Yesterday my students used Valerie Worth’s poem Safety Pin as their mentor text.  This is a poem we had studied earlier in the school year–when I discovered that many of my students didn’t know what a safety pin was!  Luckily, I had some safety pins in the classroom to show them.

With this poem in our remote learning environment, students were invited to craft a poem about an ordinary object–as defined by each individual.  I am absolutely loving watching my young poets find their poetic voices!

D chose a spoon as the ordinary object:

E took on the power of paper:

And M–although I wouldn’t use ordinary to describe a clam, chose a clam as the ordinary object:

And I decided to write about my mask.

Mask

Cotton covering

keeping my respirations close

breathing in and out

my own air

warmed by each breath

unrelieved by the breeze

 

straps

rubber band

stretch

pulling

distorting sore ears

to hold the cotton close

 

only eyes peering above

can you smile with your eyes?

I’m learning how.

®Douillard