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Explosions In The Sky - A 3rd Grade Poetry Project


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Thank you again for all of your comments. The arts helped me through school and so I try to offer it to my kids, they just might not get this experience anywhere else in their pre-college academic career. Here are some more poems. These are non-EITS poems.

 

Whisper In The Wind

 

I am the wind.

I whisper to you that

you can do anything.

You can’t forget who

you are.

I tell you the secrets

of life

You live and

learn it.

 

Rakim. , age 8

 

 

Goodbye

 

You always say goodbye.

You say it when you or

someone else leaves. You

say it when you’re sad or

happy. You say it

in a lot of places like

an airport, houses, and

when someone leaves for

college. You can tell how

you feel when you say goodbye

if there are teardrops from your

eye or if you are smiling like

a bunny. We all say goodbye

all over the world.

 

-Jose, age 8

 

 

 

The Fox Who Like To Do Tricks

 

I am a fox who

likes to do tricks. I

Am a pretty cat who

lives near a mean fox who

likes to do mean tricks.

I am a bird who lives

in a park where fox lives.

Nobody likes him because

he does bad tricks that he

would not like if we did

that to him. And

we have to teach that fox

a lesson.

 

 Angie, age 8

The funny thing about the poem above is that

the girl who wrote it actually acted like the fox.

She didn't know she was kind of writing it about herself.

She reveals the duality of her personality, fighting the

good and bad like we all do.

 

 

This next poem was written by a boy who was born into a family of hunters.

It was something that was part of his family, but he had a difficult time

reconciling that fact with his love for animals and nature. He really struggled

academically, especially with writing paragraphs, this was his way to shine.

 

I Am Nature

 

I am a wonderful world of nature. I am

in a rainforest with rainbows

and the sound of rivers.

I am father nature I make

Nature wonderful and enjoyable

I make waterfalls . People love nature.

I am saying to people go to the icy mountains

and go hiking and see animals, see

eagles, and wolves too.

I am saying to people love and share

with each other and don’t fight just

love and fit in.

I am seeing butterflies, robins, and

other animals. You can pretend

your backyard is a forest.

I am helping the environment

to make our world a better place.

I am happy to see animals and

people not fighting. I

don’t like hunters because they

kill animals.

I am in the sky looking at

people being kind to others.

 

Carlos, age 9

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Yeah, I officially give up trying to be a writer now.  Now that I'm aware that there are 8 and 9 year olds writing like this, I really don't stand a chance.  If anyone needs me I'll be out back, I'll be the guy next to the small trash can fire, the one filled with notebooks and a laptop, you can't miss me, I'll be the guy violently sobbing as I curse the names of every small child in this thread.  

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Yeah, I officially give up trying to be a writer now.  Now that I'm aware that there are 8 and 9 year olds writing like this, I really don't stand a chance.  If anyone needs me I'll be out back, I'll be the guy next to the small trash can fire, the one filled with notebooks and a laptop, you can't miss me, I'll be the guy violently sobbing as I curse the names of every small child in this thread.  

 

 

 

I feel the same way. Their writing shows that they are missing the filters that we acquire throughout our lives. As artists, I think that we are really just attempting to remove all of the filters that block creativity and unhindered expression. I am hoping for a good batch of poems this year. Some years are better than others. A lot of that has to do with me breaking from the mandated curriculum and giving them the time and tools to write. We will see.

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I feel the same way. Their writing shows that they are missing the filters that we acquire throughout our lives. As artists, I think that we are really just attempting to remove all of the filters that block creativity and unhindered expression. I am hoping for a good batch of poems this year. Some years are better than others. A lot of that has to do with me breaking from the mandated curriculum and giving them the time and tools to write. We will see.

 

Drugs help.

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  • 3 months later...

Now that state testing if over, we are finally back on the poetry track. The kids are busy writing right now and I am excited to see what comes out this year.

Here are some more that my students have written over the last 12 years.  Once again, these were all written by 3rd graders and it is all their writing, not mine.

 

     The Season of the Waterfall

 

The waterfall is an ocean

As a season on the Earth

You say you make a sky in

The ocean

You are foolish to me not to you

The problem is

Now you do not know how

To swim in the waterfall.

 

 

- Angie, age 8

 

My Hands

My hands are

Brown

The palm is white

But don’t call

Me black because my

Skin color is

Brown.

If you call me black I

Will hit you in

your mouth with

My brown right hand.

 

     -Parish

 

 

When We Die

 

I am one

I am two

I am three

And living all

My years until

God calls me

To heaven.

 

Where we

Are going

Is going

To be

A better

Place no

More crying

Stealing and

No more

Shooting.

 

And ‘til

                                                                                       God calls

Me up

I will

Be still

                                                                                          On this

Wicked earth.

 

- Aylisha, age 8

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Uncle Died

 

I had an uncle who died. He

gave food to poor people.

He helped my mom walk when

she couldn’t. I felt sad because

I didn’t get a chance to

see him. He was in Mexico.

He wouldn’t stop drinking.

I feel like a baby cat crying for

her mom. That’s how I feel. My

family has been really sad, too.

My Grandma was

            crying

            for days

but                  she is

            used to it now.

 

-Tanya

 

This next poem never fails to bring on the waterworks.

 

Memorial

 

My grandma is dead. I cry and cry

And I pray so slow as I walk in the

Door. So slow, so fast, so me and you

My dad cries so loud like a tornado spinning

Around. My mom screams for my

Grandma, “ Porque te

fuiste?”

So slow and so fast as they walk home.

They buried my grandma so slow, so

So slow, now she’s in the sky with god,

Protecting me and you I loved my grandma so

Fast and so slow. I loved her as much as you.

 

- Maria

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What the hell? Incredible that a 3rd grader wrote these. First off I laughed at "laying down being a jerk" because it's cute, and really good. But these last few lines had me sitting, staring, and thinking. So deep for such a young age. Do you teach at a public school? Also, I remember being a Freshman and doing one of those "what I want to accomplish" papers, and then it being given back to me upon graduation. When do these kids switch schools, 6th grade? You should keep hold onto them for a few years and give them back once they move on.

 

 Yeah, this kid was a bit spacey and academically low, so when I read his poems, they floored me.  I wish I could steal, "Water from God biting water forever." I don't know what it means, but it sounds cool. Kids are a lot deeper than most people think. Just have to give them the space and encouragement to let it out.

Yes, a public school in a high poverty area in Northern California. I get them for 3rd and our school gets to keep them for the 6th, then it's off to middle school aka hell.

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  • 8 months later...

Here are a handful of my 2012/13 3rd grade poems from last year.

 

Mountains Calling

 

Mountains, could you

hear the disturbing sound?

It’s thunder. I know how that feels

someday your mountains are going to fall.

Someday you might be stopped.

Just call me,

I’ll help you.

 

-Cristian

 

Secret

 

I have a secret that I

told no one in my life.

It will make me nervous if

I tell someone, but I did anyway and

I felt fine.

Then I told my friends and I

am still going to tell more people.

I will not be scared anymore.

I will be me and

stay like that.

- Eve

 

 

Open

 

When I opened the door

an ugly dog popped out and I screamed so

loud I fainted when I finished screaming.

When I woke up I heard a loud

screeching from the backyard.

I went to my closet to put on my

binoculars

and

swimming goggles.

 

-Melanie

 

 

Below The Sky

 

Below the sky there are cities, towns, hotels, and

stores. Below the sky there are millions of people.

Below the dirty sky, dragons are breathing fire

and millions of hippos crawling like babies.

Burning people melting snow all

beautiful green grass showing like big great

teeth showing smiling people making

bad choices. They don’t know

what they’re doing.

 

                                                                                                                      -Esmeralda

      

 

 

Haiku

 

light glimmers at night

this house is on fire, help me

I hate you, don’t help

 

-Andre

 

 

This last one is another one where I played them the Explosions song and gave them the title to use for their poem.

A Song For Our Fathers

 

A song that fits their personalities.

I’ll give so much thought about

love and caring.

It’s going to be a big song.

There will be lots of “sorries”

because I did something bad.

The song is like a misunderstanding

about what I did.

When my father forgives me I will

write another song about

forgiveness.

 

-Chris

 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out this year.

 

 

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Seeing this thread for the first time.  This is fucking awesome.  I'm sitting in a massive library at my school, and this has kind of made me rethink what the fuck I'm doing with my life.  I've always wanted to teach, I think it would be awesome to be able to have some sort of positive impact on kids, no matter how small it might be.  But for some reason I'm taking business, and it seems like the least fulfilling/empty thing I could have possibly chosen.  Even if I start a company and make millions of dollars, I'll never do anything this fucking cool.  

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