Happy National Poetry Month! I am excited to begin our annual Poetry Unit with my second graders in the coming weeks. Even more exciting is the fact that our annual Poetry Café and Writing Celebration is about one month away! It is the BIG event that marks the end of our second grade year and I’m more excited than ever, to be inviting parents into our building again after not being able to for the past two years. Something unique that I have always loved about our elementary school is that every grade level has their “BIG Event” for students to look forward to or to get parents involved. For example, Kindergarten reenacts and makes Stone Soup, Fourth Grade performs a Wax Museum, Fifth Grade puts on a Cardboard Arcade. Second grade has the Poetry Café!
I have been ending the school year with a Poetry Café for many, many years. It all started when I taught fifth grade in Austell, GA. My students wrote the most heart-felt, raw, soulful poems and my co-teacher and I knew right away that they needed an audience. They needed to be heard and seen and their poems couldn’t just live on the pages of their notebooks.
The Early Years
The first year – I’m talking waaaay back to 2006, we kept it very simple by holding the cafe in our classroom. There was no food, or props. We asked the students to wear their Sunday’s best or something that they would feel proud in. I rearranged our classroom with a stage area up front. Our morning meeting rug became the outline of our stage. I brought some white lights and a tall stool from home and added a microphone stand which we borrowed from the music teacher. We didn’t have the tech to add a real microphone, but it was a great visual for them. We turned off the lights and kept our lamps on. I had rolled out a huge sheet of white paper, drew bricks on with permanent marker, and had the students fill the bricks with their poems. It made for a really colorful backdrop for our “stage”. Parents came in and we taught them how to snap their fingers or click their tongues in leu of applauding. It was powerful. The feedback was wonderful. Interacting with the parents and seeing the students feel proud of themselves and deeply feel a sense of courage and accomplishment – it was pure joy!
Why a Poetry Cafe?
Three school districts later, I’ve carried the tradition of the Poetry Cafe with me and each year (minus a few here and there). It really is a memorable event. I think a big part of the success comes from giving your students an audience. No matter what grade they are in, when children get to have a spotlight on them for a bit, they shine. This is their moment to SHINE!
Now, I don’t want to ignore the fact that for some, it is nerve-wrecking and can cause some anxiety. This is completely natural. Think back to a time in your own life when you were nervous and had anxiety over something new or important and when you had the courage to push through, you felt proud of yourself. We always work through these feelings ahead of time. I am very mindful of this during our entire unit. Even beyond that, conquering fears is something I practice with my students from day one each year. So, by this time they are well equipped to step up to the challenge and of course, we practice our poems several times leading up to the café.
Another way to ensure success is getting students PUMPED up for the event! In fact, I think they get excited long before second grade. As Kindergarteners and First Graders, they see our primary center transformed into a Café each spring and for about a week. It’s always fun to see the awe and wonder in the younger grades and to hear them ask in the hallways, “WHAT are you doing out here? What is all this? When do WE get to do this?” I love telling them that I can’ wait until they are in Second Grade and can participate in the Poetry Café with us. Now, when I start announcing to the current class that we are going to start working on Poetry, they get so excited because they’ve heard that word before and they know it means something special.
Over the years, I’ve added and tweaked things and as I prepare for this year’s event, looking back over the photos, I thought I would share some of the details from recent years. Here are six steps to setting up and holding a Poetry Café or Writing Celebration.
Step 1: Write, Write, and Write Some More!
The first and most important thing about holding a Poetry Café is to have your students write, of course! Some years, we showcase just our poetry. Other years, we have displayed and celebrated other genres and examples of writing we did throughout the year. For our Poetry Unit, we use Amy Lemon’s, Poetry Writing Activities and a mixture of other poems and resources we have accumulated throughout the years. It always depends on the students, how many poems we publish, or the complexity of poems. Either way, we study poetry for about three to four weeks before our big event.
In the end, students choose one poem they publish that they would like to recite at the Poetry Café and they practice, practice, and practice some more!
Step 2: Pick Your Location.
I used to hold the event in my classroom. If you have a large enough room for students and parents to sit around comfortably, it’s a great option. Since I’ve been in my current school, I’ve held ours in our Primary Center. It’s a common use space just outside our classrooms. It also has a little kitchenette off to the side which is perfect for serving food, coffee, and lemonade. There’s also room for a few tables and chairs for parents to sit or stand around while they listen. Our students always just sit on the floor in front of the stage area.
Step 3: Gather Supplies and Materials
Over the years, I’ve accumulated a collection of items that I store away just for our Poetry Café. However, I also shop my home and classroom the week before for little decorations such as fake plants, extra lamps, battery operated candles, rugs, and other finishing touches. For example, we now use a real microphone which we attach to a Blue Tooth speaker to amplify our voices. I tie a long, flowy scarf around it (channeling a little Aerosmith I guess). The key is to not run out and spend your hard-earned money. Use what you have, first! I’ve accumulated a lot over the years, but honestly, less is more!
I mentioned earlier, that the first year I did this, I drew a brick background. I’ve since kept in stock, a roll of fadeless paper that looks like red bricks. I use this as the background of our stage and also put it on the bulletin boards around the café as a backdrop for some of their poems. One roll lasted about four to five years for me!
One of the biggest game changers came when I was talking with our custodian, Chip, about setting up and how I wished I had better wall space to hang our poems. He suggested we use the gym mats by standing them up on end and open slightly like an accordion. It was BRILLIANT! Each year he brings them down to the center for us to use for the week (the Phy. Ed. teacher is on board and doesn’t use them this time of year). Plus, they get a good scrubbing from me before we tape our poems to them, so it’s a win-win for all!
A couple days before the event we have students help us use masking tape to hang all of the poems up. They each get a section of the mats to showcase all of their published poems and other writing samples. Ahead of time, we glue all poems to black construction paper for a uniform, clean look.
Step 4: Whenever Possible, Offer FOOD!
Offering food such as cookies and bars is something that I’ve always done. In years past, we have had parents donate baked goods, I’ve made or bought them myself, and one year my colleague had the students make all of the desserts themselves (that was before Covid). Now, I order cookies from our local bakery, or the school cafeteria makes them for us. I also serve lemonade with real lemon slices and coffee for the adults. Adding a table cloth and some fake candles is a piece of cake!
Step 5: Practice, Practice, Practice, and Invite Your Audience.
We typically send home an invite to parents, inviting them to the Poetry Café about two weeks before the event. This way, if they need to take off work early to attend, they have the time. We also send home reminders as the day nears. Invites are also sent to the administrators and secretaries, and specials teachers as long as we think we will have the room. With about 30 – 40 students, we set aside an hour to an hour and a half. This includes parents arriving, students entering and sitting, an intro, the poems (super short), a closing speaker, and snacks & drinks.
We do a run-through of the Café the day before (with our peers as our audience) to practice speaking into a microphone and hearing our voice echo through the center (that’s always fun for the first time). This is a great way to work out the jitters. I also make it a point to tell them about being brave and how bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is being afraid and doing it anyway! It is taking the chance to step outside of their comfort level and push themselves in order to fell proud. At this point in our year, we have several book characters that we’ve met and can refer back to (Rosie Revere, Brave Irene, Humphrey, Brian, etc.). After the Café (usually Monday) we talk about how it went and they ALL feel so proud of themselves and walk a little taller for the remaining days of school.
Step 6: Make it Your Own!
There are some years that I have gone ALL OUT for this event. Other years, I had so many other things on my plate and hardly had it in me to put it all together. Some years I’ve asked for help from parents, other years I’ve done a lot myself. You really have to do what feels right for you. Last year, we were unable to invite parents in. We still had our Café. We just live-streamed it and invited the first graders to be our live audience (I don’t recommend this as having students as your audience changes the dynamic). The year we shut down for Covid, was the year my son was in second grade. He was devastated not to be able to have it (I might have been even more sad than him) but we did it virtually. I had the students record their poems from home and my colleague put them into a video/slideshow to post for parents. We also offered a coupon for a free coffee and hot chocolate to our local bakery that students could pick up while we were shut down. We made it work.
One year, we had a special guest who we invited to the Café – a bus driver who also happened to be on the local Fire Department AND someone who volunteered to read with students throughout the year. His name is Rollie and ALL the students know and love him. He wrote a special poem and recited it at the beginning of our event to the students. It was wonderful and made all the teachers cry. That’s the beauty of it. The Poetry Café is an event that brings our families, students, and community together to celebrate our writing and accomplishments. As long as I am able, I will continue the tradition. I hope you are able to take away a few tips and ideas from my experience. If you have any questions or want to share your own ideas, I would love to hear them! Email me at tanyaraeteaches@gmail.com.
