After a week off for spring break, we sprang back into action by reading Jane Kenyon’s “Afternoon in the House.” We began our discussion by thinking about who the speaker could be, keeping in mind that we should never assume it’s the poet; could some contextual details in the poem help? I also asked who the addressee might be, since the speaker expressly says, “I am writing about you.” In the final stanza, even though the speaker adds, “I know you are with me,” they also admit to being “frightened, / sitting in the middle of perfect / possibility,” so we also considered the use (and degree) of such a loaded word as frightened. In addition, we identified Kenyon’s use of personification throughout the poem.
Referring to the opening image of cats sprawled, “each / in a favored place,” I asked the students to list as many ‘places’ as they could, selecting one they consider “favored”—special or unique to them in some way—and making it the impetus for their poem.
Mrs. Rosenzweig, 4th Grade
An Afternoon in the Garden
By Gabbie B.
It’s quiet here. Here at…
The Botanical Gardens
The frogs hop on the lily pads
The fish swim in the lake
I sit there watching as they do…
The things they like to
I hear the wind’s breeze
Softly I begin to sneeze
Children’s laughter fills the air
And suddenly it isn’t so quiet
Here: I sigh
Seeing as my quietness goes away
Maybe it will be quiet
Another day.
Day at the Lagoon
By Alex H.
I am at the lagoon
Sitting down on the ground
Fish showing off and jumping
High in the sky they do jump
Trees swaying side to side
With their big leafy pom-poms.
I hope they don’t fall down
To where I am on the ground.
Then I need to go,
Catch some fish.
But I don’t hurt them
Because I sell them to others
And then I go back home.
Sunset on Michigan Lake
By Anni H.
It’s calm here. The waves
Splash against the cement,
A very calming scene.
Geese honking, ducks
quacking, and seagulls
squawking all add to the beauty of nature.
Sometimes, the seagulls are too aggressive,
The geese are too comfortable with humans,
And the ducks are too afraid of the geese.
The scene is pure with the color of the sun
Setting in red, orange, and yellow.
Dance
By Mari M.
My favored place,
You want to know?
It’s cozy there and
Home for all!
There’s no friendly animals
Or birds that chirp
But the place is always smiling
And the floor
Is waiting for you
To move and soar
Come! Don’t be afraid
Like I said it’s home for all
No fancy rugs or
Lovely dresses just a place
To be free.
To dance.
Afternoon at the Beach House
By Jack S.
Let’s pack up sandwiches
And go to the beach
We go and splash around
Just a touch
Then we can dig a hole in the sand
We like that just as much.
After the beach, we head back home
To shoot baskets in the driveway.
I win a 1 on 1 and
Take a match of knockout
Once, at last, we are
Cooking the shrimp boil.
The kids play outside.
After it’s done, we eat,
A spicy, savory, delicious meal
And when we’ve eaten our fill,
We roast marshmallows on the campfire.
Grocery Store Poem
By Evangeline W.
My mom wore pajamas to the grocery store.
She smashed a bunch of eggs on the grocery floor
One dozen 2 dozen 4 dozen, 6
She dumped a bunch of jelly jars in the mix.
Orange jelly, apricot, don’t forget cherry
Orange marmalade and wild blueberry
A man walked by and fell in the glop
He slid next door to the barber shop.
His sticky body got covered in hair.
He tore a hole in his underwear.
Mrs. Johnson, 4th Grade
My Dear Home
by Nandini B.
My dear home gives me a lot of things.
He gives us shelter and cooking materials.
He stores food and ingredients in his
stomach. He lets us sleep in his intestine
and allows us to put furniture in his pancreas
and keeps us safe from hot days to stormy nights
to freezing winters. I love you home. You are like a
mother holding a baby and we love you even though
you are small and cramped up.
Morning in My Garden
By Yidan D.
When I wake up, with the birds singing
the sun is always shining.
I walk into my big garden,
to look after another day of plant care.
Then I go into my little treehouse and read
for an hour or two
then I play hide and seek,
my garden is the best
place to hide
since it’s always full of hiding places
hiding places.
High up in a Tree
By Kendall K.
High up
In a tree
You can feel the cold breeze
The leaves are dancing
The bees are buzzing
High up in a tree
My favorite place
Is high up in a tree
Not just a normal tree
A tree where you can see everything
Where you can lie down
Where you can just relax
High up in a tree
The House
By Tessa M.
The house is old. It is small and has a beautiful maple tree in the backyard.
The house is home, it has cracked ceilings and squeaky doors and floors.
The house has a long yard and a garage that I climb, I like that house the house is mine and has a bubble of love around it, it’s nice and cozy and warm.
And the best thing is…
That it’s home.
My Home
By Lauren S.
Outside of my house—my home
When I feel the breeze
And in flowers there are bees
The leaves in trees
With the breeze they fly with the bees
Morning at Home
By Alec S.
Peaceful at first
But when it’s time to wake
It gets busy
We get up and make
Breakfast
We go to scrub our teeth
The toothbrush seems to be
Moving extra fast.
It’s busy because
It’s time to go to school
And work for my parents.
My Home
By Yuvraj S.
What is the place
That I sometimes
Dislike
What is the place that
Gives us so much
Obviously, it is
Our great home
Even if it is tiny
And cramped up
Even if we cannot
Do much in it
It still keeps us safe,
Oh home, oh home,
Oh home
The place that we
Sometimes miss
Even if you are
Not so great
Even if we sometimes
Complain about you
You always keep us safe
From the harsh weather
That happens in the
Great windy city
So, remember, we
Will always
Need you
So, don’t ever go away
Otherwise we will not
Be here to live this
Great life
You don’t fulfill all
Wishes, but you give
Us much more than we need
Mrs. Barnes, 4th Grade
The Sky
By Ohlin A.
The sky is big. The clouds are like a big cotton candy but it’s always around day or night.
I would say it is like a big span of nothingness but better.
The sky is brave because it is out day and night.
Sometimes I think we should give the sky a break because it does us so much work but we never pay it back.
Sometimes I wish I was the sky because you can get the best view and it will probably be super fun.
They sky can be also scary because it sometimes gives lightning and thunder so maybe it was mad when it did lightning. Or maybe it is just a trouble maker. Either way it still does a lot.
Home
By Surina B.
Home
Home is somewhere you
Can trust
It is so where you
Can feel
It is a
Place where love
It is a place where you
Can learn
It is
Home
At Night in My Room
By Nathan G.
From 8:45 to 3:00
My room is super super super uglyyy
My room is a workaholic
It makes me do school.
At night time my room is super super super playful
My room is a friend
It makes me play video games.
I am Having FUN
By Bethany S.
I get on the taxi so excited
I wait and we are finally
here the water park
oh how wonderful.
I get out my swimsuit and
start to change quickly I say.
Now I am done I am going to
have fun. So I make my first
splash. Oh how fun but right
now I am having FUN.
Cancun in the Afternoon
By Annabelle Y.
It is afternoon
In Cancun
It’s hot
And it is like
A pot
With water
And it’s hot.
It is exciting
To say that
Cancun
Cancun would be
Happy and calm
And likes to
Be warm
And toasty
Right now I
Am going to
Relax with
Cancun
And go in the
Fresh water
And breathe the
Fresh air
I smell something like
Fresh breeze
And summer
Mixed together.
I feel some sand
Under my fingers.
I hear birds
Soaring through the sky.
I see big water waves
Incoming into children
And the children bouncing
Up and down
To prevent water from
Getting on them.
Now I feel less
Calm.
I am getting excited
Something inside me wants
To play
I will get up and go.
Bye!
Mr. O’Brien, 4th Grade
The Dog
By Finley H.
I was eating my orange when my dog put on his little bow around his neck and told me, let’s go to the dog park.
So, I put on his leash and he said sheesh, I asked if everything’s alright, he said “too tight.” I adjusted his leash and we headed over to the park.
By the time we got to the park it was getting dark, so I said only a few minutes, so he started to bark. I calmed him down and told him not to make much sound.
I See
By Arianna J.
I see the clouds
I wanna float
I think of a bird
Up, up, up I go
I’m flying!
I’m up in the clouds
I see the birds
The planes
I see everything
I see the sun
I wanna touch
I think of a spaceship
I touch the sun
Now I love the clouds and sun
Afternoon at the Waterpark
By Miles J.
It’s loud out here.
I can hear people having fun as I splash water everywhere.
I make waves to make people run away.
I use the slides to hurry them down.
People come to see me to eat the food away.
I like to play with them every day.
On a hot afternoon, it is a happy place, but when they leave I am excited to play with them on a new day.
Morning in the Fridge
By Andrew W.
A bottle of milk’s favored place
is the fridge.
The fridge is better than
outside, where it spoils.
When morning comes,
the milk bottle is happy.
It gets to be drinked by a person.
