In Katie Wood Ray's excellent book Wondrous Words, she talks about how to create choral poems from picture books. The idea is this:
1) Read a picture book with rich language out loud to the class.
2) Provide copies of the text so that each student can follow along.
3) Read it again, and this time have each student highlight words and sentences that are the most striking, the most surprising, that have the most poetry, and that just sound magical.
4) Then the students do the difficult task of choosing the most striking words, no more than 15.
5) I then ask them to quietly practice the words they chose, and ask if anyone has a good beginning.
6) In a circle, one by one, the class recites their words. The resulting poem is always really cool. I record the voices, and transcribe them into poems. The following are 4 great picture books that lend themselves to choral readings, and the class choral poems that we created this year.
My Momma Had A Dancing Heart
Grade 4-R Choral Poem
And afterwards we’d cut snowflakes paper-white delicate, and sip cocoa with marshmallows floating
Carrying me along until the music slows and I feather-float down... down to the ground
Air-daring leap-flying wing-soaring letting the spring rain, summer waves, autumn leaves, winter snow carry me along
The sand stuck between the toes of our up-and-down squish-squashing feet
We’d dance a frog-hopping leaf-growing flower-opening “Hello Spring” ballet
Out we’d go and do a body-flat arms-moving-up-and-down snow-angel “Hello Winter” ballet
We’d dance a frog-hopping leaf-growing flower-opening “Hello Spring” ballet
Eye-blinking blue air with Momma leading in the leaf-kicking, leg-lifting, hand-clapping, “Hello Autumn” ballet
Spring rain, summer waves, autumn leaves, winter snow... carrying me along until the music slows
We’d cut snowflakes paper-white delicate, and sip cocoa with marshmallows floating
Go and do a body-flat arms-moving-up-and-down snow-angel “Hello Winter” ballet
My mama had a dancing heart, and she shared that heart with me
One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies
4th Grade’s Fourth Choral Poem
Just beneath the surface is a tangle of weed and driftwood where tiny creatures cling.
And in winter to turquoise lagoons, warm as a bath, where she can munch among corals.
Far, far out to sea, land is only a memory.
Above them on the beach a hundred eyes watch, on the lookout for a meal.
She remembers the taste of the water here and the sound of the surf.
She pokes her pinprick nostrils through the silver surface... blink and you’d miss it.
And in winter to turquoise lagoons, warm as a bath, where she can munch among corals.
Not much bigger than a bottle top, she hides in the green shadows. She’s a baby.
Left behind, under the sand, her eggs stay deep and safe. Baby turtles grow inside.
Land becomes a memory waiting to wake in the head of the little turtle.
The turtle swims around, flapping her long front flippers like wings. She is flying underwater.
Then she’s gone, diving down into her secret life again.
And empty sky touches the water.
I Love You The Purplest
Grade 4-R’s Second Choral Poem
The mist of a mountain
The splash of a waterfall
The hush of a whisper
I love you the color of a dragonfly at the tip of its wing
Max exploded from the cabin, twirling the shovel in front of him
The mist of a mountain
The splash of a waterfall
The hush of a whisper
Julian shut the cabin door tightly to keep it safe from burglars and bears
The mist of a mountain
The splash of a waterfall
The hush of a whisper
I love you the color of a leopard’s eye when it prowls through the jungle
I love you the color of a leopard’s eye when it prowls through the jungle
In the end, Mama caught one fish, Julian caught one fish and Max caught three
I love you the reddest. I love you the color of the sky
Stars sprinkled the sky and water turned dark as night
I love you the color of a leopard’s eye when it prowls through the jungle
I love you the bluest.
I love you the color of a dragon fly at the tip of its wing
I love you the color of the sky before it blazes into night
Bat Loves The Night
4th Grade Choral Poem
Gliding and fluttering back and forth, she shouts her torch of sound among the trees.
Now, she unhooks her toes and drops into black space.
Over bushes, under trees, between fence posts, through the tangled hedge, she swoops untouched.
Gliding and fluttering back and forth, she shouts her torch of sound among the trees.
This times she bites hard. Its wings fall away like the wrapper from a candy.
But the moth’s pearly scales are moon dust slippery. It slithers from between her teeth.
Bat is at home in the darkness, as a fish is in water.
She unfurls her wings made of skin so fine, the finger bones show through.
Bat shouts as she flies. Louder than a hammer blow. Higher than a squeak.
This times she bites hard. Its wings fall away like the wrapper from a candy.
The velvet scrap battling climbs aboard and clings to Bat’s fur by its coat hanger feet.
She shouts her torch of sound among the trees listening for her supper. All is still.
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