From T.S. Eliot to Chicago

We read T.S. Eliot's first section of the "Preludes" to get a sense of setting in poetry. Eliot gives concrete and vivid details of a particular place at a particular time. We discussed the way he described a winter evening in the city at 6'clock. The students found it to be an interesting assignment to write about their own neighborhoods at an exact time in a specific season. Look at their work:




Ms. Mitchell 5th grade
Week 6


7 O’clock A.M.
Dylan M.

The sun rises from
the ground. You see an airplane
fly by. The squirrels
are picking their food up.
The tree branches are falling.
You see red bright birds
trying to catch worms
under some old
and wet logs.




5 O’clock P.M.
Arniece W.

5 o’clock dark quiet light flashing
cold as if a snowman can stand for
the whole winter. People walking past
talking to one another laughing. The smell
of homemade chocolate cookies just going
in the oven from the fantastic factory Nabisco.
Kids walking home to their house
with their parents just coming from the store.
Standing on the front of your house
looking at everyone’s flashing glowing lights.
Listening to the laud and noisy disturbing
train behind all the old bushes.



Splash!
Jaylah C.

In the sunny afternoon people were splashing
in swimming pools with the smell of pools
that are filled with Clorox to keep them clean,
to make the pools clean and now people are swimming
in the water splashing everywhere. People
are filled with cool water and the water goes
up and down on broken swimming
suits and at the corner filled
with Clorox and the Clorox is
going away.




Ms. Kennedy 5th grade
Week 6


At Marquette Park: 7 O’clock
Noemi O.

It is the fall evening with birds
and squirrels gathering food getting
ready for the winter people talking
on phones walking at seven o’clock
getting ready to go home.

When I walk around the
road I smell chorizo getting
cooked from a house with a
window cracked half way open.

Then I hear cars
driving by with balloons
to go to a party maybe
or a wedding then I walk
home because the street
lights are already on
so then I go home and say
Home Sweet Home!
and get ready to go to sleep.





Summer Evening 3:15
Azalea S.

The summer evening settles
down with smells of
candy and juice.
3:15.
The burnt-out ends
of Nabisco cookies
of withered kids
coming from a long
day of school just want to
go home and get in the pool of the last day of school
on broken fire hydrants
with water bursting out kids jumping in
and the corner of
the street kids and parents
getting ready to cross to the
other side and then they’re finally
home. Their home sweet home.





12:00 AM
Judy D.

At midnight walking by
the airport, waiting to see
and airplane pass by. I walk &
see people walking, driving, on
buses. I see people there seeing
if I might get a ride home &
seeing people on bikes waiting
to see if I would like to have
one. One of these days I
would drive & have a big 3
wheel bike like by grandmother.
Having a big black bike with
a comfortable seat. Waiting
to be home and go to bed and
wake up the next day & start
all over.




My Home
Kiara S.

The sun’s bright lights
shining down the smell of
cookies in the afternoon.
3:15 when all kind’s be
around walled we walk home
where joyful all around.
The school is edgy by 4:00
where leaves crunching under my
feet. By 4:20 it gets broke
when winter breezes blowing under
the start. The street lights
our dime like if the light
were on all night. Where I go to bed
and when the street lights go off
its time to wake up.




Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade
Week 6


Neighborhood
Vanessa E.

Christiana is a neighborhood where I
can go to play at 4 p.m. I go outside
walk through the neighborhood. I can
smell the cookies it makes me hungry.

The birds chirp.
I run and play.
I can hide behind a tree.
In my neighborhood I have a tree a
secret tree I play there when I go
outside.
When I go outside I see people
playing.
In my neighborhood I lay down
in the grass and watch the sky
In my neighborhood at 5 pm it gets
dark. My mom comes outside and says
it’s time for dinner.
Well, that is how my neighborhood goes.




Millard
6:00
Ricky V.

It’s 6 o’clock
in the street of
Millard the neighborhood
birds have turned silent
the dogs are barking.
What a surprise that
they are barking. I turn
my head to try to go to
sleep. The smell of Nabisco
cookies are cooking, the
cars turn on. The smell
of fresh air in the
street of Millard. The train
passes by, so I know
that it is six o’clock in
the street of Millard.





12:30
Guadalupe C.

A sunny day at 12:30 at Tarkington
School in Marquette Park that
has a garden so kids play
their sport and where students
learn in school, the smell of the
cookie factory 2 blocks away
and the smell of cookies cooking.