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Hey, Doodlebug! A Poetry Challenge

1/25/2017

14 Comments

 
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Today from the ridge, I am sharing a little poetry ditty on the doodlebug! Thanks for visiting today, and be sure to squiggle on over to Carol's space Beyond Literacy Link where she is hosting our round-up this week.

This week, I was invited to participate in a Poetry Challenge by the fourth grade writers in Mrs. Dungan's class. I was thrilled to accept the invitation to write! My task was to write a poem around a student chosen topic. I would be submitting my poem to the class, along with the student poets in the room who had chosen to accept the challenge. On Friday the poems would be read aloud and the poet with the most votes by the audience would be named the Poetry Challenge Champ of the week. I knew immediately, I was going to have some tough competition!  The topic that was chosen for the week was "animals." I definitely wanted to write a poem that was playful and funny. I thought about all the different animals I could write about. It was really hard to choose! I finally decided on an almost invisible  creature that has fascinated me ever since I was a little girl, the antlion or better known as, the doodlebug.   
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Antlion (Doddlebug) pits Photo taken by Kiesha Shepard
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Antlion or Doodlebug in the larva stage
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Antlion in the adult stage
I would like to thank Mrs. Dungan's fourth grade class for their kind invitation to write for their poetry challenge of the week! For more poetry challenge submissions from Mrs. Dungan's amazing poets click HERE.

Invitation to Write:

Writers take on poetry challenges all the time. It is a great way to explore and experiment with language, form, and a variety of literary devices. Best of all, it's really fun! Taking on a challenge can really stretch your thinking and it can motivate you to get your creative juices flowing. Whenever you are faced with a poetry challenge, it can also be helpful to immerse yourself in mentor texts that you might lean on for guidance or inspiration. Since my poetry challenge topic was animals, I found this book of pocket poems about birds particularly helpful. I found a few poems that were very similar to the form that I was wanting to try out for my challenge. Through careful study of these mentor poems and by pushing myself to write in a craft I had never tried before, I was amazed at what I could create on the page. I encourage you, my friends, to consider accepting a poetry challenge or try assigning yourself a writing challenge. It's a great way to learn and grow as a writer.    
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On Wings of Song-Poems About Birds selected and edited by J.D. McClatchy
Here is one of the poems that I referred to as a mentor for my poem Hey, Doodlebug!

The Vulture
The Vulture eats between his meals,
And that's the reason why
He very, very rarely feels
As well as you and I.

His eye is dull, his head is bald,
His neck is growing thinner.
Oh! what a lesson for us all
To only eat at dinner!

​Hilaire Belloc
14 Comments
Carol Varsalona link
1/26/2017 07:04:08 pm

Kiesha, little did I know that a doodlebug is a real animal albeit a sci-fi critter. Thanks for introducing it to me via your delightful poem and for always offering mini-challenges.

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Diane Mayr
1/26/2017 07:14:54 pm

You sure know how to capture a 4th grader's heart--include a healthy dose of "eeew!" If you like bird poetry, you're sure to like the anthology edited by Billy Collins titled, Bright Wings. It came out in 2010, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

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Linda Baie link
1/26/2017 08:50:29 pm

I imagine those kids loved your poem, and that it sparked a new interest in those doodlebugs. They are fascinating. It was fun to hear you talk about the mentor poem, and then share, too.

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Jane @ Raincity Librarian link
1/26/2017 11:46:42 pm

How fun! I didn't realize that doodlebugs were real - poetry can be both inspiring and educational! :-)

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Sally Murphy link
1/27/2017 03:18:34 am

I love this Keisha. thanks for sharing. I have always wondered what a doodlebug was. Now I know.

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Linda Mitchell link
1/27/2017 03:28:25 am

Keisha, how fun! Doodlebug has a deceptively whimsical name....the poem actually makes me shudder a bit. How did the kids like it? I'll bet they loved it. I have a special sympathy for Mrs. Dungan letting everything come before her writing. Alas, all of us get stuck inside for recess some days. Thanks again for sharing how poetry looks in the real world. You have boots-on-the-ground poetry and I love it. Have a great week.

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Kay McGriff link
1/27/2017 04:45:24 am

I thought I knew what a doodlebug was (I wonder if we called a different bug by the same name as a kid), but I was surprised by your poem. Thank you for teaching me something in such a fun poem. I agree that poetry challenges are a great way to learn more about poetry and language, and so are mentor texts. I used to tell my students they could learn how to write anything if they could learn how to read like a writer and study examples of the type of text they wanted to write.

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Brenda Harsham link
1/27/2017 05:29:39 am

Love the doodlebug poem. I need to try one of these sometime. :-)

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Bridget Magee link
1/27/2017 08:57:22 am

A doodlebug??? Who knew? You're a champ in my book, Keisha, to make that critter (scary!) interesting and funny, "sand spitter"! =)

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Alice Nine link
1/27/2017 07:56:27 pm

Great job, Keisha! Such a fun title, "Hey Doodlebug" And then I read words like "tomb ... pits ... victims ... doom ... venom ... suck … beware." Last summer my grandson and I watched a wasp suck a grasshopper dry--fascinating and gruesome--gave us a shudder.

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Mary Lee Hahn
1/28/2017 05:11:00 am

I'm totally borrowing this challenge for our 5th grade! (and I love your poem, too!!)

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Donna link
1/28/2017 10:52:21 am

I'll bet there are no books left in the library with the word "doodlebug" in them! Poetry and bugs both scored with that one!

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B.J. Lee
1/28/2017 01:58:26 pm

These are wonderful, Keisha. I especially loved the one about the vulture!

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LifePoemsProject.com link
4/20/2018 07:44:35 pm

Your poem affected life?! Yes, you can share your lovely poem and its great "after story" with the world... Submit now on LifePoemsProject.com

Reply



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    Welcome! I'm Kiesha Shepard, and I have a love for writing and the teaching of writing. Whispers From the Ridge is a place where I can share my words and ideas for teaching writing. It's also a place for you to find inspiration for writing the words inside of you. I invite you into my world of writing as I capture the whispers from the ridge.

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Photos used under Creative Commons from Kristine Paulus, Ryan Hodnett, Marie Hale, gurdonark, btrentler, Kelly Colgan Azar, jeffreyw, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region
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