What do you think about as you drift off to sleep? We used Li Po’s contemplative “Quiet Night Thoughts,” to consider our thoughts between waking life and dreams. Because he is so skilled in brevity, we also used the poem to think about line breaks, sometimes tricky for any poet! We tried smushing the poem into a paragraph, and then breaking it back out, and the students discussed how Li Po makes a sleepy night rhythm, full of popping images with the line breaks as intended. Enjoy their work below!
Ms. Afzal
4th Grade
The Moving Darkness
Jocelyn R. V.
From my bed
I see darkness.
The moon could
move.
Far away from
my bed I see stars.
I could see
something moving.
Happy Night Thoughts
Juliarys T.
From my bed
there is a beautiful butterfly
flying on my head
and giving me kisses
Lifting my head
I watch the gold butterfly
flying around my room
and touching my hair
The Darkness
Adolfo M.
From my bed I see
a shiny star.
The moon could move.
The sun goes down.
And the moon comes up.
The moon light is bright.
The moon is nice.
The stars are bright.
The stars are beautiful.
The moon is brighter.
I Dream
Kevin
From my bed I see
darkness in the
air I see coconuts
from my room
Ms. Lozada
4th Grade
My Night
Elba M.
From my bed
I look outside my window
I see the school and think
funny thoughts of what happened
I hear the wind
like a whistley song
I close my eyes
I dream of colors in the sky
Great Night Thoughts
Verniyah G.
From my bed I see the great
big moon light surrounded
by the pretty yellow stars
They pretty yellow makes me dream
of me surfing on a great
big pretty yellow star
Sleep
Jayleen G.
From my bed
I see a
tree out the
window the tree
is fat and
it is funny
Ms. Pease
4th Grade
Pancake Island
Kassandra R.
From my bed
I start to dream pancake clouds
A river of chocolate milk
So I took a gulp
So I said mmm yum
I start to eat a pancake
tree so I took butter
and took a pancake
The end
of pancake island
Happy Life
Abigail
I see from my bed
a mirror
my toys
a window
some candy boxes
Wonderful Thoughts
Christina B.
From my bed
I see birds flying
I see the moon
and a TV
I dream of my family
I dream of my friends
And I dream of my dad
