After nearly a month’s break, I was happy to return to Skinner West this week. It was great to be back in all the 4th grade classrooms! With some snow on the ground and more seasonally cold temperatures, the poem we read and discussed was “Blizzard” by William Carlos Williams. This short poem seems to evoke the aftermath of a snowstorm, but it is more imagistic than descriptive, so after reading it once and having the students follow along, I read it again while everyone closed their eyes and just listened. Some of the things we focused on were why does the poet write “years of anger” in the second line—who (or what) is angry? Some students thought it might be the man who is pictured at the end of the poem, “his solitary tracks stretched out / upon the world,” or people in general inconvenienced by the storm, while others imagined instead the blizzard itself as being angry in the way it attacks the world with snow falling so heavily and violently all at once. I also asked about the description of “hairy looking trees”—are trees “hairy”? If so, how? The students came up with some very interesting answers.
The prompt this week was to write a weather poem. We briefly brainstormed weather words, and I noted that while this is a winter poem, the students could set theirs during any season. Here are some examples from each class.
Ms. Rupp, 2nd Grade
Weather Storms
Carolina B.
The weather is a mixture
of wind or rain or sun.
weather is a mixture
laughter, crying or fun.
Weather is a mixture
of life for something there.
Weather is a mixture
of 1 for all for some.
Untitled
Evan H.
Today is windy
make sure it’s not
raindy.
It’s cold and
it’s brighty.
But why shovel
snow when coldy
if you know
it’s blizzardy?
Next morning it’s coldy!
But after the
morning it’s warmy!!!
Snow and Sun
Tiara H.
Snow so white
Sun so bright
Snow make it stop
Sun so hot
Snow so beautiful
Sun so pretty
Snow on the ground
Sun in the sky
Both are beautiful
It might make me cry.
Heat Wave
Darian K.
The heat wave is the hottest
weather in the world. It can
melt cars, trucks, buildings and even
you. It is almost impossible to
avoid them you have nowhere to
move unless a mansion made
of obsidian or diamond. There is
almost nowhere to go so the
world needs bigger advantage and
technology you just can’t stop
the world or the time or anything
bad. So go somewhere else before
your cars melt. The only way to
stop it is high tech coats
with wires and many circuits.
That coat might just suck up heat
and stop bad and hot weather.
A New Change in the World
Eli O.
Fall comes.
Fall comes?
Fall comes!
Why fall?
Fall is here.
The sun like an angel in
the sky like a leaf from
heaven with your soul
with fall. Fall comes.
Sunshine
Sofia Y.
In the spring, the flowers bloom one by one. Bumble
bees and butterflies glide gracefully through
the meadow. Buttercups, roses, and bluebonnets
grow on top of a sunny hill. The sunshine
flows in like a river of gold. The frogs
croak on rocks. The lilys bloom. The birds
fly to their beautiful home and give birth
to their young. The river, once binded
frozen in winter, is flowing rapidly. The
salmon jump up the river,
laying eggs. The sour berries
on the tree now turn sweet.
Now the cotton grazes past the
deer.
Ms. Beaudry, 2nd Grade
Winter; almost
Jonathan C.
Winter, the windy wind.
Winter, the soft snow.
Snow, that the snow
flew gently to the ground.
It seems. It seems that the snowflakes
are in so hurry, it’s freezing cold, in the winter
snowmans are built.
Winter, the windy wind.
Summer so hot that
it is great, great to
go on vacation.
Winter, the pride of cold.
Winter.
Summer.
Summer
Gabrielle C.
Summer, it makes the grass grow
and makes the flowers grow and the
sun shine. It makes you want to
frolic outside and show yourself to
the world.
Blizzard
Jaylen J.
It’s snowing. It’s snowing it’s covering me up a blizzard
is coming, piling me up. Now I am frozen.
Weather Days
Sandy K.
Is it rainy?
Is it snowy?
Is it hot?
Is it cold?
No one knows, but I know.
You might imagine sunny being macaroni.
You might imagine cold days being ice.
You might imagine hot days being the sun.
You might imagine snowy days being snowmans, and
you might imagine rainy days being snow.
Days. Days and days hot and cold days hot days you bring
cold drinks, and cold days you drink hot chocolate.
One Day
Riley S.
I walk outside with
my snow pants. A blizzard
comes snow hits my eyes
I blackout I hit the
snow and hard. It’s black and
then light shows I’m in
summer blackout thrown
out dead I wake up
in a bed. KO, knocked
out dead whatever you
call it out. Empty.
Ms. Schwartz, 2nd Grade
Untitled
Daniel B.
Snowflakes cold smooth
fun to make forts with
and snow fights
white snow fun
like ice cream.
Weather
Tailur K.
Winter is super cold and
you can make a snowman.
Summer it is super hot.
In winter snowflakes come
down.
In summer you can also
relax.
Untitled
Pharrell L.
Summer is hot. The sun makes
you hot. Every summer I go to
camp. It’s fun there. I go
out all the time. I like
summer. It’s fun. But it’s hot too.
Hot
Naima M.
It is hot in the summer
It is hot when you are
outside
It is hot when you are
running
It is hot when you are hot
Untitled
Tanzania T.
I think summer is discover of sunny like a
microwave in the summer. You are hot in the
summer but you are cool.
Untitled
Angel Y.
(snow) is like a circle.
Ms. Ward, 2nd Grade
Untitled
Ryan L.
Tornado is very windy and
strong it can break like anything
also it is very fast.
Icy
Zara M.
It was icy as ice
your skin is going
to be blue with
ice skates. It is
freezing.
Hot
Ari P.
Hot as a desert,
Hot as a fire,
Hot as a Charizard
Burning in flames.
I wish the winter
is here
Help, Help!
Winter come
Untitled
Isaac T.
Snow is cold. Snow is
burny. Snow is wet.
Untitled
Chris W.
Snow falling to the ground. As white
as a piece of paper. As crunchy as
some chips. As soft as a blanket
stuffed with lots of cotton.
It’s Everywhere
Maxxim W.
It’s hot hot. It’s cold mostly cold.
It’s colder than the ocean. It’s as
cold as winter. You cannot believe
it’s winter. It’s done.
Snowy
Emily X.
While it’s snowy it’s going to
be freezing cold.
The snow is going to be
so deep that we can’t walk
and shovel snow.
The snows drift and become
the color white.
It’s going to be winter while
the snows fall down.
At winter it’s going to be
a really cold windy.
While is longer the snows
become ice.
