The Best Part of Me Project

My first graders worked extremely hard on these poems based on the beloved book, The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About their Bodies in Pictures and in Words by Wendy Ewald. I want to share the process that helped students create such masterpieces.

First, I read two poems to the students, stopping each time to ask what they liked about the poem. After the third poem, I got out some paper to start recording what we liked. I knew that we would use this later for inspiration. I read a total of about five during this session. 

The next day I worked with half the class at a time. I reviewed the chart then read two more poems to the students, again asking them what they liked about each poem. Next, I told the students that it was their turn to write their own 'Best Part of Me' poem. 

Once students had chosen what they intended to write about, I handed out the graphic organizers (click here). I helped the students fill in the bubbles by going through each technique on the list one at a time. Ex: I asked the students if the body part that they had chosen reminded them of anyone in their family.

Later that day, I returned the graphic organizers to students whole class and explained how to transform the bubbles into sentences that would form a poem. I worked with a small group who needed extra help.

The next day I had students copy their poems onto 8x10 papers- encouraging them to write with a margin by drawing a pencil line for them to always start writing at. Last, they traced over their letters with sharpies. I later erased pencil marks and mounted each child's photograph and poem together.

This was a long process, and it was well worth the time and energy!