Fear and Big Words

This week we read “HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSEQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA” by Aimee Nezhukumatahil. We discussed how we approach long words, how to write about what we’re afraid of, and irony in poetry. Students used a map to connect the images in this poem and form their own. Some students also decided to take this approach to their poems. Please enjoy this week’s work from Ms. Smallwood’s 6th grade class and Ms. Hernandez’s 7th grade class.

Ms. Smallwood 6th Grade

I sit in the doctor's office waiting Amelia B.

I sit in the doctor’s office waiting
then I hear a shout “Amelia”
I run to the door and I follow
I get an x-ray to see what’s the matter
they come in the room they say don’t be afraid
you have scoliosis
you don’t need a brace or surgery
we just need to monitor you every 6 months
without a worry
we don’t want it to get worse.

An apple is a fruit Baxter W.

An apple is a fruit, fruits have juice.
Sometimes you would use a bottle to drink
juice,
Sometimes bottles contain plastic.
Plastic creates pollution.
Pollution contaminates the ocean.
The ocean contains water.
We need water to live.
Life becomes death. It’s a lot to think about, everything
dies. Eventually.
But Death can be Afterlife, anything can happen.
So, maybe reincarnation happens. Maybe everything happens.
Maybe nothing happens… who knows?!

The alphabet: In my language Rosie N.

Ms. Hernandez 7th Grade

One second I'm standing there Darcy A.

One second I’m standing there
in the audition room
The next I’m in the witches castle
and Dorothy is in my grasp
I start my performance
“Wait”
I hear a voice call out
My Heart starts pounding
did I do something wrong
they want me to change my performance
I try again
and finish this time
that was quick
too quick
thoughts rush in my head
“did I do bad”
“was I not in character enough”
“will I get the role”
I walk out after thanking them
trying to calm down

I get scared of the cold Yusuf S.

I get scared of the cold. When I wake up in the morning
and leave my warm bed, I feel the cold hit my body.
I don’t like it. I dress for the cold. I go outside
to even worse cold, I don’t like it. I like warm,
no cold. Cold makes me scared.

Fang pi Kevin S.

Fang pi is a word some know how to say when
you know what it means you feel like
a kindergartner potty words, eating
crans all day when I utter the
word fang pi I think of the time
when potty words were used as
much as in this rhyme. It reminds
me of my friends running and joking
all day to the end.

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