Fourth graders at Dogwood got to share their creative side last week when they had Poetry Cafe Day. Students walked in their ELA classroom, and the classroom had been transformed into a cafe. Some said it looked like Paris. Others were awed at how different the classroom looked from the day before.
The past several weeks, the students have been studying poetry and learning to enjoy reading it. Through the process, they created their own unique poems.
“I liked when we created the poem,” fourth grader Kelvin Jiang said. “It’s like a construction day. We learned how to build a poem.”
Poetry Cafe Day is the culmination of that process. Students showed off what they built.
“Poetry Cafe Day celebrates the students and allows them to share their poetry in a fun and encouraging environment,” fourth grade teacher Layla Zaravar said.
Students prepared one poem that they created and one poem that was their favorite during the module. They read both poems on stage, and their classmates gave them snaps at the end of the reading.
“My poem is about my dog, Voodoo,” fourth grader Scarlett Kyle said. “I used rhythm because poems with rhythm sound cool. I also used rhyme and meter. I actually decided to write two poems. The other one is about my dog too. It is inspired by ‘The Red Wheelbarrow.’”
Students also got cafe treats and berets to wear. “The chocolate milk was the best!” said Roan Couvillion.
While some of the students were excited by the atmosphere and the food, others did discover a love of poetry.
“When I read poetry, it was cool,” said Scarlett Kyle. “I liked the ones that rhymed. I want to write poetry and sell it and get money.”
Dogwood ELA teachers succeeded in inspiring students to try something new.