We can speak up with Spoken Word Poetry

Last week for their eighteenth session Hale Elementary 3rd-5th graders explored spoken word poetry. Spoken word poems are made for the stage, its storytelling told through elements of rhythm, rhyme, repetition, improvisation, jazz, and even hip-hop. On Tuesday we read and listened to a Ted Talk spoken word performance titled, “If You Give A Child A Word,” by middle school students Mikeala Miller and Brandon Sanders. In their collaborative poem they imagined the amazing things that can occur once a child is given a word. And when he writes a poem,/he’ll want to share it/and then people will want to read it/That will make the child feel warm, loved, and valued/Then he’ll want another word.

Then on Wednesday we read and listened to a student named Nikoli’s spoken word poem, “Mathematical Blues,” that he performed at the Fall Leaf Kids Poetry Slam. Nikoli uses unique rhymes and rhythm to describe his feelings about math. The teaching staff will feel my wrath/ for taking me down the wrong math path/ I want to fly,/not to divide and multiply.

Inspired by these young spoken word artists, Hale students wrote and performed their own spoken word poems.

Ms. Degiulio's After School 3rd-5th Grade

The Words Milania G. and Alexcia S.

The words turn into a school.
The words turn into desks.
The words turn into furniture.
The words turn into the Earth.
The words turn into books.
The words turn into fidgets.
The words burst into flower petals
and fluffy clouds.
The words turn into songs
with instruments.
The words turn into Ms. Joy
who is the best teacher in the world.

Words: They Jayce L, Evan Q, and Federico R

They noticed it in every book.
They see it in their dreams.
They see it falling from the sky.
They eat everyday for every meal of the day.
They dance around in their brains.
and their friends with Ms. Joy.

Social Studies Milania G.

During Social Studies I research,
meanwhile I want to make t-shirts.
History is always a Mystery.
Obama has no drama.
Rosa Parks left her mark.
Mathematical blues are reading clues.
Social Studies are better with buddy’s.

Math is Traumatic Ava F.

Mathematics makes you panic.
Math is patratic.
Math is dramatic.
Math is distracted.
Math is catastrophic.
Math is craztic.

Science Alexcia S.

In science I am in a lab
when I want to not be a sab.
Chemistry is a science mystery.
Biology is stylology.
When you do science, you make a alliance.
Mathematical blues are science clues.
Science can make you mindless.

Mathematics Federico R.

2+2=4 what a bore can’t learn anymore.
Add and you’re rad.
I would go mad if I couldn’t add.
Division is in my vision.
Why learn Science when you can learn
Mathematics, Biology.
Division is an illusion.