Elm Tree Poetry: First Day of Elm Tree Poetry Summer Program!

Hey there Elm Tree Poetry families,

Today we started our morning in the library where we played telephone and some getting to know you games. Then we headed into Prospect Park. After finding a grassy patch, we sat in a circle and wrote a collaborative story alternating "fortunate" and "unfortunate" events. Oona titled it, "The Surprise Party."

The Surprise Party

Fortunately, I woke up with a brand new car sitting outside my house.
Unfortunately, the rain started to have a thundershower, and a bug bit me.
Unfortunately, the car got destroyed by bullies.
Fortunately, the rain was so strong and the wind was so strong that it blew the bullies away.
Unfortunately, the bullies crawled back and jumped on top of my destroyed car.
Fortunately, the bullies came back with a surprise party!

Jacie, Ulysses, and Oona decided to illustrate the story.

by Jacie

by Ulysses

by Oona

Next, we walked to the Natural Playground where we pretended to be different animals. Romy and Sally packed spoons, bowls, drinking cups, a colander, an ice cream scoop, and measuring cups. The children loved to use them in the water and sand. We even made a few new friends--our "sand toys" were cooler ;)

Everyone started to get hungry, so we found a shady spot and broke for lunch. During lunch, Oona and Romy read us poems from My Hippo has the Hiccups by Kenn Nesbitt.

Together we looked at a Prospect Park Guide Book. We found all the animal descriptions interesting and decided to invent our own imaginary animals and write about them. Below are the Elm Tree children at work!