Last Day of Elm Tree Poetry, Week One: Tunnel Lies, T-shirts, and Spells

Hello all you fine Elm Tree Fams! We'd like to start our final post by saying how much we've enjoyed working with your children this week. Sad to see this awesome group part ways. The day began with some free-play in the forest-like area by the entrance of Prospect Park. Ulysses and Esmee used a pretend map to search for a creature hiding in the woods and listened for sounds and movements. Oona found a rollie-pollie and shared it with the children. They all collected natural objects and "trash" for future collages. You'll find their baggies in their backpacks.

We moved under a shady tree to play a few circle games. First we practiced making noises in preparation for our afternoon spell-writing project. The children coo coo-ed, trilled, meow-ed, barked, whistled, buzzed, blew like the wind, made gecko-like noises, mmmm-ed, moo-ed, and cawed. Then we played a game called, "The Many Headed Expert," in which the children tell a story by adding one word at a time. We recorded it, and below you will find a transcription of our story:

Once a salamander was going on an adventure with somebody named Cupcake. Cupcake was his best friend. He was in the basement doing the construction at the cornfield, and he laughed the laugh off of his self. We were in the movies. We saw a lobster. The claws pinched him. Oh! the crab foresook Cupcake. A wild boar-pig ate the Cupcake. Aaaaaaahhh! The End.

Then we walked back to the tunnel (in case you would like to see the children's work on display, it's in the tunnel on the left side of the park entrance if you're facing the park--closest to the library) and read some "Lie" poems written by New York City children from Kenneth Koch's book Wishes, Lies, and Dreams. We discussed how, in a poem, lies can be similar to wishes, except without including the phrase "I wish." We also talked about the difference between telling lies in life and telling lies in creative writing. Esmee still seemed uncomfortable with the concept of lying until she made the connection between these kind of lies and jokes. The children used the phrases: "I once was," "I am," "I once had," and "I was born" to brainstorm lies before chalking up the tunnel with our lines and illustrations. We were lucky to find a nest of four baby birds and a mama bird under the arch of the tunnel. Here are a few photos of the children at work:

 

We then made our way to Romy and Sally's favorite tree near the Natural Playground for Elm Tree Poetry, 2015 t-shirt decorating, lunch, and spell-writing.  

 

To begin the spell activity, we asked the children what they knew about magic. They responded by talking about magicians, magical things their friends told them, and the time the Hudson River got swallowed up whole and then rebuilt (??????? : ) ). Sally told us about The Gateway God from Peru. The Incans believed that when a person passed under the gateway, something about that person would transform. For this reason, we decided to use the form, "I used to be _____, but now I'm _____." We talked about what a chorus is and reminded the children about the sounds they made in the morning. We then listened to a recording of Nicolas Guillen's "Sensemaya" in Spanish before reading it in English. We asked the children to try and listen for the chorus of the poem, and they picked it out (!)-- "Mayombe-bombe-mayombe."

After listening to the poem, we wrote a collaborative chorus: 
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff! 
We gave the children time to illustrate and write about their imaginary transformations using the above form. Each child contributed a stanza to our collaborative spell, which you will find below. Please read the poem with your children because we did not have a chance to combine the whole piece and read it aloud. Thank you!:

I used to be a pig
Now I'm a treasure chest
I used to be a key
Now I'm the sky
Now I'm the grass
Now I'm the tooth fairy
I used to be a ball
Now I'm a rainbow
Now I'm a stroller
Now I'm a baby

Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff

I used to be a moon
Now I'm a kid
Now I'm a wipe
Now I'm people


Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff

I used to be a cloud
Now I'm a flower
Now I'm a fairy
Now I'm a tree
I used to be a girl
Now I'm a purple sky
I used to be a bird
Now I'm a leaf
Now I'm grass
Now I'm a crayon

Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff

I used to be me
But now I'm a tree
I used to be a butterfly
Now I'm a frog
I used to be a water bottle
Now I'm a spoon
I used to a dragon
Now I'm a crayon
I used to be the sky
Now I'm the stars
I used to be a eraser
Now I'm a pencil


Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff

I was a pot of gold
Now I'm a boy
I used to be a van
Now I'm a plane
Now I'm parachuting from the plane
Now I'm a scooter

Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff
Coo-coo-mi-mi-meow-meow-woof-woof-trrrrrrrr-ruff

 

 by Oona

by Jacie

 by Esmee

by Ulysses

                                                                      by Audrey

We then put on sunscreen for our last trip to the sprinklers. The children got soaked and baked lots of cakes and pies and cookies out of sand. They tried to sell them to the surrounding 3rd St. Playground parents for $200. No takers. ; ) Sally and Romy bought some treats at a special discount.

We loved working with the Elm Tree Poetry Troop: Week 1 and will miss them dearly. Please let us know how they are doing throughout the year and e-mail us their writing! We hope to see you all next summer. Thank you for showing us such kindness.

Love, love, love, always,
Romy & Sally

Library, Identity, and FAILE Exhibit!

Evenin', Elm Tree Families! Thursday started off rainy but warm, so we met at Grand Army Plaza as usual and suited up in our rain ponchos. Then, we moved under the tree, and, because it was too rainy for hide and seek, we played some movement and rhyming games instead. After finishing, we moved to the library to read and work in a dry area. 

We quickly settled in at a table in the children's section and played a few more games before Romy read us "My Name," from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. In this story, she uses similes and metaphors to discuss the many meanings of her name, which the Elm Tree children decided was really a way of talking about herself. One of our favorite metaphors occurs early in the story when she says her name is like, "the Mexican records my father listens to on Sunday mornings when he is shaving, songs like sobbing." 

We talked about how she uses color to describe her name, how she talks about her family, and how she explains that she doesn't like the way some people mispronounce her name (Esperanza... ask your children to pronounce it!). Then we brainstormed different qualities about our names and ourselves to use in our own poems. Below you'll find photos of the Elm Tree Troop at work/ their writing and art:

 by Ulysses

by Esmee

by Oona

by Jacie

 

 by Audrey

As an extension of thinking about ourselves, we painted on flags made of cheesecloth and yarn that Sally and Romy prepared the night before. The children included elements from their poems as well as representing themselves through pattern and color. Here are photos of your children at work and proudly displaying their identity flags:

The children then had a chance to look around the library and select two books to check out.

Next we made our way back to Mount Prospect Park for lunch and a quick playtime. Oona read two poems from a book she brought from home: Kenn Nesbitt's The Tighty Whitey Spider. We encouraged the rest of the children to bring in poems or short stories to share with the rest of the group tomorrow!

Finally, we made the trek over to the Brooklyn Museum to see the FAILE exhibit. To prepare them, we discussed the meaning of the word "fail" and how, to be an artist and a person, you have to be willing to experiment and sometimes fail. The children brought up the point that sometimes their favorite drawings are accidents. Then we talked about how the artists added an "e" to the word "fail" to make it an acronym for "a life." We looked at the large-scale collages, the ruined temple, a statue of a woman holding a skateboard, and played in the arcade.

We've been having the best time working with your children, and we'll see you tomorrow for the last day of Elm Tree: Week 1!

<3 Sally & Romy