This week I read Textbook by Amy Rosenthal, All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by Valerie Worth, Awakening the Heart by Georgia Heard, and Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater. Follow along while I introduce the Six-Room-Poem, the process, and a mentor text. 

​

 

Six-Room-Poem

All the Small Poems is by Valerie Worth. Worth is very talented with her exquisite language and thinking process. One of my new favorite poetry techniques that I explored this week was the Six-Room-Poem. This poetry technique is designed to expand poets vision of images for the poems we write. The following are the six rooms; image, light, sound, questions, feelings, and repeating word(s). The technique could be only 3 rooms for lower grades or as high as 13 rooms for upper grades. Some ideas for more rooms would be similes or metaphors, smells, what the image would taste like, what the image would feel like, favorite quote from a poem to weave in, or what your poem would say if it could speak. Follow along as I explore this poetry technique!

​

1. Room 1, image- image of your choice. ​

2. Room 2, light- look at the image and focus on the quality of light. 

   • Is the sun bright?​

   • Is it a dull flat day?

   • Are there any shadows?

   • Are there any clouds?

   • Don't remember? Make it up. 

3. Room 3, sound- look at the image and focus only on the sounds. 

   • Are there any voices?​

   • Rustling of leaves?

   • Sound of rain?

   • Silence? If so, what kind of silence? Empty? Lonely? Peaceful?

4. Room 4, questions- write down any questions you have about the image. 

   • Anything you want to know more about?​

   • Anything you wonder about?

5. Room 5, feelings- write down any feelings you have about the image. 

   • How do you feel looking at this image?​

   • Does it make you feel happy? Sad? Excited? Curious? 

6. Room 6, repeating words- look over the five rooms and select one word, phrase, or line that feels important and write it three times.

   • What room stands out to you?​

   • What does the image represent?

   • How does the image speak to you?

​

​

My Process

​

While thinking about the image, I wanted to pick an image that means a lot to me and something that I have experienced. I decided to go with a picture I took last week at Appalachian Ski Mountain. The image is of one of the black diamonds, Big Appal, from the top before I went down. One of my favorite things to do is to ski. I didn't learn how to ski until 5 years ago. I took the skiing PE class that App offered my freshman year. Before this class, I had only gone once (15 years old) and I got frustrated, took my skis off, and walked down the mountain. Let's just say my mother was not that happy. After completing my PE class, I felt so confident on the mountain and I was so excited for my next 4 years at App. Fast forward to this year, I tutor two kids Mondays-Wednesdays. When winter started, we went to App Ski every Tuesday after school and stayed until 9pm. They were amazing at skiing and I really fell in love with skiing. I became even more confident and looked forward to it every Tuesday. With all of this being said, I knew I could really dive into this poem with all the details and memories of the image. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

1. Room 1, image

   • ​Big Appal slope at App Ski Mtn. 

2. Room 2, light 

   • Sunny

   • Blinding

   • Some clouds

   • Warm but cold

3. Room 3, sound

   • Music

   • Snowboards stopping

   • Skis swishing 

   • People talking and yelling

   • Birds

4. Room 4, questions

   • Why is it 50 degrees but SO hot?

   • Why was I ever scared of this black diamond?

5. Room 5, feelings

   • Happiness

   • Sad because it was the last time skiing for the season

   • Joy

   • Thankful 

6. Room 6, repeating words

   • Swishing

   • Swishing

   • Swishing

​

After filling up all 6 rooms, it was time to write my poem!

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using this in the Classroom 

This is a great technique for any grade. For example, in 3rd grade you could do a 3 room poem with an image, feelings, and light. This wouldn't be so overwhelming to lower grades. In 8th grade you could do a 13 room poem with an image, feelings, light, questions, repeating words, sound, metaphors, similes, taste, smells, favorite quotes, etc. A week before I introduce this technique, I will instruct students to bring in an image that they have a connection with. When introducing this technique to your students, it's important that they choose an image that has a meaning to them. This is because they need to think of details such as how they felt, what they saw, what they heard, what they wonder about, or how the image has meaning to them as a poet. This will allow them to create a strong poem that they will be proud of! In my future classroom, I can see myself making stations for each "room".

​

• Station 1- why they chose their image and the story behind it. 

• Station 2- what was the lighting when the image was taken?

• Station 3- what sounds did you hear?

• Station 4- what questions do you have?

• Station 5- what feelings do you have when the image was taken?

• Station 6- what word(s) do you want to repeat or have special meaning?

​

I would implement these stations the first time my students use the Six-Room-Poem technique. They will work with their group members and peers to brainstorm each "room". This would allow students to think out loud and explore describing words with their peers. I think this is my new favorite poetry technique that I will definitely use in my future classroom!

​

​

​

Mentor Poems

In the next coming weeks I will be teaching a poetry unit. I wanted to share one of the mentor texts that I will be using. 

​

Mentor Poem- Kindergarten Kids

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Summary- Kindergarten Kids is by Stephanie Calmenson and illustrated by Melissa Sweet. This book consists of riddles, rebuses, wiggle, giggles, and more. This book grabbed my attention because of the multiple forms of poems. While it may seem "kiddish", the poems are AMAZING for introducing poetry.

Favorite poem- Show-and-Tell. I love this poem! It has blank spots where students fill in words. I think this is a powerful poem because when kids fill in the missing words, they are helping create poetry! It's a great introduction to poetry. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

Implementing- When I introduce this mentor texts that is filled with mentor poems, I will explain how each poem is different. I will stop after every poem and ask my students, what was different about this poem? This is a strong mentor texts because it introduces multiple forms of poetry. The text has several poems about holidays that we celebrate in school and poems about school. This is a great mentor text for my poetry unit because every student can relate to the poems!

​

 

References 

​

Heard, G (1999). Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School. Heinemann Publisher