Progressive Poems progress

So.... let me tell you about our first crack at progressive poetry. It was awesome! I started by telling the class Mr. Sentz and I were invited to a "progressive dinner" and what that is. We talked about what the word progressive means and linked it to progress (which makes them think of progress reports). Then I reminded them that April is National Poetry Month and told them we'd be creating some progressive poems. They were very willing writers. This group always steps up for a challenge!

Well! They exceeded my wildest expectations! I enlisted the help of my two classroom partners in crime, Mrs. Zimmermann and Mrs. Vernon. With no prior planning, I asked Mrs. Zimmerman to start us with a line. She gave us:

"Fluffy, Happy, Sunshine, Bright"

Then Mrs. Vernon added:

"Wagging his tail and smiling"

And I couldn't wait to put my two cents in:

 "With delight."

So that gave us a really good start and gave the kids the idea of what we'd be doing:

"Fluffy, Happy, Sunshine, Bright

Wagging his tail and smiling

With delight."

Now we had their wheels turning! At each table, a set of six collaborative, progressive poems was constructed as the papers rotated around from student to student. They turned out so cool! When they got done adding lines to each others' work, they did final copies and illustrations. I began calling them one at a time to add to our BIG poem. That was something to behold. They typed in their own lines, adding it to the document which was also being displayed on the Smartboard. It was pretty neat to watch the poem grow.

Here is our final product:

Room 110 Progressive Poem

                                                                                                  

Fluffy, Happy, Sunshine, Bright

Wagging his tail and smiling

With delight.

While everyone drinks Sprite

The sun is shinning bright

Still continuing the fight

The moon is dark but also bright in the night

The sun was shining so bright

I think I might be blind, I just might

Tonight on the flight I might be blind by the light

Then plants will blind the sun.

Awww that wont be fun      

Airplane, HUGE, bird, small not good.

I saw mouse in my house

The suns now light not bright

The fluffy clouds a BIG HUGE POODLE!

Humans get muddy in the puddle! Ewwwww!

Soaking wet sloppy mess I wonder what will happen

I hope It’ll stay bright for awhile, my bunny is sad!

Filling Up With Anger I Terribly mad!

Maybe its just one of those days sad and mad, day I had and sort of BAD.

I’m REALLY mad! What should I do? I guess I’ll get my bunny cleaned up.

 It’s just one of those days!

My bunny is fluffy and got all clean!

We shaved the fur, now it is lean!

Trying to run away from the water!

Trying to run on water.

Its just one of those bright days.

It was so interesting to witness the process, how children built on the work of others. In some cases, it looks like when they were really stuck, they switched gears, which, in my book is perfectly okay! Important to remember that we wrote this in about 50 minutes – 24 students adding to the work of the others, typing in their own words – not  bad. Actually, I think it’s an amazing feat of quick creative collaboration. I love my class!

No one said “I can’t…” Early in the year, we established a culture built on the premise that “I can’t” means “I quit.” There are no quitters in my class!

Tomorrow I will share some of the mini progressive poems from the tables. They are equally cool!