Writer's Notebooks

   Cinquains 

   Flashlight Poems

   S'Mores - resources for camping-themed curriculum units

   Library Campout by Charlotte Van Ryswyk, the creative librarian at Vista del Valle Elementary School

A Writer's Notebook

"Keeping a journal is living a wide-awake life."

                                Paula W. Graham

     Many of the poems in Toasting Marshmallows came from ideas in my writer's notebooks. My scrawled entries - scraps of experiences, fleeting memories — were invaluable.  

     It may be many years (or never!) before we use something in our notebooks. However, writers who take a minute to jot down an idea, an impression, or a bit of language will always have memory joggers to help recall events, observations, and experiences. 

     It also helps to be a packrat.  I save interesting items — special photos, a green rock, or a tree branch that looks like a snake.  My notes and memorabilia help me recapture the essence of a time and to recall those all-important details.

     When I speak to students, I show them one of my messy, battered notebooks where I jot down ideas and observations. Sometimes I'll read an entry, such as "owl / pleat / cape" and explain how - over time and with many revisions - this rough start became the poem "Owl at Night."

     Encourage your students to keep their own writing notebooks. Children often think and write more creatively when they don't feel pressured to produce a finished poem, story, or essay every time they put pencil to paper. A notebook is a safe place to practice writing, and using a notebook encourages students to think about writing as a process — a learning and growing experience.

     I also explain to students that one of the reasons my notebook is a wreck is because I take it everywhere, even on hikes. Planning a field trip for your class? Encourage your students to bring and use their notebooks. Or, take your students outside on an observation walk. They can jot down the unusual and surprising things they see, hear, touch, smell, or feel. Does that tree's bark look like a face? Who lives in that hole? Is the wind inviting them somewhere?

     Observation walks help students slow down and notice the world around them. Using writers' notebooks to record their observations helps students capture their fleeting and magical ideas — some of which may grow into poems.

Want to know more about journaling and writers' notebooks? Check out 

	Tips for Young Poets
	Tips for Young Poets: Observation
	Breathing In, Breathing Out: Keeping a Writer's Notebook by Ralph Fletcher
	Moon Journals: Writing, Art and Inquiry Through Focused Nature Study by Joni Chancer and Gina Rester-Zodrow
	Speaking of Journals : Children's Book Writers Talk About Their Diaries, Notebooks and Sketchbooks by Paula W. Graham

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Cinquains 

Begin 
writing cinquains
by counting syllables,
until your idea fits like
a glove.

     In my poetry, I enjoy using a variety of different forms — from structured to free verse.  Flipping through a stack of revisions for a  poem, I'll find the poem written in several forms.  I play with  different forms until I find the "right fit" for the poem.

        Both "Sleeping Outside" from Toasting Marshmallows, and the poem above are written in the cinquain form:

Line 1:       2 syllables
Line 2:       4 syllables
Line 3:       6 syllables
Line 4:       8 syllables
Line 5:       2 syllables

     Cinquains can be a single poem of five lines or contain several stanzas.   Students enjoy this form because cinquains provide a definite structure but do not lock them into rhyming.  Cinquains also force a writer to be succinct: Every word counts!

     This form, as originally developed by Adelaide Crapsey, does not specify nouns, verbs, adverbs, or adjectives in any particular line.  It is a very flexible form. (My one restriction for using cinquains came from noted poet and anthologist, Myra Cohn Livingston: "Best not to mention the name of the originator of cinquains to students.")

      For additional information about this form, check out:

	Poem-Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston
	AHA! Poetry for some good examples of contemporary cinquains

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Flashlight Poems

     This is one of four haiku on the topic of flashlights in Toasting Marshmallows. When I was writing these haiku, I was surprised by how many associations and memories an ordinary flashlight evoked!

     Bring in some flashlights and turn out the lights in the classroom. Read these haiku for Toasting Marshmallows along with other poems about flashlights*. 

     Pass around the flashlights and invite your students to brainstorm and write poems on flashlights. 

Some questions students might want to think about are

What if you were a flashlight? 

What might you say to a flashlight?

What might a flashlight want to tell you?

What does the flashlight beam remind you of? 

When were you really glad you had a flashlight handy? (Answering this one will be easy for California students if we continue to have "rolling blackouts"!)

* The title poem in The Great Frog Race mentions using flashlights to find frogs "in the damp and secret places / in the garden." If you can find a copy, "Flashlight," by Judith Thurman would be a fun poem to add to the mix. 

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