Poetry is HARD. Honestly, it's probably the hardest genre for most kids. This is because of all the figurative language and layers of meaning found in many poems. It's so important to recognize when poets are being nonliteral with the words, phrases, and lines they use in their poems. One really enjoyable aspect of the poetry unit is how applicable the unit's vocabulary is to the media we're surrounded by nowadays. So many advertisements and slogans incorporate similes, metaphors, wordplay, and personification, that figurative language really is all around us. To emphasize that point, and to keep students on the look out for anything and everything nonliteral, I selected a few commercials from last weekend's super bowl and had students try to identify examples of figurative language weaved into each ad. We analyzed each piece of figurative language and then discussed the reasoning for including it in the commercial. It was a fun activity.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Eric and Sha'Nelize. Eric one hundred percent blew me away this week. I was beyond impressed with all of the effort he put into his work during our ELA lessons. He was consistently focused, on task, and working hard. Not only that, but the amount of participation I saw from him this week made me so proud. I think I may have pulled him aside on at least five different occasions to express my delight and excitement for his hard work and participation. Sha'Nelize has grown in resilience, stamina, and independence this year. Although she started the school year in Ms. Attard's homeroom, she's now officially on my homeroom list, and I'm so grateful that she's been spending more and more time in our classrooms. I adore her, and I look forward to having a front row seat as she continues to progress and flourish this year.