Read It Here First! Haiku with Oakland Charter

This session, our Instructor Lisa Gray has been working with Oakland Charter Academy 6th and 7th grade students. They explored the history and forms of haiku and then created their own:

Cello
To admire is
Express myself playing it
No stress or anger.

by Citlali
(From....: Write a Haiku about something important to you)

No Stopping
I will not give up
I will not stop no matter what
I will get better.

by Daniela
(From....: Write a Haiku about something important to you)

Apocalypse
Fire burning across land
People fleeing homes flaming
World dying people,

by Tlaloc
(From....: Write a Haiku about something important to you)

Pizza
Eating food, good pizza
His mom made with delicious
sauce and good meat.

by Oscar
(From....: Write a Haiku about something important to you)

Naomi
She smells like roses, and her voice sounds like rain on a hot day – lovely and refreshing.

by Jennifer
(Using simile to create a portrait of someone in your family or that you admire)

Why Not Write Wednesday: The Found Poetry Review

It's Why Not Write Wednesday and today we are sharing one of our favorite poetry resources: The Found Poetry Review. The site has heaps of found poetry ideas and prompts to keep you waxing poetic. The Wonkapoem prompt below is one we particularly like.

Wonkapoem

"For this week’s prompt, take inspiration from Mr. Wonka himself by crafting a candy-inspired poem. Visit the Candy Wrapper Archive (yes, there truly is a website for everything) and craft a poem from words you find on the wrappers. A sampling of candy wrappers from the archive can be found below."

For more ideas like this check out The Found Poetry Review.

 

 

Share your poem with us in the comments section of our blog!

Sondra Hall on Rare Bird Radio!

Founder Sondra Hall sat down with Carol Miller of Rarebird Radio to talk creative writing, processing trauma, and fostering a regular writing practice. Bonus poetry readings included - have a listen!

SPOTLIGHT! WORDS OF WISDOM FROM INSTRUCTOR EMILY PHILLIPS

We've been talking to our instructors about what makes them tick - as teachers, as writers and as language lovers! Enjoy learning a little more about longtime Bay Area instructor Emily Phillips.

What do you learn from your students? So many things! How to be brave, how to be silly, how to let go, how to be a better teacher, a better person...and the list goes on.
 
How has teaching impacted your craft? It has prompted me to follow the advice I give them: don't take my first drafts too seriously, take risks, think of the 5 senses and use strong active verbs. Be brave and have fun!

What is a favorite word of yours? Use it in a sentence!  What a preposterous question! All words are my favorite.
 
Share with us a quote or a poem that has been meaningful to you.

The Black Snake
by Mary Oliver

When the black snake
flashed onto the morning road,
and the truck could not swerve--
death, that is how it happens.

Now he lies looped and useless
as an old bicycle tire.
I stop the car
and carry him into the bushes.

He is as cool and gleaming
as a braided whip, he is as beautiful and quiet
as a dead brother.
I leave him under the leaves

and drive on, thinking
about death: its suddenness,
its terrible weight,
its certain coming. Yet under

reason burns a brighter fire, which the bones
have always preferred.
It is the story of endless good fortune.
It says to oblivion: not me!

It is the light at the center of every cell.
It is what sent the snake coiling and flowing forward
happily all spring through the green leaves before
he came to the road.
 

Read It Here First! Hillcrest Creative Miners!

This winter our 3rd - 5th grade students at Hillcrest Elementary used Minecraft as a springboard for imagining other worlds. We used elements of the game to inspire stories based on Biomes, write about clashes with Creepers, create memorable characters out of Mobs that spawn in the dark and tell original tales of survival.

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Below are a few of the students' creative Biome descriptions:

The Jungle
by Maia

Tall trees and tiny bushes
Flowers all shapes and sizes
different colors, textures
bright green grass
ahead is a cave, a large one
walk inside and it smells like fish
spiderwebs on all of the walls.
It is dark like the night sky.
deeper into the black hole there is a light
gold, and many minerals on the ceiling
sparks of colors all shapes and sizes
loud growls are heard and running begins
outside the smell is fresh and pleasant
Behind there are no more growls
The sun is bright and burning
All of a sudden, everything turns black.

Snowy Biome
by Diego

The snowy biome is
as white as a cloud.  All around you
you see white.  You can almost
taste the bitter cold. You can
feel the teasing wind, whipping
across your face. Wanting you
to give up.  You can hear the
snow crunching under your
feet. That is my snow biome.

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Noah wrote this letter from the viewpoint of an anthropologist about the Biome he was in.

Dear Family,

Today I discovered a new place in the south part of Asia.  It looks a lot like a jungle.  Even though I haven't seen all of it, it looks like a pretty cool place. The sound is very beautiful, the birds chirping, the animals all running quickly through the leaves. The smell of wetness in the trees and grass.  All the leaves have little droplets of water and fall on the ground with almost no sound at all.

Sincerely, 
Noah

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My Name Is
by Aidan

I lost my name
in Notre Dame on a rainy day
I found my name
on a great plain on a sunny day
My name is tank
I live in plank
My name is made
From my sporty brain
My name can
Make a dam

Read It Here First! Mining for Stories at Chabot Elementary

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Inspired by the popular world of Minecraft, our 3rd-5th grade writers at Chabot Elementary in Oakland "mined" for stories earlier this year!

Students worked from prompts to create their own story in a world of their choice, choosing 1 of 3 dimensions
Hanisuhs
Hanisuhs was an ice dragon. She was born in a place called Orsavya. Suddenly a drought came and all the water and snow evaporated. She decided to find a new home, so she got into a boat at midnight and set sail. The next day was hard. There was a leak in the boat and it kept overflowing with water. When evening came a crash of lightening struck, barely missing the boat. When she looked up she saw a dark figure hovering in the clouds. It was a lightning dragon! Lightning dragons are the enemies of ice, water and snow dragons. A snarl pushed its way onto the lightning dragon's face as he swooped down onto the boat. When he was face to face with Hanisuhs, he hissed, "Goodbye!" Lightning flashed toward her but she dodged it. The lightening hit the boat and smoke bulged into the air, leaving a massive hole. More water flooded into the boat. After a few moments the water was up to her haunches...
-Alma

Students explored "point of view" in worlds of their own creation using descriptive writing
The Point of View
Once there was a robber sneaking quietly around the city. He came to a bank and climbed onto the roof where he found a trap door. He jumped through the trap door and when he landed inside the bank, he saw stacks of money. "Bonus!" he thought to himself. He looked up and saw a sign that read "All this money is 7.6.97 billion dollars!" It took him five minutes to gather all the money into his bags. He bought famous cars and was never caught.
-Emerson

Here are two stories-in-progress from an exercise on building a story arc through narrative writing
Minecraft Adventure
One day I was walking and saw a village. Every inch of the village was dark blue and was surrounded by crops that were as black as a chalkboard. There were about 50 houses full of MPC's. I was really hungry so I stole some food from the black crops. The food tasted like hamburgers. As I went on exploring, I found a lime green enderman. All I had on me for a weapon was a wooden sword. I hit the enderman with the sword. It flashed purple and then disappeared. Behind where the enderman was standing was a strange red and purple portal. I jumped through it... 
-Lucas

The Bandit
One day a helicopter crashed into an unknown place. It was all forest and far ahead there was a village full of people, The bandit (who was flying the helicopter) decided he wanted to spend his life there. Sadly though, he was kicked out. Nobody trusted him because he set loose 3,000,000,000 zombie pigmen. He lived in a shack about 7,000 feet away from the village and snuck back every night to steal supplies.  
-Jonathan

Students built characters using narrative writing techniques
The Story of Zooy Dooy
Madness. Fear. Destruction. Zooy ran from the forsaken battle (Elkite vs. Sanartrol). Senartro was losing hopelessly and her planet was slowly dying. Zooy ran as fast as she could until she ran completely off of her planet and ended up in deep space. Behind her, the planet (with her entire family on it) exploded into bits. Zooy is now the last Murflow-- tiny little Zooy Dooy with her ragged purple fur...
-Rocco

Felix
Felix is 17. He is son the of Posiden. He can heal a cut just by touching it to water. His last name is Wood. He decided he wanted to go to training camp, so he took ten days to build a chariot. His best friend is named Jack. He has a scar across his left eye from a mountain lion. He really likes crystals and rocks. His favorite food is pork, and he loves to play hockey. 
-Charley

Students were given a prompt ("a monster is coming at your character") & wrote stories from a 1st person perspective
The Forest on Mars
I am in an unknown forest on Mars. My name is George. I can see rust colored rocks. There's a huge, legless alien coming right for me! I jump into a nearby lake to escape, and KABOOM! it explodes because its full of bombs and grenades! Now I am left hiding in a big hole in the ground... 
-Serhan