Prompt: December 8

I spent all night thinking over that poem
And the beauty it conveyed.
The way the happy skaters swayed
And the bluejay preened as they gazed at him.
Let’s write a poem of our winter, here
And its beauty, fearless and gay.
Let’s share the story of all our cheer
We could even rhyme along the way!

Download the prompts for December 5-8 here as a PDF or here as a Microsoft Word Document. You can download the next set of prompts, for December 9-12, here as a PDF or here as a Microsoft Word Document.

An image of the Dec. 8 prompt card, printed on cream card stock with an orange border and an orange frog wax seal. The card is nestled in a lit Christmas tree.

Materials

Something to write on (a piece of paper, a tablet, etc.)

Something to write with (a pen, pencil, or tablet, etc.)

Activity

One of my favorite things to do with my kids is write poems with them. Poems are so free-form, that even though my oldest is still learning how to write, she feels confident in her skills.

To start, you might want to reflect on the poem we read yesterday. Ask your kids what they like about the poem. Then, have them start brainstorming what winter experiences they want to capture in their poem.

You might want to let them know that poetry:

Doesn’t have to rhyme
Can use invented spelling
Can be as short or long as they like
Can be funny! Or serious! Poetry can be about any emotion at all.

If your kiddo is stuck, you might suggest playing “Exquisite Corpse” (or a simplified version of the game). The game dates back to the Parisian Surrealist Movement, and you probably played a version of it in English class. Each player writes a line, then folds the paper to conceal it, then passes it to the next player. If you’re playing with younger children, you might just go back and forth saying words, while an adult writes them down into the poem. The point here is to get our kids to think creatively and playfully about their emotions, and also about how to communicate those emotions to other people.

Prompt: December 7

When I want to see the world anew
I read a little poem.
When I want to learn something fine and true
I read a little poem.
When I want to see through the eyes of another
I read a little poem.
Let’s read a poem now to each other,
Let’s read a little poem!

Download the prompts for December 5-8 here as a PDF or here as a Microsoft Word Document.

An image of the Dec. 7 prompt card, printed on cream card stock with an orange border and an orange frog wax seal. The card is nestled in a lit Christmas tree.

Materials

A poem to read. While you are welcome to choose any poem, of course, tomorrow’s prompt references “A Winter Bluejay” by Sara Teasdale.

A Winter Bluejay

Sara Teasdale

Crisply the bright snow whispered,
Crunching beneath our feet;
Behind us as we walked along the parkway,
Our shadows danced,
Fantastic shapes in vivid blue.
Across the lake the skaters
Flew to and fro,
With sharp turns weaving
A frail invisible net.
In ecstasy the earth
Drank the silver sunlight;
In ecstasy the skaters
Drank the wine of speed;
In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?
But no,
For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,
“Oh look!”
There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,
Fearless and gay as our love,
A bluejay cocked his crest!
Oh who can tell the range of joy
Or set the bounds of beauty?

This poem appears in the collection A Poem for Every Winter Day, edited by Allie Esiri. The Frog will be giving my kids this book today, and I hope to read a poem from it every morning at breakfast throughout the winter.

Activity

So many things have been said about poetry, but I’ve always thought of it as the most efficient way to slip into someone else’s perspective. William Wordsworth famously described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.” But if poetry is emotion, it is important to consider whose emotion. Certainly the poet’s, but the reader and poet co-collaborate with every reading and interpretation; once read, it ceases to be just the poet’s “powerful feelings.” Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo highlighted the way poetry is both intensely personal and, necessarily, broadly evocative. After winning the Nobel prize for literature in 1959, the poet said “Poetry ... is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own.” For our children, part of building empathy is realizing that other people have a rich interior world, and also realizing that they have one of their own. Over the next few days, we’ll enjoy poetry with our children to build their awareness of emotional expression.

Read Teasdale’s poem with your children. Then, if you like, ask them some simple questions about it. What do you notice about this poem? What did you see while reading this poem? Did it feel like you were seeing through the poet’s eyes? How do you think the poet felt while writing this poem? Have you ever been so overcome with beauty and joy that you wanted to immortalize it like this? When? What’s your favorite word in this poem? Are there any words here you would change?

Tomorrow, we’ll give our kids a chance to write a poem of their own, and these questions can help them feel empowered to attempt poetry themselves.