Poetry, Paint, and Gift Cards-Shape Poems

As February rolls around I think of all those cute red, pink, and  heart themed Valentine cards I exchanged as a kid back at Jackson Elementary in the early/mid 70's. I also remember every kids' desktop laden with multiples of decadently iced sugar cookies and scrumptious mouth watering cupcakes decorated with sky-high pink frosting and candy hearts. They were all homemade and sent in by half of the moms for the much anticipated Valentine's Day Party. Not a purchased treat in the bunch that I recall. Far more confectionary bliss than most kids could eat their way through, although some gave it their best. And of which my mom would swiftly but discretely throw leftovers away to avoid more sugar than one child should ever have in a month or five!

When you find your childhood scrapbook is full of vintage Valentines and realize how many of those same classmates you're connected to on Facebook and send their Valentine wishes back to them personally via a front and back picture (with their name they wrote on the back) 40 some years later!

Loving the play on words on these vintage Valentines!
Students had fun reading these.

I received this Ghostie in 5th grade from a classmate
who now investigates the paranormal as a hobby.
He thought it was pretty hilarious when he saw his old Valentine!

Those Valentine Party days have long since changed and all but disappeared, but the creative part of me still craves the February red, pink, and hearts, so I chose to incorporate it into poetry. The fun thing about poetry is that it can be written all year long! So throughout the year we have been working on adding bits and pieces to our poetry books. This particular poetry entry added a bit of artistic painting creativity to the mix, something students absolutely adore,...along with red, pink, hearts, and lots of love!

Learning the Smelly Way...

To prep for this activity, I chose tempera paint and retrieved a gallon jug from our school's shared supply closet. I selected a color and noticed the bottom of the jug was rounded. Weird. That was my first mistake. I set it on my classroom table and continued lesson planning in another space of the room. A few seconds later I started catching whiffs of something absolutely repulsive. What animal could have possibly gotten in the classroom and died??

Quite often I'm teased by family and colleagues that my sense of smell is so sharp I can even smell things "that aren't there". This was definitely there. And I was determined to find it. After checking several possibilities, I turned the cap of the paint jug. Big mistake number two. I succeeded in contaminating my entire classroom with rancid rotten egg smell from an explosion of beyond disgusting pent up fumes. 

I quickly took the offending jug of tainted paint to the janitor's room then tried to mask the scent by spraying the classroom down with disinfectant spray. I won't be purchasing stock in that company any time soon as it didn't work. At all. Students came in exclaiming the room smelled like "gross rotten eggs and bad perfume"! Totally beyond gross.

I have since learned that because tempera paint contains organic compounds that make it safe to use and even ingest, it also means it will eventually spoil. Never return unused paint to the original container after it's been exposed to air. Duly noted.

Paint Swiping Technique

Painting Technique...

A friend shared an easy painting strategy she uses in her many journals and I knew my students would love it. A used up gift card is the tool needed for creating a painted poetry background. The best part is that it doesn't require a sweet forever for the page to dry. Drying is almost instant. Students dip the edge of a used up gift card into paint and swipe down the paper for a shaded background. More than one color can be used on the card at once. Or colors can be painted on separately and a coordinating or contrasting color can be layered on top from a different direction to mix up the look and color tones. This is one technique where less is definitely more. Do not overdo with the swipes.

No two paintings are ever alike.

Rounding up used gift cards is pretty easy. Often stores will have a stack they are willing to donate. Biggby, a local coffee shop, generously gave me a stack of used up gift cards. 

Excitingly, Biggby also donated two (unused) gift cards for a raffle this month. If a Biggby location is near you in the United States, comment on this post AND fill out the entry form at the bottom to enter. (Find Biggby locations here.) Winners will be drawn at the end of the month.

Thank you for supporting education, Biggby!

Writing the poem...

Once the painting is done, comes the poetry fun. For this piece we started with basic sensory stems (this helped out reluctant writers) in keeping with a Valentine type theme. Stems I used included, I love the taste of..., I love the feel of..., I love the smell of..., I love the sound of..., I love the look of... Most students quickly expanded these into their own poetic lines such as "I love the warm sunshine on my upturned face. I love bright red boots and the feel of a well worn denim jacket. I love the scent of fresh laundry on a rainy day."

First write the sensory poem sentences
around the big heart pattern.

Next, cut out the smaller heart
and continue to write more poetry around it.

I gave each student a heart template and had them cut out the biggest heart. Next they began writing their poetry sentences around the heart. Each time they went all the way around the heart, they cut away to the next smaller heart template and kept writing around the smaller heart. In this way they continued to cut away until they got to the middle. Some chose to write a message in the center like those on a candy heart. These turned out to be creative colorful sensory shape poems! A red and pink hearted Valentine memory.

Adding a "candy heart" message in the middle was a fun touch! Several students also drew heart borders around their piece.

Please share if you have a red, pink, or heart themed poetry activity.

a Rafflecopter giveaway