Thursday, April 26, 2012

Happy Poem In Your Pocket Day!

On the way to work yesterday I heard a short story on NPR about Poem In Your Pocket Day and promised myself that I would do something to celebrate. Kinders and firsties LOVE having things in their pockets and I loved the idea of giving them a poem to carry around. I sent a frantic email to the librarian asking for good short poems. I threw something together, copied a short Robert Louise Stevenson poem about rain since that seemed fitting, and was going to call it a day.

When my two first grade girls sauntered into my classroom this morning they were clutching tiny pieces of paper and grinning while their classroom teacher followed close behind. She too had heard the NPR story and had instituted Poem In Your Pocket Day in her room as well. The problem was, Rock Star didn't have pockets because she was wearing an adorable dress. With our two last-minute teacher-awesomeness minds together we whipped up a make shift pocket for Rock Star. (Somehow last minute under pressure teacher moments always come up with the best creations.)

When I went to meet their class later I saw that Rock Star was not the only one with a new felt pocket. Almost all the children in her class had their own poem pockets safety pinned to their shirts. They'd also decorated their fabulous pockets with their favorite things. They were oh-so-proudly patting their pockets and grinning about their special poems. It was awesome. They even made one for our librarian.
It was a very special last minute kind of day.

Next year when we actually have time to plan for poem-in-your-pocket day I can't wait to see what we come up with!

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