Tomorrow is the poetry celebration at Northfield Elementary School. The student poets are welcoming family and friends for a reading and poetry tour of the five third grade classrooms.

I’ve been doing an elementary school workshop on odes for many years. This time around, I swapped out my usual model poem and got these poets writing odes to a favorite place. The mentor for this workshop is “Harlem Is the Capital of My World,” from Tony Medina’s wonderful picture book/verse biography of Langston Hughes, LOVE TO LANGSTON. You can find the poem and links related to this lesson at my last post.

The first two poems I’m sharing today use the mentor text as a scaffold, keeping some of the rhythm and structure, but focusing on a topic of the poets’ choosing.

Poet: Amelia 

My Room

My room is the center of my heart.
When I get home I hear
the hummingbirds outside my window
flying as fast as a cheetah runs.
And I touch my stuffed animals
then I remember how dreadful
I would be without them,
and I smell their lavender scent.
And smells like the forest,
right outside my house.
When I lay on my bed, I see my desk.
Without it, I would not get my homework done
and I would get suspended from school
and I would live alone on the street.
And when I get home from school,
I get out my hidden gummi bears.
Without them, I would starve to death.

The King of Beds.
The Duke of Stuffytown.
The Empress of Color.

My room is the center of my heart.

***

Poet: Joyce

My Favorite Place to Visit Is Italy

Wonderful scents wafting through the air.
Pizza and pasta smells delicious!

Busy city streets, cars’ horns honking.

Refreshing gelato on a warm sunny day,
chocolate, mint, and pistachio.
Gelato bursting with flavors.

Amazing ancient places, the Coliseum
and the statues of Michelangelo.

I feel the smooth marble
of the Bridge of Sighs. So shiny and nice.

***

In the next two poems, you’ll see some of the techniques we practiced with these odes: imagery of the five senses, using similes to create the feeling of celebration and praise typical of this poetic form, and some great hyperbole!

Poet: Advaith

Ode to a Tree

Oh, Tree, you give me shade,
you give me shelter, food,
a place to live.
You are a hero to fellow animals
and soon to become a book of fame
to us fellow humans.
Oh, Tree, you can truly
be anything, but in an origami form.
Whoosh! One of your leaves
flies away and becomes the first meal
of a newborn caterpillar.

***

Poet: Ryan

Ode to the Kitchen

The kitchen is my mouth’s heaven.
I taste an apple as sour and sweet
as a jumbo lollipop.
I hear chewing as loud as a lion’s roar.
I see a pan as big as an elephant.
I smell a lot of yummy things.
My kitchen smells
like a cotton candy dimension.
When I touch the glorious food in my kitchen,
my starving stomach feels relieved
that I’m about to take a bite
of my food (from the kitchen).
***

Poet: Dayna

The Creek Is the Vacation in My Dreams

The creek is the vacation in my dreams,
calm and fresh and sweet
like me.
The creek has soul.
It’s where friends explore
and everybody’s friendly to the community.
Where we be chillin’ and playin’
with algae gripping our legs
and rocks as big as boulders block our path.
The King of all Rivers.
The Duke of Fun.
The Empress of Adventures.
The creek is a batch of fun times
all packed together and protected
by friendship and pride.
The creek is where I relax,
where I splash and run.
My kind community
from the creek to Izzy’s house.
With swings and bridges,
spilling over with nature
and little fish.
Why, I fell in love with the creek
before I even got there.
Yeah, the creek is where I be–
where I could be me.
The creek is the vacation in my dreams.
***
Poet: Wendy

NYC Is the Vacation of My Life

NYC is the vacation of my life
cool and crowded and loud
like me

NYC has soul.
Where we be eating and meeting
with noisy streets stretched out
under our feet and streets braod
and spread like a red carpet for royalty.

NYC is a bowl of people
all packed together and protected
by New York citizens.

NYC is where I visit and stride
my best vacation
from the Statue of Liberty to
the Empire State Building with
cars and people
spilling over with pollution
and trash.

Why I fell in love with NYC
before I ever got here!

Yeah, NYC is where I be —
where I could be excited.

NYC is the vacation of my life.
***

Poet: Soham

Mt. Olympus Is the Capital of Greek Mythology

Mt. Olympus is the capital of Greek mythology
smell the smoke of fire, hotter than the sun.

In Mt. Olympus, the clanging of swords sound like
drums booming.

There it tastes like blood as tangy as lemons.

I can always feel Zeus’
everlasting thunderbolt.
***

Posts in the “Poems from the Northfield Third Grade” 2018 series:
Poetry Friday List Poem Lesson
A Garden of Words: 3rd Grade List Poems
The Pool Is the Capital of My Summer: Odes to Place
Third Grade Odes from Northfield E.S.
Fractured Fairy Tale Poems
Poetry Friday: Once Upon a Time
A Gallery of Poems