Kickin' Off Spring Break, Peeps Style!

Well, here goes nothing!  This is my very first blog post.  I have been an avid blogstalker for quite some time now, but being on the other side is a bit intimidating.  There are so many amazing, talented teacher bloggers out there.  Am I even worthy to enter their world?  I'm willing to give it a try!    
                                    
So, yesterday was our last day before Spring Break (yay).  The kids weren't nearly as antsy as I would have thought, but they did have their moments.  Overall, I can't complain...I was chompin' at the bit too! 

One activity I do this time of year with my students is a Peeps Build a Poem.  My BFF and I came up with this several years ago when we were trying to come up with a cute bulletin board display (our school requires that all board displays showcase student writing-you can have art too).  Due to our shared love of those sweet marshmallow treats we came up with the poem.

                                                   
A build a poem, as many of you may already know, is where you add a new word to each line of the poem while repeating what has already been written. I have my students brainstorm a list of adjectives to describe the Peeps before writing.  I give each student a yellow, sugary treat (after we clean our hands, of course) and have them look at it, smell it, listen to it (ha), feel it, and finally, taste it.  As we do each observation we add adjectives to an anchor chart.  Once there is a good sampling of adjectives for students to use, we begin writing. 


My poem went a little something like this:

Peeps
Yellow Peeps
Squishy, yellow Peeps
Soft, squishy, yellow Peeps
Puffy, soft, squishy, yellow Peeps
Sugary, puffy, soft, squishy, yellow Peeps
Peeps, Peeps!

I always walk the students through the writing process, one line at a time.  When they are ready, they copy their poem onto prepared final draft paper.  To display their poems on our hallway bulletin board I take a picture of each student either snuggling or pretending to eat the Peep. I mount their photo on scrapbook paper and display it next to their writing on the board.  The kids love this activity...they get a sweet treat and get to act silly all at once!

Sadly, I do not have any student samples to include from this activity because I had SOOOOO much to do before leaving for break.  However, if you would like to snag a copy of the Peeps poem for yourself, head on over to my TpT store. 


Click the link below for your freebie!

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