Our Words--3rd graders

These poems sprang from reading a poem by Mahmoud Darwish called "Psalm Three." I asked the students to follow a slightly more open-ended version of his form, and to employ nouns, feelings, opposites, and an occasional rhyme (but not all the time) to describe their words. The assignment seemed to lend itself better to descriptions of surreal scenes and fantastic landscapes, which still worked out fine.

I'm very excited that two or three students who normally are reluctant to write or don't write at all, all turned in work this week. One of those poems is featured below. Also, in Mrs. Vazzana's class, which is an ELL bilingual classroom, I encouraged students to plug in the Spanish word if the English word wasn't coming to them. Victor took this idea and ran with it. There was also one student who, of his own volition, wrote a first draft, then a revised draft, during one class period, and turned the second draft in to me. I'm glad to see that the value of revision has started to take hold.

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Ms. Vilchis, Rm. 202, 3rd grade

Funny Water #2
Zamira M.

When my words were water,
I was sleeping underwater.

When my words were water,
I was swimming by the cat.

When my words were water,
I was in the gulf of Mexico.

When my words were ice,
I was freezing.


The Sugar Words
José A.

When my words were water
I was dripping

When my words were feelings
I was sad

When my words were sugar
I was a candy

When my words were bananas
I was yellow

When my words were houses
I was hard



In Ice and In Spring
Daniel R.

I was in the water.
I was melting.

I was drinking water.

I was a fish in the water.

I was in ice and then I melted.

I was in ice and I was in winter
and I became a penguin.

I was a penguin so it was spring then
I became a bird.


Manners
Carlos L.

When my words were angry they
broke in pieces.

When my words were happy they
smiled too much.

When my words were sad there
was water in all of the places.

When my words were eating candy
they were fat.


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Ms. Vazzana, Rm. 104, 3rd grade


Untitled
Victor P.

When my words were strong
I was good

When my words were big
I was quick

When my words were little
I was a dog

When my words were pelo
I was a cat

When my words were shoes
I was a rat

When my words were a hand
I was an elephant

When my words were a camisa
I was a house

When my words were a cabeza
I was playing anything


Words and Things
Hazael G.

When my words were
quiet I was sleeping.

When my words were
smart I was reading.

When my words were fast
I was running.

When my words were
a car I was driving.

When my words were
a skateboard of fire I was
riding it.


Untitled
Alexsandra

When my words were strong
I was powerful

When my words were a tree
I was giving apples from
the tree


I Was So Loud
Miguel M.

When my words were strong
I talked so loud. When my words
were so loud I was so happy.
When my words were loud I barked
so loud.

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Ms. Hamdan, Rm. B15, 3rd grade


Untitled
Jennifer R.

When my words were ice cream,
I was dropping and hopping it.

When my words were jelly,
I was belly.

When my words were December,
I was September.

When my words were a boat,
I was afloat.


Power Four
Sebastian C.

When my words were sunny
I was the light

When my words were funny
I was laughing

When my words were strong
I was crazy

When my words were ugly
I was nice

But when my words became
stones…
I couldn’t talk


When My Words
Alejandro

When my words were strong
I was weak. When my words
were sand I was at the beach.
When my words were sad I
was blue. When my words were
hot like the sand it turned
like the sun.