Join WITS on Instagram Live this Thursday, August 6, at 5:30 PM Central for Write Here, for an interview with author Cameron Dezen Hammon. Hosted by Outspoken Bean, Write Here features interviews with WITS Writers from the past and the present. Cameron’s book, This Is My Body, has won numerous awards and gotten amazing reviews. Don’t miss this important and heart-felt conversation.
With younger children, this concrete activity called “Rubber Band Stretching” works well. Demonstrate how a rubber band starts out small and can be stretched much larger. Read a simple sentence out loud, and ask for suggestions about how to expand it. After a student successfully stretches a sentence by adding new words, hand her a rubber band ball. When a second student stretches the sentence further, the first student passes the ball to the second. The game continues until it is impossible to stretch the sentence anymore! Students then apply the lesson to a piece of their own writing.
With older students, the rubber band can be used to discuss sentence length in more complexity. Bring in a strong piece of writing that includes short, medium, and long sentences. Discuss the various effects. If you have a geo board, you can actually record or map out the sentences using rubber bands. Show how the rhythm of a piece changes depending on sentence lengths.
As a spinoff activity, ask students to map out sentence lengths in advance. Then, try to write a paragraph that fits, and notice how the paragraph sounds. For older students, it is empowering to see how they can control the rhythm of their piece just through sentence length.
This April, Writers in the Schools celebrated National Poetry Month and the power of the imagination, reaching 2.3 million people in Houston and beyond! Student words were spread through H-E-B markets, read each day on KPFT 90.1, and showcased during readings, workshops, and poetry slams around town. At the Space City Grand Slam, we selected the Meta-Four Houston team and announced the launch of Houston’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate program in partnership with the City of Houston and the Houston Public Library. Poetry is alive, well, and making a real difference.
We would like to give a special thanks to our amazing partners and all of the people who support National Poetry Month. Thank you H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, KPFT 90.1, Susan Phillips for producing all of the wonderful audio for each Poem of the Day, London-based composer, Ketsa, for providing spectacular tracks to accompany the student poetry, and thank YOU, our readers, for enjoying and spreading poetry in our community.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Caprice Haddad, a 6th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Faculty is Susan Calvin, 8th grade History Teacher The background music is “Hope For Tomorrow” by Seastock. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Windell Gradiz, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Faculty is John Latchett, Math Teacher. The background music is “Digya,” by Kevin MacCleod. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Arianna Vara, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Faculty is Jerri Deleon, Assistant Principal. The background music is “J. S. Bach: Sheep May Safely Graze – BWV 208” by Kevin MacLeod. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Alexandria Collins, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Special thanks to Arvis Allen, Head Custodian at JMS. The background music is “Mysterioso March,” by Kevin MacLeod. www.Incompetech.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
I can write from an arrow of fire of the cruelness of this world.
I can write from a sword of ice of all the cold hearted people in our earth.
I can write from a rainbow feather of the kindness of my people.
I can write from a flower burning but not dying,
because I know we will stand even on the ends of the earth.
I can write from a sword with the stabbing truth.
I can write from broken chains because even in times of slavery
I will let my people free.
By Christian, 3rd grade
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Donovan Williams, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Faculty is Dr. Jose Rocha, Orchestra Director. The background music is “Aftermath” by Gregoire Lourme from www.jammendo.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Grant Cambron, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Faculty is Chelsea Kennedy, KickStart Karate Instructor.The background music is by Kevin MacCleod, “The War is Not Lost” from www.incompetech.com. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Alex Cweren, an 8th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. Faculty is Art Teacher, Tobi Arsham. The background music is “Turning Wheel” by Ketsa. Produced by Susan Phillips.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Click the link above to listen to the poem read on KPFT radio by Jaquelyn Simmons, a 7th grader at Johnston Middle School For the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. The background music is “Super Pop Happy Song” by Five Easy Pieces. Produced by Susan Phillips. Faculty is Alex DeWalt, Assistant Principal.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Yo tengo un bello sueño
Sueño que estoy en una nave espacial y que viajo afuera en una galaxia.
Sueño que no exista más la violencia y que exista la paz en el alma.
¿Que sueñas?
Sueño con la noche y el corazón abierto al mundo.
Mi alma esta flotando.
Mi alma que me llama siempre veo.
Quisiera dormir para solo soñar con mi familia y mis antepasados.
I Have a Beautiful Dream
I have a beautiful dream
I am dreaming that I am in a rocketship and I am traveling out to another galaxy.
I am dreaming that there is no more violence and that there is only peace in the spirit.
What are you dreaming?
I am dreaming in the night, and the heart is open to the world.
My soul is floating.
I see my soul that calls me always.
I would like to just dream with my family and my ancestors.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Happy National Poetry Month! Today is the start of a Poem a Day, a month-long celebration of poetry by WITS students. Each weekday we will share a poem by one of our talented students here on the blog. You can also check out the poems via the WITS facebook, instagram, or twitter, and listen to the poems read by Johnston Middle School students, on the radio station KPFT 90.1, at 4:30 pm. Make sure you subscribe to the WITS blog today to receive the poem of the day in your inbox.
I find my book. Thump, Thump.
I walk to a table.
I find a warm corner.
Sunlight comes over me,
like a yellow bubble.
In I go!
Adventuring with Percy and Annabeth.
Back to shelf.
Found another one. In Puppy
Place with Lizzie and Charles
All done! Back to shelf.
Here we are, another one.
Back to table.
Thump, Thump.
Gone to the rodeo with Kylie Jean.
Back again. Glance at clock.
It’s almost 5! Please just one book more!
Race to shelf. One last time.
Thumpata, Thumpata, Thump! Screeching halt.
Scan the shelf. Grab the book. Race to table.
Open book. Time flies.
Chapter 5.
Mom comes in. Time to go!
Check out book. Dragging feet.
In the car. Buckle up. Watch sadly
out the window as the library flies out
of sight.
Poem a Day is made possible in part by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, Copy.com, The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Texas Commission on the Arts, and KPFT 90.1.
Tomorrow is the start of A Poem a Day, a month-long celebration of poetry by Houston children. Each weekday we will send out a poem by one of our talented students through email. You can also enjoy these poems here on our blog and on radio station KPFT weekdays at 4:28 PM.
Get in on the fun by writing to our weekly prompt featured Saturdays on the blog, and snap a picture of it! WITS will be re-gramming our favorite poems throughout the month @witshouston #wherewordsfly.