Week of April 6
Remember: The best things you can do are: Read every day. Write every day. Talk every day. Keep your mind active!
Feel free to share!
1. Scrapbook / Notebook / Visual Diary or Journal
2. Spoken Word Poetry
3. Photo Essay
4. Poetry Writing Workshop with Canadian poet Rupi Kaur, author of Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers
5. Spoken Word Poetry- Part deux
- Design a special scrapbook to keep a record of these very unusual days. Someday, you will share stories with your children and grandchildren about living through this. These days will be recorded in history books, and this scrapbook will be your own personal history.
- Take a duo-tang, journal, notebook or make a homemade booklet with paper and construction paper. Decorate it using any materials you have, for example pencils, markers, pictures from flyers or magazines. Or, create a digital scrapbook. Use your imagination so that your personality shines through. Include things that are important to you. Write your name in an interesting way.
- In the scrapbook, keep a record of things you are doing. Express yourself using words, drawings, diagrams, collage, etc.
- For today, start by describing what your day looks like. How is it different now? What is the best part of being at home? What do you miss the most? Do you wear pajamas all day?
- Try to add something every day. You might want to write about something funny that happened, or maybe write about something more serious. If you are watching movies, write movie reviews. Plan a book talk if you have read something you liked. Write a poem. Draw a cartoon. Use your creativity to make something that represents you!
- Have a look at Sabrina Ward Harrison's website for other prompts and professional example of an illustrated notebook
2. Spoken Word Poetry
- Watch Asha Christensen TEDxKids Talk
- Use the following prompts to help you think about the talk:
- I noticed . . . I wonder . . . I was reminded of . . . I think . . . I’m surprised that . . . I’d like to know . . . I realized . . . If I were . . . If _________, then. . . I’m not sure . . . Although it seems . . . This part makes me think that . . . This makes me feel that . . . The speaker is suggesting that . . . I notice ___ about the language in the talk.
- Discuss the Ted Talk with a family member or send it to a friend and talk about it together. How does spoken word poetry help us connect?
- Feeling isolated right now? Blank page syndrome? Sometimes writing about it is the best medicine. Pick up a pencil, just like Asha Christensen did and write your story. It doesn’t have to be more than a page.
- Ask a friend online to do the same activity and share your stories. Do they have anything in common? What’s different?
- Take it to the next level: Practice your piece as a spoken word performance. Share your piece/performance with your family or friends. Have a look at this toolkit for spoken word poetry
3. Photo Essay
- Why do times of change cause both conflict and cooperation?
- Document, through a series of photographs, how being isolated in your home has caused both conflict and cooperation. Consider the use of colour, or black and white. Perhaps your story is best told through a series of Polaroids with captions underneath (if you have access to a Polaroid camera). You may want to play around with different filters to give your images a certain vibe.
- Take it to the next level! Hang or pin your photos on a wall in your home. Have a gallery tour with family members, allowing the photos to stimulate a discussion.
- If you don’t have a printer, you could use a free app to create a collage of your images and present them on a screen.
4. Poetry Writing Workshop with Canadian poet Rupi Kaur, author of Milk and Honey and The Sun and Her Flowers
- On her live stream channel, Rupi leads virtual participants in writing exercises to help with self-expression in this time of social isolation.
- Choose one poem to share with others via social networks.
- See her on Jimmy Fallon; Read some of her poems here;
- Enter the Montreal International Poetry Prize contest by May 1-15
5. Spoken Word Poetry- Part deux
- Watch the Ted Talk “If I Should Have A Daughter” by Sarah Kay.
- Use the following prompts to help you think about the talk:
- I noticed . . . I wonder . . . I was reminded of . . . I think . . . I’m surprised that . . . I’d like to know . . . I realized . . . If I were . . . The central issue(s) is/are . . . If _________, then . . . I’m not sure . . . Although it seems . . . This part makes me think that . . . This makes me feel that . . . The speaker is suggesting that . . . I notice ___ about the language in the talk.
- Discuss the Ted Talk with a family member or send it to a friend and talk about it together.
- Create a list: “10 Things I Know to Be True.”
- Ask a friend online to do the same activity and share your lists. Do they have anything in common?
- Take it to the next level: Practice your piece as a spoken word performance. Share your piece/performance with your family or friends. Have a look at this toolkit for spoken word poetry