You be the book, I’ll be the binding
You be the words, I’ll be the rhyming
~That’s What’s Up, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Last week on Poetry Friday, Tabatha posted a music video and a paired writing prompt. I thought her idea might work well with my students. We have a class blog on Kidblog.org. Each week I post what I’m calling a “Snippet of the Sea” for students to respond to. Two weeks ago the quote was from Nelson Mandella. They watched a video from the History Channel and answered hard questions about privilege and education and the word weapon. While this was a worthwhile exercise, this week I borrowed Tabatha’s idea and lightened things up a bit.
Here’s the video from Lennon and Maisy and my students’ responses. While they did not have to think very deeply, they did have to rhyme and think about how things go together. But mostly, it was just plain poetic fun.
You be the front, I’ll be the back
You be the ball, and I’ll be the bat. (Lani)You be the pencil I’ll be the lead.
You be the blanket I’ll be the bed.
You be the butter I’ll be the bread
You be the blue I’ll be the red. (Tobie)You be the biscuit, I’ll be the jam
You be bread, I’ll be the ham
You be the green eggs and ham, I’ll be Sam I Am.
You be the beans, I’ll be the spam
You be Mary, I’ll be the little lamb (Kielan)You be the socks, I’ll be the shoes
You be the trumpet, I’ll be the blues (Emily)You be the sky, I’ll be the horn fly.
You be the sun, I’ll be the fun.(Andrew)You be the sun, I’ll be the shine.
You be the tree, I’ll be the pine. (Kaiden)You be the dog, I’ll be the cat.
I’ll be the hair you be the hat. (Jacob)You be the needle, I’ll be the thread.
You be the say, I’ll be the said. (Vannisa)
These are so charming! They picked such intimate, delightful things to be (the say, the said; the hair, the hat; the front, the back; the sun, the shine; the green eggs and ham, Sam I Am; the trumpet, the blues; the butter, the bread; the sun, the fun!)
Hooray for Ms. Simon’s class!
You be the voice, I’ll be your ears.
You write the poems, I’ll give the cheers.
Thanks. I’ll share your couplet with my kids.
Absolutely marvelous, Margaret. I was so inspired it that I wrote one too for Tabatha. How clever your poets are! I have many favorites in those words, so won’t pick just one!
“You be the say, I’ll be the said.” I love it!
Love the fun your students had with this prompt!
“you be the say, I’ll be the said”!!! Love it!
Looks like they have lots of fun with that…
For you and them (your students):
You be the ocean, they’ll be the sharks;
You be the sky, they’ll be the larks;
You be the flint, they’ll be the sparks!
What fun! I love the ending line of the collection: “You be the say, I’ll be the said.”
That Vannisa nails it every time! (I love knowing your students through the work you share!)
This fills me with JOY JOY JOY. Again. Thank you, Margaret! xo
Yep, downright joyful. Love it when kids (& grown-ups) can have such FUN with language. Thanks for sharing! :0)
Just fabulous! I love the joy that these little surprises bring. I am so borrowing this activity!! Thank-you, Margaret.
These are wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing them today. I missed Tabatha’s post last week, but will read it now and then share this great activity with teachers.