As remote and hybrid learning continues this spring, Shoesmith 4th graders are expressing what is on their minds with more and more confidence. In the session before the week of standardized testing, students looked at the first 12 items from Gwendolyn Brooks’s “Little Lessons,” and were inspired to write poems of their own choice.
Ms. Lehner
Grade 4 – Room 207
Swimming
Zinanta N.
When I jump
In a pool the water splashes
It goes swish swish
The water feels cold at first
Moments when I stay in the pool
For a period of time
The water gets warmer
The waves in the pool go
swish when I go to the deep end
it feels like a shark is about to attack me
But instead of sharks
sometimes
dead bugs like bees
or flies/dragonflies
What do you feel when you are scared
Willie H.
When you are scared you get this rush
of dark feeling
and it makes you scared
and want to back into a corner and cry but I say NO
I will not back up into a corner and cry
I will stand up and face my fears no matter what it takes
I will make sure that I stand up to my fear and no one is going to stop me.
Colors
Marcus T.
Colors I see them everywhere
the trees a shade of brown and the leaf is dark orange.
I see colors everywhere
on people’s clothes and the floor outside.
But what am I wearing? I’m wearing …..Black.
But my eyes are still filled with colors.
Joy in the air
Colors in the air.
Rain
Thaddeus H.
Rain splashing
From the sky every moment
Making puddles
Grow
Anthony J.
Every year somebody grows
just like plants they grow every day
but we grow slower. Why is that? Do we have different kinds of stuff to grow from,
or are we the same? I think somebody gets born every day
just like how a flower 🌹 blooms everyday. Some things change, some things don’t
it will roll the same if you do the same.
I hear
Autumn W.
I hear keys typing.
I hear people talking.
I hear babies crying.
I hear classmates talking.
I hear my brother’s footsteps.
I hear the stove on.
I hear the dishes being washed.
I hear my dog barking.
Grade 4 – Room 208
What should I write?
Larrion J.
Hmm what should I write?
Nothing seems to rhyme. It’s like I could die. Nothing new.
Everything’s the same.
What will I do now? There’s nothing to blame.
Think of something new. But what is that? Nothing new ever passes.
My brain is stuck with the same old almost like it’s old.
Hmmm
think think think!!!
I just can’t get it.
The food fight
Jayden C.
The food fight. People eating
treating their stomach
then someone throws a fit and starts
Boom
a food fight
I’m one of the quiet kids and I don’t start trouble
when a food fight starts for no reason I am hiding
hiding under the table
no one ever notices me
one time this kid found me but I threw a hard stick of butter at him
his name was “E.”
he’s a nice guy but he starts the food fight every time
every single time.
Jovial
Bela C.
Jovial, Colors
Laughing, playing,
A feeling that spreads
Joy
Nature
Eugene D.
Nature is the best thing
You can run, jump, and ride your bike
And even just take a walk
My brother how he died
Nia W.
Once upon a time Nia had a brother
He died when he was a baby because he was born too early and I did not see
I was not even born and now I’m the only child
But me and my dad and mom will still love him even if he Rests In Peace he will always be in my life and My brother he will never stop.
Why Are People
Kyleigh F.
People
complicated and different
Still living, thinking, and thriving
Night-time
Zion N.
Sun down, Moon up,
humans asleep, bats awake,
Lights off, Darkness on.
