Poetry

Kiddo! provides a poetry program for all 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. You would be surprised at the imaginative, thoughtful, and articulate ways young minds can express themselves.

Through California Poets in the Schools, a community-based poetry education program operating since 1964, tomorrow’s “laureates” will make their first poems. As poet and poetry teacher Karen Benke explains, “Poetry helps us peel back the layers of our lives and look at the ordinary in a way we haven’t before.” After reading poetry their children have written, parents often are surprised at their depth of emotion and complexity of ideas. Read on, and you’ll see what we’re talking about…

Blooming

Little diamonds

in the

grasslands

growing

on

gold stems

shining

in the

light of

day.

CHINA, 3rd Grade
Old Mill School

Denise Strecker, Classroom Teacher
Sasha Eakle, Poet Teacher

My hands

Can draw animals.

My hands

Can write poems.

My hands

Can do push-ups.

My hands

Can tickle

My dad.

My hands

Can climb

Mountains.

MICHAEL, 1st grade

Strawberry Point School
Jan Bolgla, Classroom Teacher
Sasha Eakle, Poetry Teacher

Loud And Quiet

When a jackhammer sings its

Bone rattle song, it’s loud.

When a snake coils with icy confidence,

Poised ready to spring, it’s quiet.

When a battle drum is pounded,

Yelling a pang of fear, it’s loud.

When an entire football stadium holds its breath,

Waiting to see if the kick is good, it’s quiet.

When a fire crackles and snaps in

Burning rage, it’s loud.

When a lonely, forgotten balloon drifts

On a high blue breeze, it’s quiet.

Silence is the absence of sound,

And thus it never is.

JESSE, Sixth Grade
Mill Valley Middle School

Rod Septka, Classroom Teacher
Michele Rivers, Poet-Teacher