Here are some poems written from WITS students to their moms.

Someone I Love

Evening

Poetry

The Flame of Fire

Tanka

To My Mama

Have a beautiful weekend.

[photo by Gareth I Davies via flickr]

Young Houston Writers Poetry Slam

The 1st Young Houston Writers Teen Poetry Slam will be hosted by Marcell Murphy.

Come to this event ready to perform your own original poetry

Who: Poets ages 13 - 19

When: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Saturday, May 10, 2008

Where: The Art Car Parade (Houston Chronicle tent at Sam Houston Park downtown, across Allen Parkway from 1100 Bagby.)

Why: Win a chance to represent Houston at Brave New Voices in DC this summer!

Cost: Free

Deadline for online registration: May 9, 2008, at 5 p.m. (Central)

Sponsors: The Houston Chronicle, Voices Breaking Boundaries, DiverseWorks, and Writers in the Schools

WITS Young Writers Reading Series

Who: 150 Houston area students, some of the best young writers in the city

What: Selected students will read their best stories, poems, and essays

When: Monday and Tuesday, May 12 and 13 (7 p.m.)

Where: The Menil Collection, 1515 Sul Ross, 77006

Cost: Free

Download the event postcard here.

Sponsors: HEB Tournament of Champions, Wells Fargo, The Menil Foundation, The City of Houston, and Texas Commission on the Arts

At night when everything is still,
you can hear the twinkling of the
stars,

At night when everything is quiet,
you can hear the moon reflecting off
your window,

At night when everything is clear,
you can hear the earth go round and
the gravity pushes you into your bed,

At night when everything is magic,
you can hear the trees whispering among
themselves,

At night when everything is forgotten,
you can hear spiders tickling
each other.

by Addie, 3rd Grade

Have you seen Kanye West or Alicia Keyes do it on Def Poetry Jam? And did you watch, thinking, move over–I can do that. Better than that?

For those of you entertaining the possibility of entering the first ever Houston Young Writers poetry slam this weekend, we’ve collecting some links offering inspiration:

• The Youth Speaks channel on YouTube
• The Youth Speaks site
• Young Chicago Authors
• Nuyorican Poets Cafe

Check out Slam Nation, a documentary film by Paul Devlin (199 or SLAM!, a fiction film by Marc Levin produced that same year.

Please share your favorite poetry slam links, books, clips, and videos in the comments section below.

To teach first graders about the simile, I brought in photographs and little figurines of cats. After I explained similes, the class practiced creating similes about cats out loud. I used the students’ verbal practice as a way to check their understanding. Sometimes students will suggest “I like the cat’s pillowy paws.” To that, I counter that we aren’t using the word “like” to describe what we enjoy about the cat. Then we could rearrange the sentence into: the cat’s paws are like small orange pillows. That’s a simile.

Before beginning the solo writing part of the workshop, I give each group of students a picture or figurine to help inspire their similes. I enjoyed the students’ poems, and I think you’ll agree they are the cat’s meow.

My Cat

My cat’s head looks round like a sun.

My cat’s ears look like a witch’s hat.

My cat’s eyes look like a hole.

My cat’s nose looks like an O.

My cat’s mouth looks like a wave.

My cat’s whiskers look like a stick.

My cat’s tail looks like a hook.

My cat’s legs look like an L.

My cat’s body looks like fur.

My cat’s neck looks like a heart.

By Kevin, First Grade

(photo by babykailan via flickr)

posted by Amy Lin, Writers in the Schools

Houston teens, come wax poetic, be prophetic. Be lyrical, sincere-ical. Fight the repressive, get expressive. Be part of Houston Art Car Weekend and perform at the Young Houston Writers Teen Poetry Slam.

You could win a chance to represent Houston in Washington, D.C. this summer at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Read the slam rules and register here.

The 1st Young Houston Writers Teen Poetry Slam will be hosted by Marcell Murphy.

Here are the specs:

Who: Poets ages 13 - 19

What: Come to this event ready to perform your own original poetry

When: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Saturday, May 10, 2008

Where: The Art Car Parade (Houston Chronicle tent at Sam Houston Park downtown, across Allen Parkway from 1100 Bagby.)

Why: Win a chance to represent Houston at Brave New Voices in DC this summer!

Deadline for online registration: May 9, 2008, at 5 p.m. (Central)

You can download the flyer here.

Meet Jemma Leech. She’s a 10-year-old WITS student who was recently honored by ABC News for her writing.

Text = I feel like I’m a yo-yo spinning till the string falls in half. It’s like a giant twister. It’s like a bright red spinning top. It’s like a model of the solar system. It’s like I’m being sucked into a black hole. It’s like I’m in a whirlpool. I hear the clothes rumbling in the dryer. I hear the tornado roaring like a fierce lion. I see the ugly eyes of a rainbow monster.

by Charles, 3^rd Grade

My students have a lot of fun writing concrete poetry instead of writing in lines. There’s something freeing in the prospect that the words can take on any shape on the page.

When teaching concrete poems, the best way I’ve found to kick off the lesson is to bring in a few well-chose examples. It’s effective to make the poems visible to everyone. Depending on the technology available at the school, I make transparencies or scan the pages and use Powerpoint slides.

Lately my elementary school students have expressed excitement over Jack Prelutsky’s “I Am Winding Through a Maze” and “I Am Stuck Inside a Shell.” Secondary school students enjoy Maxine Kumin’s “400-meter Freestyle.” The end products are a delight to both the eyes and the mind.

Pizza

Crispy and yummy,

light and new baked out of the oven

a minute or two

whenever people eat it

it’s like something new

its crunch and crisp

it’s like a bird flew.

By Andy, 2nd grade

posted by Amy Lin, Writers in the Schools

Thank you for participating in A Poem a Day with the Writers in the Schools (WITS). We hope that you have enjoyed reading these poems by WITS students during National Poetry Month. If you enjoyed this project, here are some options for staying the the WITS “loop”:

• Please leave comments on your favorite poems on the WITS blog. The students will really appreciate your positive feedback.
• Add the WITS blog to your bookmarks or feed reader.
• If you live in Houston, join us for the Young Writers Reading Series May 12 and 13 at The Menil Collection in Houston.
• Send a kid to summer camp.
• If you live anywhere else, look up a similar program in your area.
• If you’d like to make a donation to keep the Writers in the Schools programs growing and reaching as many Houston-area youth as possible, please click here.

We would like to thank the Houston Arts Alliance, the City of Houston, the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Public Library, and the Texas Commission on the Arts for sponsoring A Poem A Day 2008.

Thank you for celebrating National Poetry Month with WITS. Stay tuned to this blog for more writing from WITS students, writers, and staff.