At Darwin Elementary, we began poetry classes this snowy Monday at Ms. Garcia’s 2nd grade class! The first prompt was to write poems listing our wishes, which I told them was kind of like writing a letter to Santa but with extra imagination. Here’s the example poem I read to both classes:
I wish I had a dog
I wish I lived on a beach with a brightly colored bird
I wish I could sing
I wish I could shoot an arrow into space
I wish that arrow could return covered in thunder and lightning
I wish for a secret message from a funny bunch of aliens
I wish I controlled the rain
I wish I could make snow days
I wish we never fight again
I wish that I get to eat mashed sweet potatoes for dinner every night
I wish for naps every day at noon
I wish a unicorn delivered me breakfast in bed
As a group with the class, we brainstormed wishes together to come up with ideas. The class started with some material things like “Xbox” and “Nintendo Switch” and then after seeing each other’s imagination, the ideas grew to “go on an adventure with Mario” and “travel with a unicorn through space.”
A really cool takeaway for me this first lesson was sitting down next to the youth during individual writing time and encouraging them in their ideas. One boy asked me how to spell “dragon” and as I began, he asked, “lower case or upper case?” and I said, “It doesn’t really matter. Poetry doesn’t have rules like that.” There was this moment of genuine change and excitement on his face, and he said, “That’s really cool.”
Another girl decided to write an anti-wish poem, kind of like writing a spell, (i.e. “I wish Santa would give us all cheap gifts. I wish unicorns did not exist.”) I sat by her and told her it’s totally okay to write an anti-wish poem and put those ideas on paper, but we have to be nice to each other in our community and be kind to our friends. I noticed she felt validated that she could channel her creative inspiration and she was really receptive to the idea of poetry and lent more helpful behavior to the class.
Here’s some of this week’s exemplary poems!
Spanish
2nd grade
Karen H.
I wish for unicorns
I wish for a land of ice creme
I wish for slieme
I wish for a world of Pece
I wish for a x box
I wish i could be in bed
I wish for food
I wish i had my own house
I wish for a land of donuts
I wish i could control the world
I wish for a pot of gold
I wish I swimd with some dolphins
I wish for legos
I wish for a dog
I wish for a Rainbow Cat
Citlalli S.
Yo quiero controlar mi hermana mayor
Yo quiero 19 cachoros y 19 gatitos
Yo quiero 7 hermanas y 7 hermanos
Yo quiero un carro grande
Yo quiero 100 dulces
Yo quiero tener muchos ositos de peluche
I want to control my older sister
I want 19 puppies and 19 kittens
I want 7 sisters and 7 brothers
I want a big car
I want 100 sweets
I want to have many teddy bears
Daneil D.
Yo quiero un nintendo suich
Yo quiero vivir con los Nijago personajes Yo quiero aver a los
extraterrestres Yo quiero comer
elado todo el dia Yo quiero
tener aventuras con mario
Yo quiero un mundo de donuts Yo quiero controlar
el mundo Yo quiero un
machina que me oga chocolate
Yo quiero vivir en la playa
Yo quiero tener Legos
I want a nintendo suich
I want to live with the Nijago characters I want to see the
aliens I want to eat
ice cream all day I want
have adventures with mario
I want a world of donuts I want to control
the world I want a
machine that greets me chocolate
I want to live on the beach
I want to have Legos
Larissa R.
Yo quiero mucha slime
Yo quiero que nation sin pelee
Yo quiero un conejito como una mascota
Yo quiero ir a las peliculas con Tia
Yo quiero ir a diferente estados
Yo quiero vivier en una tiera de dulces
Yo quiero dibujar mucho
Yo qyiero a ser ar olista
Yo quiero muchos libros
Yo quiero tener muchos animales
I want a lot of slime
I want that nation without a fight
I want a bunny as a pet
I want to go to the movies with my Aunt
I want to go to different states
I want to live in a land of sweets
I want to draw a lot
I want to be an artist
I want many books
I want to have many animals
English
2nd grade
Yainniel C.
I wish
1. I can be a dinsoaur
2. I can have a horse
3. I can have a jurassic world lego
4. I can be a dragon
5. I can have a rock of pokemon cards
6. I can have a phone
7. My birday is every da
8. I can have a computer
9. I can have a jumprope
British L.
1. I wish there was an ice cream
that if you ate it you will never
get old! I wish I could fly! I wish I
had a talking donut! I wish I was
Alyssa’s sister
Olivia R.
1. I wish I can have a manshion.
2. I wish I can have a LOL.
3. I wish I can have a straberry.
4. I wish I can have a dog.
5. I wish I can have a millin heart.
6. I wish I can have a tallking crayons
7. I wish I can have a mermaid
8. I wish I can have a dinosaur
9. I wish I can have a ——
