Something Beautiful

Something Beautiful

In class, we read Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth. This is a beautiful book and I plan on buying it for my classroom. If you have not read it, it’s a gem. After we read Something Beautiful, our teacher asked us to think of something beautiful to us. I’m not going to lie, this took some time to think about. There are so many beautiful things in this world, but I finally chose what my something beautiful. Instead of just telling what it is, I will share my poem.

My something beautiful is not something
you can hold.
It is not tiny and it’s not not large to some.
It is something that makes me feel at ease.

My something beautiful is something
you can see and feel.
But the type of feeling your heart feels.
The feeling when you know you are home.

My something beautiful is something
I would wake up early for every morning.
It makes me know
I am home.

My something beautiful
is the sunrise over the river.
Not just any river,
but the Neuse River.

My something beautiful
is the sun’s rays
hitting gently on the water
and reflecting into the sky.

It’s my home.
It’s my heart.
It holds many memories.
My something beautiful will always
be beautiful to me.

Where I’m From Poem

This poem is meant for people to think about people, places, objects, smells, etc. from their past and in their present. This is a great way for students to begin thinking about these important memories and to write them on paper. To learn more about Where I’m From poems visit George Ella Lyon’s page. Below is my Where I’m From poem. I did not write this based off a template, but there are multiple templates that can be used.

Textbook by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

This book is a great mentor text! Whenever I am reading it, I have to grab my Writer’s Notebook immediately. There are so many notes I jot down of her experiences that are similar to my own. Here is an example of what my jots look like and a piece I wrote based off one of Amy’s writings.

Two of My Favorites From this Week

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson

There are so many great mentor poems in this book. The way Woodson writes is so beautiful and the emotion she connects to the poem is even better. When I am reading, I have my sticky notes ready to be placed in the poems that I relate to or that stick out to me. When I am done, I realize there are so many poems that I have sticky noted and can return to in the future. This is also a book that is hard to put down and I want to keep learning more about Jackie.

I related very well to this poem because of my relationship with my maternal grandparents. They were the ones who kept me during the day and the ones I would stay with at night if my parents had to go on a trip or were going out on a date. I remember how much I loved to be with them and how safe I felt when I was with them. “… our grandparents; love like a blanket with us beneath it, safe and warm.” I just love this quote and the emotions I feel when reading it.

Family names have always been important to my family and I am sure many others. It’s a way to keep the family history going and to learn more about past relatives. I know for me, it is something I want to do when I have children one day. Family names mean so much and I like the idea that Jackie’s brother is named Hope because it’s not an ordinary name for a boy, it is unique to him, and it’s how they can learn more about their ancestors.

The line that caught my attention the most from this poem is, “… eager to anchor us to childhood.” There are so many things I think back to that anchored me to my childhood and still do. Jackie wanted to make her grandmother happy and knew wearing the ribbon was something that her grandmother appreciated, she did it. Having those memories of the ribbon is something Jackie will always relate to her childhood and I’m sure there are things today that still make Jackie feel anchored to her childhood.

This poem speaks for itself and I am in love with it. There are multiple moments in life where words are not needed and the emotions and expressions speak for themselves. I think we can all think to moments where words are no longer needed to express how we feel.

Shortcut by Donald Crews

Shortcut is about a story where Donald learns when they have done something wrong and know to never do it again. Donald and his friends were heading home and decided to follow the train tracks. There was a shortcut to the road they could have taken but decided to do this instead. Their worst fear happened a train began to come. They had to jump off the tracks to not get hit. They decided that they would go back and take the shortcut and continue to do that from then on. We have all had these experiences. Maybe not the one Donald had, but definitely times where we know we should have done something else and learn the “hard way”. The pictures in this book were also so vivid and the way Crews included the sounds of the train from its “chooing” to the sound of it on the racks makes the reader feel like they are also there. The whole time I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of times like this and thought it would be a writing piece I would like to come back to later.