“What?!” My shocked reaction surprised us both. Then I
asked, “Have you ever read a poem about a jellyfish?”
“No.”
Do you know what a jellyfish looks like?”
“No.”
I quickly pulled up a video of jellies on my iPad and I had
her. Hazel was captivated.
By a lucky turn of events, only moments before Hazel came
into my room, I’d read the poem, A Jelly-fish by Marianne Moore. I received
this gem by email from the Academy of American Poets because I signed up for
their “teach this poem,” a free weekly email for K-12 educators. They provide
classroom activity ideas and, in this case, a video of Jellyfish.
When I started reading the poem to Hazel I realized right
off we needed a vocabulary lesson. What eight-year old is going to understand
every word in these first few lines?
Visible,
invisible,
A fluctuating charm,
An amber-colored amethyst
Inhabits it; your arm
Approaches, and
It opens and
It closes;
You have meant
To catch it,
And it shrivels;
You abandon
Your intent—
. . .
I was afraid the challenging vocabulary would cause Hazel to
lose interest but I was wrong. When we came to the end of the poem she asked if
she could write one about otters. I couldn’t refuse such a request. Take a look
at what she produced:
River
otters
by
Hazel
River
otters swim fast!!!!
They
glide through the water like a fish.
They
are so cute.
If I had
a river otter I would feed it every day.
I
would take it out of the river and put it in my bed.
My bed
would smell like fish sticks!!!!
When she finished her poem she wanted copies for her mom,
her teacher, and our school nurse. Her feeling of accomplishment was obvious—and
the look on her face—well that was pure poetry.
Happy Poetry Month—may it bring wonderful words and images into
your world and into the lives of those around you.
(Check out “teach this poem”: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/teach-poem)
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