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Tuesday, April 25, 2017

ReedALOUD: OUT OF WONDER Inspires Fourth Grade Poets

It was #booklove at first site.  

Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets, written by Kwame Alexander with Marjory Wentworth and Chris Colderley and illustrated by Ekua Holmes is one of those books that should be in every elementary, middle, and high school library. The mixed-media art and original poems weave a canvas that captures the essence of the celebrated poets in ways that are astounding. 

Out of Wonder introduces students to poets and poetry in a way that engages and inspires them. Read about how I used this book with fifth graders. Read below to see how I used the book with fourth graders.

Grade Four Lesson 1
We focused on poems in the Got Style section of the book.  We read the poem celebrating e. e. cummings,  I Like Your by Kwame Alexander.

and then read I carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings and examined how Kwame celebrated E. E. Cummings.
Next we reversed the process and read two poems by Robert Frost: 



Ekua's mixed-media art so perfectly embodies the poetry of Robert Frost.

We finished this lesson by reading How to Write Poem about Naomi Shihab Nye and exploring some of her poetry from Come With Me: Poems for a Journey.




Grade Four Lessons Two and Three
The students read poetry and found a poem that spoke to them and copied it down. The next week they wrote poems emulating or celebrating the style of another poem.













Grade Four Lesson Four
We are going to celebrate William Carlos Williams with Chris and Ekua by reading No Idle Days.


We will then read from Love That Dog and A River of Words. 



This line from the poem will make more sense after reading A River of Words.


We will revisit No Idle Hands and see what we now notice about the celebratory poem.

What ideas do you have for this amazing book? 
Something I should add? 
Please share!

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