Poetry and Playfulness (6th grade)

Today in Ms. Shah’s 6th grade, we talked about play and surprise. We talked about how poetry can give us tools to express some of our deepest emotions and thoughts, while also giving us a place to play with language and tap into our weird inner small kids.

To practice getting in touch with this silly side of ourselves, we read Valerie Worth’s poem “Paper Clip,” and then came up with the most surprising similes and metaphors we could for the most boring objects in the room. We stretched our imaginations by expanding these comparisons into short poems.

Ms. Shah 6th Grade

Dustpan with a soft top Noman

opened up a head

filled with grey hair.

when put back it stays

With it’s brother.

As big and boring as Squidwerd’s

house. As old as a turtle.

Like a dark cloud coming

close to land.

Expo dry eraser Mishka

The eraser looks like a cake

ready to be eaten

in the corner of the room, untouched

staring at the wedding hall. It’s frosting looks like a silly

hairstyle.

Quickly closes its eye

when the person walks by

it smells like a bakery waiting

to be eaten tonight.

Highlighter Jessica

The highlighter

It’s colored like mustard

as bright as maize

But even if it shines so bright

it is still used to put detail

Though it’s brighter than the sun

it is still see-through

Feeling no one sees them

Only to highlight the dark ink

Even in any color, it isn’t seen