Go Inside

We read Charles Simic's "The Stone." The students and I had a good time imagining getting very tiny and having the ability to go inside of something. Using their senses and concrete images, here are some of their ideas.

Ms. Mitchell 5th grade

Rock
--Joshua A.

Going inside of the rock
and what is inside.

It must look like the moon.

I feel like going into
the rock.

But what is real inside
of the rock. Is it like a moon
or an ocean? The rock
would look like this.

Stone
-Ricardo D.

Go inside a stone.

From the outside
it looks like an oreo.

Yet within it looks
like an egg in an egg
in an egg.

Go Inside a Flower
--Thalia V.

Go inside a flower.
From the outside the flower
is a water fountain for a bird.
Yet within, it’s dry and hot.
I have seen my brother circle around
it yelling flower you’re mine!
I have seen people tear it up. Leaving
some petals behind. I have seen
flowers torn apart inch to inch.
Inside a flower it is dark. There
is enough room to fit the cars tower.
It feels lumpy soft and hard.
That is what a flower is.


Ms. Kennedy 5th grade


Go Inside a Book
--Michaela C.

Go inside a book
that would be my way.
Let somebody else become a river,
or a whale with hard teeth.
I am happy to be a book.

from the outside the book is a whale.
No one knows how to become it.
Yet within it is hard and thick
even though it is dirty and big.
the book smells funny outside.

I have seen it break
with different shapes. Perhaps it is full
with different stuff. It is behind a bush
on the fresh green grass.

Poem
-Shannon B.

Go inside a mean hard dirt viper
that has been in a bag.
Let somebody else be a teacher.
From the outside the viper is cool, evil
and terrible. The viper is like a rock that’s dirty
and hard. Yet within, it must be nice, smooth
and clean, not mean. I have seen
a viper but it was cool, hard, evil and mean.

Poem
-Eric M.

Go inside a can of Coca-Cola that is not open.
Let someone else be a rat or shiny cat tooth.
From the outside the coca-cola is sharp and wet,
it is pointy like a sharp knife that is little.
Yet within it is tasty and very small and damp.
I have seen this can in a very hot volcano.

Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade

Poem
-Kelvin H.

I go inside a tiger.
Let someone else be a cheetah.

From the outside I feel
smooth and furry skin.

Yet within
I have the eye of the tiger.

I have seen me
fighting crime. I fly and run
super fast.

Computer
--Cesar C.

I go inside a computer.
Let someone else search the web.
From the outside sick people
feel my head is empty.

Yet within, I’m full of knowledge.

I have seen a little arrow
inside me. Other people have touched
me, felt I was cold and heard all of the sounds
I make, all the clicks.

Sometimes you can smell me,
when you use me too much or leave me
on. You can see me in libraries.

Poem
-Ariel T.

I go inside the concrete ground.
Let somebody else sink through the cement.
From the outside the ground is being walked on.
Yet within, it must be hard, cool & quiet.
I have seen foot prints that lead away to the sky.
So, perhaps the concrete is a shade of gray, strange
writings on the side.