This last week students in Ms. Smallwood’s and Ms. Hernandez’s classes wrote poems about important memories. We read “My Father’s Mustache” by Ada Limón and both classes discussed what it is like to see a photo from before you were born. Some of us found this uncomfortable like “being at a party you weren’t invited to” as one student said, while others found these photos extremely interesting and imagined what their families were doing before and after the photos were taken. Students then wrote poems about a variety of experiences in their own memories and a past they imagined. Please enjoy this selection of their poems!
Ms. Smallwood
6th Grade
The dots I had seen before
Jonah K.
The dots I had seen before,
so vibrant and orange
That I tried to step on
but they were too far
apart
The Fox
Charlie W.
The fox
rolling down the street
I saw it
looking at me with its cold dead eyes
but it was kind of cute
so fluffy and looked soft
I want it to be my friend.
so orange so bright.
When I was 7
Ben W.
When I was 7
I played games
not by myself
but with my dad
now the time’s passed
fortnite is my place
not my dad’s.
Ms. Hernandez
7th Grade
It was the mid 60’s
Owen O.
It was the mid 60’s. It was very
strict, no smiles, everybody wearing the
same thing. He probably just got to school.
The principal probably took it. It
reminded me of how different life
was compared to now.
My Grandpa in middle school
All Dressed up nice.
When I was 8
Sam S.
When I was 8 I went to the field museum
in downtown chicago and I saw a picture
of a lion from the 1920’s. Immediately I thought
“how come in the picture it is dead” I then
learned that it had accidentally killed a human.
I thought that life back then made people
scared. Right before this picture the
lion was probably running from a hunter,
and after the lion was killed. To this
day I think it is horrible that an
animal had to die because of a
mistake.