School Poetry Workshop: Food and the 5 Senses

It's Poetry Friday! Welcome back to Northfield Elementary, where the third grade poets are using their five senses to write about food.When I'm working with young writers on food poems, I want to guide them away from catch-all words: delicious, yummy, tasty, good, disgusting. Pizza and ice cream are both delicious, but they don't taste anything alike (unless you visit this LA restaurant.)Here's a quick cooperative writing game/exercise you can use to help students focus on specific, descriptive language.Mystery FoodGoal: Get the class to guess your mystery food in three words.

1. Make a set of small cards with the name of a food on each one. I use half an index card. The foods I use are: ice cream, bubble gum, tacos, hamburger, pizza, apple, chocolate, orange, celery, spinach.
2. Give groups of four-six students one card each. Don't read the card aloud (we don't want our classmates to hear), but pass it around the group.
3. The group has 5 minutes to come up with the three adjectives that are so descriptive, the class will be able to figure out the food in one guess.
4. Each group take turns reading their three words. The rest of the class tries to guess the food.

My students have a great time with this one. The classroom teacher and I do walk around, reminding them that they can use color, shape, texture, flavor, and other descriptors.Our mentor text for the food poems workshop is "Good Hotdogs" by Sandra Cisneros.Thanks to the Northfield 3rd grade team and families for giving me permission to share the students’ poems. Today, we were focusing on using imagery of the five senses.Poet: Ayesha A.PopsicleGoing outsideIn the warm sunshine.You run behind me.Something’s in your hand.You yell, “Wait!”I turn around, something plops inMy hand.I rip open the foilAnd see all the typesOf colors. I take a biteAnd out leaks the juicyCherry flavor. When I’m done there’sA stick left behind.I then say thanks and thenI leave. Yum.Poet: Will Y.SushiWaiting ‘til FridayHearing a dingGoing to the door, meetingThe sushi manPizza, sushi, and video gamesEnd of the week, tiredCalifornia roll, sweet crab, soft avocadoI think it is tastyPoet: Celia V.Pepperoni PizzaAs I taste the spicy pepperoniSmell the cheese at the tipOf my tongue, see the cheesyPizza, hear the likes ofMy mouth, ready to eat itUp, I touch the hotness ofMy pizza.Poet: Tanishka H.S’moresOut in the darkWe sit in the pitch black.Mom and DadShout surprise! Out comeHershey bars, marshmallowsHoneylicious graham crackers.Mom and Dad light up the fire.I see marshmallowsOn a stick soft, crispy,And looks yummy! First goesThe cracker, then goes toastyMarshmallows and sweetHershey piece and anotherHoneylicious grahamCracker on top. We takeA s’more. We smell sweet crispsOf marshmallow burns.We take a bite. “Yum,” we say. ChewySquishy marshmallows in our mouths.S'mores we all love.Poet: Ava R.Warm Drinks in the WinterI hear the coffee machine dispenses warm liquid.I feel the warm cup against my cold fingers.I smell the hot chocolatey air.I see the marshmallows melt into the hot chocolate.I hear the sound of the whipped creamSquirt out of the can into the hot chocolate.It tastes as if I got it from heaven.The warm liquid swishes in my mouth.Swish, swash, gulp!Still hungry? I'll post more Northfield food poems next week.Check out the previous posts in this School Poetry Workshop series:School Poetry Workshop: Haiku Hike, May 12, 2017