Thank you for coming back. This past week at Moos, the students and I took the opportunity to think about the beauty that we see in the world, and especially in small things. Studying imagism, which is a minimalist form of poetry that favors precision of imagry and clear, sharp language, we looked at Ezra Pound's two line poem "In a Station of the Metro", which, in it's entirity, reads like this:

IN A STATION OF THE METRO

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

Today we read, "Animals" by Robinson Jeffers. This is the poem I choose for us to read to kick off the Big Read Project. This was our first animal poem so we had a lot to talk about. We discussed the animal that Jeffers describes, the environment that it's in, the animals we've seen in 'real' life and if we agree with Jeffers in his comparisons between animals and humans. I asked the students to write poems about animals in action, doing something, and to use similes when possible.

Today we read, "Animals" by Robinson Jeffers. This is the poem I choose for us to read to kick off the Big Read Project. This was our first animal poem so we had a lot to talk about. We discussed the animal that Jeffers describes, the environment that it's in, the animals we've seen in 'real' life and if we agree with Jeffers in his comparisons between animals and humans. I asked the students to write poems about animals in action, doing something, and to use similes when possible.

   On Wednesday Skinner students began work on a two week project for The National Endowment for the Arts program The Big Read. Along with every other Hands on Stanzas school in Chicago, the 5th graders read a poem by Robinson Jeffers, and responded to his work with a poem of their own.

On our first week together after the winter break I asked Shields students to write poems about the contents of their own minds. For inspiration we read "A Boy's Head" by Miroslav Holub, a Czech scientist/ poet. Holub's poetry shows us how well the fantastical and the concrete can come together in the mind and on the page. Together we discussed how the senses can be used to make imaginary and real images more vivid for the reader.

As part of the National Endowment for the Arts Big Read, we were able to explore the work of Robinson Jeffers. We spent two days discussing the finer points of his poem, Autumn Evening.

This week we learned about the Ode, spending another week reading the poet Pablo Neruda. After reading the Ode, An Ode to Thanks we went over all the different ways that Neruda talks about the word, Thanks. We saw how Neruda created several metaphors and also used four different languages in the poem to say Thanks - (French, Russian, German and Spanish!) It was fun to see how an Ode could celebrate or honor something/someone.

Please enjoy our Ode's to various objects!

Ode to Fruit
Mikayla M.

Ode to fruit
you are sweeter
than sweet

      On Tuesday, Pilgrim students began work on a two week project for The National Endowment for the Arts program The Big Read. Along with every other Hands on Stanzas school in Chicago, the 4th, 5th and 6th graders read a poem by Robinson Jeffers, and responded to his work with a poem of their own.

The fifth grade students were introduced to the poetry of Robinson Jeffers this week. We reviewed two poems by the poet, ‘Carmel Point' and ‘Summer Holiday.' We noted the ugly but descriptive language that Jeffers uses to describe the modern world, the age of iron and granite. We looked at word choice made by the poet through-out the two poems and then we chose from those words to make new poems!
Through a series of steps involving crossing out and collage. These are artistic processes that date back to the work of the Dadaists and have been employed by both writers and artists.

Note: This post will present the third grader's work. A second blog will present the work of the fifth grade students at George Washington.

Like our friends at other schools in the Hands on Stanza‘s program, we too are studying the work of the American poet Robinson Jeffers. Our continued looking at art dovetailed nicely with the poetry of Mr. Jeffers.
Our art museum this week consisted of landscape paintings which we admired for their many beautiful qualities especially, the use of color, shadow and light and the various layers of field and sky.