Greetings!

These are poems written by kids in our second grade classroom (called Team 205) at Lapham Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin.

Kids were outside Lapham on the front lawn, in the snow, observing andcollecting images (or “seeds” as we call them). We shared images aloud and wrote a group poem. Kids continued to collect images on the frontlawn and in the urban environment around our school. They "grew” their “seeds” into poems over several weeks. We made use of the poet’s toolkit—linebreaks, alliteration, repetition, onomatopoeia, and that wonderful work “like.” As one kid said, “Seeds are everywhere, waitingto be discovered by eager kids!”

After kids wrote several free verse poems, they selected their best poem to contribute to a special poetry collection. The kids then typed their poems using Microsoft Word in the computer lab and drew black and white drawings to go along with their poem. We created a cover together and wrapped the collection to share with families.

To prepare the poems and illustrations for publishing online, kids scanned their work using a flatbed scanner while being "coached" by Jeffrey, a Work and Learn high school student who helps in our room.