European Assembly

Today was Solomon's European assembly. Students celebrated diversity and culture through music and poetry!

3rd graders from Mrs. Jones' class (Jerry, Michelle and Maya) read poems by Ana Blandiana ("We Should"), Antonio Machado ("Has My Heart Gone to Sleep?"), and Robert Desnos ("The Ant).


4th graders from Mr. Sandlass' class (Sam, Vivian and Cynthia) read poems by Fernando Pessoa ("Countless lives inhabit us"), Georg Trakl ("The Sun"), and Kristiina Ehin ("Queen Bee").


5th graders from Mrs. Goode's class (Edina, Rhys and Ruben) read poems by Vladimir Vysotsky ("Song About a Friend"), Dylan Thomas ("The Hunchback in the Park"), and William Butler Yeats ("The Wild Swans at Coole").


Congratulations to all the students -- they did a terrific job!

European Poems

This week was somewhat unusual. Students were given a period to do free writing, while the teachers and I discussed options for poems to be read by students during Solomon's upcoming European cultural assembly.

I enjoyed this opportunity to reacquaint myself with well-known favorites, such as Lewis Carroll (England); Robert Desnos (France); Antonio Machado (Spain); Rainer Maria Rilke (Germany); Percy Bysshe Shelley (England); Dylan Thomas (Wales); Georg Trakl (Austria); Tomas Tranströmer (Sweden); W. B. Yeats (Ireland); Adam Zagajewski (Poland); and more so, to familiarize myself with many new voices, such as Ana Blandiana (Romania); Kristiina Ehin (Estonia); Fernando Pessoa (Portugal); Vladimir Vysotsky (Russia); and Dane Zajc (Slovenia).

Poems chosen for reading will be the subject of the next post.

Time Poems

Since this upcoming weekend marks the start of daylight savings time, I brought in Joyce Sutphen's wonderful poem, "Book of Hours." She describes five hours she would 'keep' in a book, if she could control time. We discussed how even an hour can be very important in an average day, full of surprises, challenges and revelations. Students were then asked to write their own time poems on a variety of themes -- such as if they were time travelers, could stop time, and so on. Here are some of their amazing responses!

Ms. Jones, 3rd grade

Lively Days
Krista C.

Days have gone by,
very special days,
like the day I was born,
the feel of everyone touching me,
their skin felt like velvet,
the sun glowing bright,
and people say babies are a
delight,
but only children can be
a delight.

If I Had the Power
Aleena I.

If I had the power to go back in time
I would meet the man who made a clock
and I would tell him about now. If I had
the power to go into the future I would
see if my best friends are still my best
friends. If I had the power to change today
I wouldn't.

The Darkness of Time
David L.

The darkness of time
is dark
and scary.

The darkness of time
makes a shadow
in the dark.

The darkness of time
is the
shadow of the day.

Ms. Goode, 5th grade

Time Through the Years
Liam D.

Time.....oh time. Time through
the years. Eating a burger....
yum. Then, I am on the beach,
playing in the soft, warm sand.
This is my time. Everything's fine.
Then, everything goes black.

If I Could Control Time
Teksong E.

If I could control time,
I would change every mishap in my life,
I would stop the JFK assassination,
I would stop the Chinese syndrome,
I would stop time and walk
on water like it was ice,
and especially, I would
make sure Teletubbies
was never made into a
TV show.

Time Rewind
Camila M.

If I could stop time
I would never have said
that horrible word “shut up”
slapped me, myself. I caught
myself saying it so rude.

I see the time slowly
rewinding going back to
the time I lost my dog
my screaming, crying, and
dreadful night, but then
the feeling of awakening
with my dog's nose in
my face, all that GONE!

I go back when I was
a tad little girl and remember
my parents in the living room
my dad drinking coffee and
my mom, some tea. The strong
smell of my mom's perfume, of Versace,
and the smell of plastics from
the medical equipment
after my dad coming home. Then I
remember how fun those times
were, how much I cherish them.

Spring Day
Chanel M.

On March 9th the
time changes
to an hour early.

Spring comes the
same day and
the sun gets
brighter and brighter.

Day after day
sun brighter
and bigger
just the
sun everyday.

Time Machine
Marti R.

I like to travel, back in
time, to the time of
pirates, rats, rubies, and gold,
and snatch a diamond,
under a pirate's nose, and
fight and fought, in the
Civil War, and shake hands
with George Washington, and be
a servant, for King Tut, and
fly on a pterodactyl, in
prehistoric times, and
dance, on the disco floor,
and sing along with
Elvis, I'd love to do all
that, but I haven't invented
a time machine yet.

I Remember
Cristina T.

I remember my birthday,
my face stuffed in a
pink cake. Pink frosting
still in my ear. Leaves
falling. Presents, cardboard
soaring. Good times, good times.

Friday the 13th
a ladder falling
on my leg. A cat
scratching my arm.
Salt stuck in my
eye. Bad times, very
bad times.

Mr. Sandlass, 4th grade

If I Were the Ruler of Time
Stephen D.

If I were the ruler of time,
I'd stop the clock.
No one would grow older
and no one would ever get younger.

If I could freeze I would
freeze everyone except me.
It would be fun to look at
all the frozen people.

If I could time travel,
you know, I would go back to
1985-86
to watch the Bears win the
Super Bowl.

The Time Machine
Sargon D.

Toni and I made a time
machine, although it worked
it took too long. So we went
back to 500 B.C. We saw cavemen
drawing on walls. They attacked us
so we went to the future.
Toni saw a flying car and took
it. It was a Viper!! Then I got a
flying Corvette. We saw robot
cops beating up humans, we got
scared. So we went to the present
time. Eric asks what we are
doing.

Using our imagination.

My Time
Kayla H.

From the crib
when I was a baby,
to the bed
that I'm in now,
so many things went by
like the time I learned to walk
and the time I learned to talk
my life goes so fast.
Everything is different now
I wish it was back when I was born.

Untitled (Time Poem)
Jorge L.

A time is clocking, sound and rung sound.
A clock is a tink-tonk sound and normal one.
An alarm clock is a brrrrring sound and loud.
Time travel is a fast fast travel.

Untitled (Time Poem)
Phuong N.

I want to go back in time
to see my great great grandfather.

He drew really nice and I draw like
him too. I want to ask him how

it is in the old times. Is it
happy in the old times?

The Memory
Toni S.

When I was 3 it was the
worst memory, the Iraq war.
It was guns, and cannons and
battleships and the war had just
started because of oil. Do you
think this was a good idea, a
war just for oil? Not me....