Two first graders walked into the library with a notebook in their hands. They walked up to me at the desk and asked if they could show me their work. I said "yes!" of course.
When they opened their notebook, I saw three lines of writing and a title . . and then a syllable count on each one. I realized that these students had written a haiku. A haiku!! (Their teacher had told them about haikus, but they didn't remember the name.)
I could not contain my excitement! I absolutely love poetry and especially poetry written FOR or BY children.
I asked them to read it aloud to me. The haiku was about sunshine and how "cool" it was! And it was so lovely I asked them to read it to me again. I told them it was because -- as I've learned -- poetry is meant to be read aloud.
So when they read it to me again, I closed my eyes to hear the beauty of it. And it made me smile.
And I think they got the idea that this kind of stuff brings me such joy!! I know their teacher knows this, and that's probably why she sent them. I can't thank her enough for that!
So then I told them that we had lots of poetry books in the library! We walked over to the 811s where I pulled out some titles for them to browse through. (I wanted to show them Hi, Koo! (Scholastic, 2014) but it was checked out.)
I asked if I could display the poem in the library, and they said "Yes!" with big smiles on their faces. But they said they wanted to recopy it and illustrate it first.
Then they walked away and I just couldn't stop smiling.
Does writing happen in the library? Yes.
Is it easy to celebrate poetry in the library? Yes.
Is it easy to celebrate poetry in the library? Yes.
Those students brought me some sunshine yesterday.