The free verse poem we are writing this week helps us each answer the question, "where am I from?" using imagery from our childhoods. What we have discovered is that our childhood memories and experiences are what shape who we are today. Therefore, we are from much more than just the place where we live or were born. Our poems are inspired by
the original poem by George Ella Lyon.
We used these categories to brainstorm:
|
Place
of your birth
|
|
Pets
you owned or other animals
|
|
Ordinary
items around your house
|
|
Plants
in your home or yard
|
|
Family
traditions or tendencies
|
|
Things
people always said to you
|
|
Special
names for yourself or others in your family
|
|
Product
names or items you liked or used all the time
|
|
Foods
you ate all the time
|
|
Foods
you ate on special occasions
|
|
Secret
hiding places
|
|
What
you learned in school or church
|
|
Life
experiences that shaped you
|
|
TV
shows or songs/artists that were always playing
|
|
A
smell you recall from childhood
|
Here's Mrs. Jackson's example:
I’m
from Far-Mor and Far-Far,
From
presents on Christmas Eve,
From Swedish
meatballs and Swedish fish.
I’m from
Granny Clyde and Grandpa Manuel,
From go
carts, trampolines, metal mailboxes,
and a Georgia
accent that’s too heavy to carry home.
I’m
from fifteen streets in eleven years:
Mallory,
Donald, Cherry, Willowbranch,
and
eventually Oak, where I put down my roots.
I’m from
moving
Where
my father fancied,
Always
on the river-side
Where
I could be barefoot on the banks of the creek
Collecting
tadpoles and later, freeing frogs.
I’m
from the figs in the yard,
the
outside sueded and brown,
the
inside pink and slimy,
--I
never ate them.
I’m
from magenta azaleas,
and
the stifling stench of sulfur water sprinklers.
I’m
from the tart, fuzzy, violet-striped flowers in my yard
that I
ate when I wanted Cheetos.
My mom
said no: You’ll spoil your dinner.
I’m
from sitting on my front steps, bricked and mossy
Waiting,
chewing
grape bubble gum,
My
hair rolled into buns like Princess Leia.
I’m
from under the pink dotted canopy where I awoke each morning,
A
ballerina music box spinning on my nightstand.
I can
still hear my mother’s voice:
“Morgan,
wake up. It’s the seven o’clock whistle.”
I’m
from that sound,
A low,
sweet sound like a train pulling the day behind it;
A
sound I thought she created
just for me.
Not only will you write the poem, you'll add a cover page that highlights the literary techniques you've chosen to use.
You should use the rubric as a checklist. Click here for the full rubric that you can print at home, if needed. See our sample cover sheets below. You will earn a separate grade for the cover sheet so don't forget to check the back side of the rubric and the notes you took when we taught you how to do text boxes, word art, and graphics in a Word document. Students may sign up for extra computer time, if needed.
