Poem in Your Pocket Day

My ESL students and I have been counting the days to this wonderful event...Keep A Poem in Your Pocket Day!  I found out about this event when I was browsing through www.poets.org for ideas for Poetry Month. I found out some exciting things through this website like how in 2002, New York City decided to celebrate for the first time A Poem in your Pocket Day. The idea is simple: carry a poem in your pocket to share with friends and family throughout the day. This simple idea turned into something fantastic because every year, NYC got bigger and bigger at celebrating this event during Poetry Month. Today, there are events at Bryant Park(I LOOOOVE this park!) where people get together to share or listen poetry. So, for the first time this year, A Poem in Your Pocket is celebrated nationwide.

My students and I are so ready! It is our tradition to make April a very special month. Throughout the year we read tons and tons of poems so that when April gets here, we are ready to share our favorite poems learned throughout the year with our family, friends and the school. So for tomorrow I am gathering 60 of my ESL students for a picnic. And the weather is helping us! finally! We will gather for a special picnic where we get to share our favorite poems with others in the ESL family. The children love the idea of getting together as a community. They love to see their other friends in the other grades so this works out beautifully.

First, they will share their poems with a partner. Then, we will have a toast (with juice of course!) altogether, and then we will tape our favorite poem to a balloon and at the count of 3... yes..yes...you are right...we will let them go with the hope that someone will receive a poem that day!

The children have practiced reading their poems so many times. We  talked about how much a poem depends on the way we read it... this is our chance to be dramatic, to slow down, to enjoy, to savor each word. It is amazing how well children understand break lines, and pauses, and intonation! I am amazed! 

So...looking forward to uploading some pics of our fantastic day...

I am sooo excited! I can't wait...

I hope my balloon reaches New York...my favorite city. I know, I know...a girl can still dream. :)