and different from other text Poetry has many forms and purposes A poets choice of words is what makes the poem come alive Writers get their ideas from lots of different places Poetry is a live art meant to be performed and shared

Ill be reading aloud from various poetry books. The class favorites so far are the random poems I have been reading from A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. During this unit each student is given the opportunity to be Poet of the Day. The Poet of the Day shares a poem during read aloud to the class. The poem the student chooses to read can be one that they have found in a book or wrote themselves. Students can sign-up to be Poet of the Day by clicking the link on the classroom blog. Please make sure students do not fill in their last name, just the first initial! (For example: Natalie L.) In the hall outside of our classroom you will see our Hooked on Poetry wall. Each student has their own hook. On their hook are their published poems. Students poetry will be hung outside of the classroom through Project Inside.

~ Natalie