An Invitation to Join the Parade of Poetry!

April is National Poetry Month, and Lafayette students are joining the celebration with another hand-clapping, foot-stomping, rhythm-jamming, rhyme-slamming Parade of Poetry!  We are reading poems, writing poems, performing poems, and sharing poetry with family and friends.

During National Poetry Month, we’re spending time with some of our favorite poets, including American poet/cartoonist Shel Silverstein.  His imaginative books, translated into more than thirty languages, have sold millions of copies and are read around the world.  We can learn all about Shel Silverstein and his creative genius. Click on the red-highlighted words!

April brings poetry... and plenty of showers.  While we wait for May flowers, composing a poem sounds like a brilliant idea:

by Haley M.

The Sun

The sun is a shiny thing,

a beautiful thing.

It is like an angel 

coming down from the sky

to give me a wish.

The sun is like a flower growing.

The sun is light,

a beautiful light.

I love the sun.


-- Haley M. in fourth grade

A pencil and paper can inspire an awesome poetry doodle!

by Liam D. in fifth grade

Drawing

This is what happened to me:

I drew a figure,

Then it started to linger.

I couldn't believe my eyes

When he started to fly.

I let him borrow my pencil,

Then he took another utensil.

He jumped back on the paper,

It was a mysterious caper.

I hope he'll come back another day

To stay.

-- James O. and Ryan M. in fifth grade

Bubble gum: sometimes it's nothing but trouble.  After we watch fourth graders perform a poem, we can learn more about author/artist Douglas Florian.  Click on the red-highlighted words to get started!

Speaking of trouble... did you ever wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

Overloaded

My fragile brain is breaking

All my insides are shaking

My face is really hot

Without the scorching tater tot

My brain is really overloaded

My eyes are really red-- coated

My face is getting really red

I just want to get back in bed

-- Dennis and Jack in fifth grade

Sounds like a rough start to the day.  Maybe it's time for an original rap poem:



Candy: An Original Rap Poem by Connor C.

It's cafeteria magic, magic, magic

It's cafeteria magic, magic, magic

They just gave us candy

OMG I love this candy

I can't tell you how good it is

I can only tell you what it tastes like

and right now it tastes like

apples, apples, apples

It tastes like apples, apples

This candy's awesome 'cause it tastes like apples

There are so many different flavors of this candy

and right now it tastes like

grape, grape, grape

It tastes like grape, grape

This candy's so good and it tastes like grape

I really hope they give us candy tomorrow

because I never had candy this good

Well, that put us in a better mood!

Let's go outside and celebrate the season with another original poem:

Spring: An Original Poem by Victoria, Ava, and Lucy

Spring is here,

Have no fear,

Birds will sing,

Bells will ring.

Come one, come all,

We'll have a ball.

School is almost out,

Give it a shout!

Summer is almost here,

Time to cheer!

Pollen: An Original Poem by Matthew



Pollen, Pollen, oh that evil dust,

Pollen, Pollen, go away you must!

You're on the trees, on the bees,

and even on my knees!

Pollen, Pollen, oh that evil dust,

Pollen, Pollen, go away you must!

It's in the house, on the mouse,

It's not nice,

It's on all the mice!

Pollen, Pollen, oh that evil dust,

Pollen, Pollen, go away you must!

You're on the trees, on the bees,

even on my knees!

Pollen,

It's all over me!

Lafayette students enjoy performing poems by a favorite visiting author, Brod Bagert.  His collection of humorous poems, Giant Children, looks at the world from a kid’s point of view and features titles like Stinky Boys, Dinosaur Canary, There’s a Goblin in My Throat and, of course, Giant Children:



Laugh-eteria: Poems and Drawings by Douglas Florian serves up funny poems about ogres, pizza, fear, school, dragons, trees, hair and, as Lafayette Poetry Paraders discovered… the Class Clown: