I conducted a school author-visit to Spiritridge Elementary School (Bellevue WA) today where I spent an hour with a bunch of fourth graders. After reading poems from my book, talking about poetry, poetic forms, influences, and the poetry writing process, we decided to do a live spot drawing.
First I read them a poem by Shel Silverstein titled 'The Yippyuck' (about a thing called the Yippyuck which is not described in the poem). I then asked them to imagine, based on what they heard, what a Yippyuck would look like and drew it for them on the Smart Board as they described it, which turned out to be "big!", "fat!", "slimy!", "pointy nose!", "sharp ears!", "wings!", "fangs!", "evil smile!", "multiple eyes!", "five legs!", "duck tail!", "pig tail!", "antennas!". "tentacles!", "hair like medusa!", "halo!" .. needless to say we were all in splits by the end of this drawing session....! :) If you ever wondered what a creature designed by a roomful of 4th graders would look like, well this is it: If you missed the "Happiness Is... A Cup Of Coffee" show in February, a subset of the paintings are now on display at the Flying Squirrel Pizza Co. in Seattle's Maple Leaf neighborhood. Here is a video of my Washington International School Skype visit. Warning, it's pretty long! |
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