About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Monday, July 18, 2011

A is for AMAZEMENT

And away we go again - Round 9 of ABC Wednesday, courtesy and brainchild of Denise Nesbitt! Last round, I focused on "destinations," ones that I had actually visited (except for the letters X and Z).

I took my time thinking about what to do for this round, and last night I had a brainwave. I hope you enjoy what I'm going to do. Let me explain.

When I taught Grade 4, I had to teach Grammar. Now, most people will groan when they have to study parts of speech, sentence structure, and writing paragraphs and essays. I, however, LOVE grammar and wanted to make it fun fun fun for the kids. So after we learned about nouns being a person, place, or thing, I explained that nouns can also be words that express a feeling or an emotion. I also introduced them to the literary devices of similes and metaphors and then incorporated the entire thing into a fun exercise of writing a poem about a feeling or emotion.

We used the 5 senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch to make up similes. The beginning of the poem needed to have a colour and the end had to be a metaphor. We practised in class before I gave the go-ahead to the class, and I was absolutely AMAZED at the creativity from each student. To incorporate other aspects of their learning experience (using the computer, learning to type plus Art), each child was allowed to choose a font and typed up their poem before gluing it to an appropriate piece of coloured construction paper. I then had them laminated before displaying them in the hallway outside the classroom.

One parent was so impressed with this exercise, she wrote her own poem of thanks to me as her child's teacher using this same format. I have that note to this day. I hope you enjoy my attempt at doing what I taught all my fourth graders:

AMAZEMENT

Amazement is white light.
It looks like fireworks lighting up the sky.
It sounds like a baby’s first cry.
It smells like fresh-baked apple pies.
It tastes like the fair’s French fries.
It feels like a hug from my favorite guy.
Amazement is the aurora borealis at night.


To view other contributions or to join in, just click here and you'll be taken to the homepageof ABC Wednesday.

30 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...

Love it leslie - the enthusiasm for learning passes on doesn't it? Great stuff! Denise xxx

nancygrayce said...

Just one teacher like you affects so many lives! I well remember my one great teacher!

Roger Owen Green said...

actually, I liked diagramming sentences. it made sense. I wish they'd bring it back!

Gigi Ann said...

I loved the lesson today, I wish you had been my 4th grade teacher. And I especially loved the poem. Great and Amazing post for A day today, Leslie...

Kay L. Davies said...

You certainly were a creative and hands-on teacher, Leslie. I am so impressed. I've always loved grammar, too, but nobody made it fun for me. I had to do that myself.

—Kay, Alberta, Canada

BeeWild said...

Lovely, Leslie! What a great way to teach the children too.

photowannabe said...

I wish you had been my 4th grade teacher too.
I can't even remember anything about the 4th grade. It must have made a deep impression.
That is a terrific way to teach grammer and make it fun. I really love your poem using the senses.

Wanda said...

Oh I feel just like Photowantabe...Wish you had been my 4th grade teacher, as he is the one teacher in all my elementary grades I didn' like...Her name of Alice Rail, and she "yelled"....not a good memory.

Wanda said...

Oops...she was a she, not a he...no spell check hahaha.

Jane and Chris said...

Oh, I love it. I'm going to try doing that myself!
Jane x

Tumblewords: said...

Absolutely amazing! Love it!

Meryl said...

What a great way to start round 9! Awesome poem and image.

Sylvia K said...

An awesome post for the A Day, Leslie!! I'm a former teacher, too, and I did everything I could dream up to get my students excited and enthusiastic about writing -- learning in general. And it worked with so many of them and was so incredibly rewarding for me. So, I do understand what you have written and shared with us and like everyone else this is wonderful! Thank you!

Sylvia

Carver said...

Your students were so lucky to have a creative and amazing teacher as you. Great post.

To answer your question about the fairy asters relation to daisies, they are in the same family as daisies.

Chubskulit Rose said...

I agree with Carver, bless the teacher who are great just like you. I bet, being your student is fascinating.

Shooting Parrots said...

Excellent. I good have done with you as my teacher!

Beverley Baird said...

What a lovely poem! Great start to the new round!

Paula Scott Molokai Girl Studio said...

Indeed, you are that one teacher that changes the paths of so many lives without anyone knowing. And, the change is for good. I like to think of actions like yours falling within the realm of the 'butterfly' effect.

Hildred said...

I love it Leslie, - you must have been a great teacher. There is always one teacher that stands out as being the person who inspired you, and I'm sure you filled that role many times.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

you put a lot of effort and you deserve an A.

Shrinky said...

I wish one of mine had a teacher like you!

Jay at The Depp Effect said...

Wow... that's an amazing photo! Beautiful capture!

I'm struggling with grammar right now, because I'm learning Italian. Not only is their grammar quite different to ours, but my language partners need English grammar explained. I have to dredge the dusty memories of my schooldays out of my skull to help them with it! It's not that I don't know how to use it, but I have almost completely forgotten what all the parts of language are called!

Maria's Space said...

Lovely post and beautiful photo.
http://reesspace.blogspot.com/2011/07/mission-completed-in-less-than-1-week.html

Oakland Daily Photo said...

The aurora borealis is something I've always wanted to see. Too bad I hate being cold.

Terrie said...

Great concept and poem - I'm not sure I could have managed it in 4th grade! Your poem is so evocative - wait that's "E"; how about Appealing?!

Reader Wil said...

Thank you for this amazing post! Children are creative and are not hampered by all kind of rules. They are spontaneous.
Grade four does that mean ten years old children?

Greensboro Daily Photo said...

Something for everybody on this post! That photo wowed me! The poem wowed me! What you do for your students wowed me!

Tina´s PicStory said...

Amazing picture! :) LG Tina

Francisca said...

I missed this last week, and after your B for Breeze poem, I wanted to read your A poem. I'm Amazed! :-)

Francisca said...

PS. I like grammar, always did. I really enjoyed the book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves, by Lynne Truss.