Sweet Like a ???

Today we read Michael Ondaatje's poem "Sweet Like a Crow." The students really gained an understanding of comparison/simile and were very excited about the surprising and strange associations this poem offered. The students then began to imagine how a voice might sound and came up with comparison's of their own. They had many surprising images!


Ms. Mitchell 5th grade


My Voice
Rafael V.

My voice sounds like some
one baking nice warm bread.
My voice sound like some
one jumping in fifty thousand
dollars. My voice sounds like
nice wood getting burned.



My Voice
Malia C.

My voice sounds like
cash money saying: I’m
rich I’m rich. You’re
broke, you’re broke.
My voice sounds like
some ice cream with three
cherries on top.



Sweet Like a Bat
Thalia V.

Your voice sound like a
huge chocolate bar being crunched
into tiny tiny pieces with
your foot like someone has just
squished your toe, like
wind blowing with flowers
straight behind, a butterfly
turning into a caterpillar and being swept
away. Oh. Oh. Like a kitten
swimming in a Jacuzzi. Oh yeah!



My Voice
Arniece W.

My voice sounds like a pretty red diamond sparkling
and glowing.

Like someone making a chocolate fountain in their mouth
going down like a chocolate river, like a dark
purple and white butterfly flying high.

Like chile cheese fries with cheese, bacon bitties
and others, like a really mean, angry monkey
throwing bananas everywhere and swinging
from tree to tree.

Like my best friend and a squirrel getting in a
fight.




Ms. Kennedy 5th grade


My Voice
Michaela C.

My voice sounds like an elephant
hollering for help. And a sound
of waving water. A toaster when
toast comes out of it. A sound of
candles melting, and a brilliant
thunderstorm rattling. A sound
of washing machines when
the clothes are twirling. It sounds
like people chewing on gum really
hard.



Your Voice
Roxana A.

Your voice sounds
like a cat taking a
shower in the toilet.
A rooster being
beat up. Your voice
is like a mirror being
broken by a huge rock.
A monkey doing the
bathroom in the zoo.
You sound like a little
munchkin being followed
by a cheetah.



Her Voice Sounds . . .
Alan R.

Her voice sounds like a
toilet flushing,
like a monkey trapped in a
cage.
Like a fire alarm in your house.
Her voice is like paper crunching
on the floor.
Like a train whistling,
like a bee in your ear.
Her voice is like an airplane
passing by your house.
Like a mom in the hospital
having a baby and screaming.
Like a baby crying for help.




Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade


Your Voice
Vanessa E.

Your voice sounds like a screaming
pig, a ruler falling,
a choking squirrel,
you eating frosted flakes,
like scratching on the chalk board,
the school bell,
the sound of a timer,
maybe your voice sounds like stomping
feet,
a singing chipmunk,
falling pencils,
like a big storm,
but of course, when you go to
sleep, you snore.



Your Voice
Ricardo V.

Your voice sounds like a person jumping off
a cliff, like a man was pushing you
off the cliff, like someone eating corn flakes,
an airplane crashing, like waves, a waterfall,
an old lady screaming, like the sound when I
pick my nose. Your voice sounds like someone
vomiting. Your voice sounds like a hippie person
dancing to the Eighties and your voice sounds
really wonderful.



My Voice
Luis M.

My voice sounds like a train whistle and smooth,
or a cave when you speak and your voice gets
louder then lower and sounds like a fish
making bubbles and it sounds like a bell
from a church and the voice sounds like a squirrel
chirping and sounds like frosted flakes
being smushed by a car.

Paint blot comparisons

To introduce comparison, the students and I read "Fog" by Carl Sandburg. We had a great discussion about how one thing can be/become another thing. Then, I made a few symmetrical paint blots to help the students discover their own "metaphor magic" to transform one thing into another. See their amazing poems:

Ms. Mitchell 5th grade
Week 11
01/22/08


Paint
Dylan M.

It looks like a face with
a rose on its nose. The
black looks like a baby
girl’s t-shirt. The two white
eyes look like eggs. If
you see it upside down,
it looks like a rocket
ship. The top looks like two
great green flowers about
to open. The bottom looks
like a foot ball players. It
looks like an elephant.



Green Paint
Sonia C.

The green paint creates a
fish. A green fish.
It stands still looking around
the ocean, blue and beautiful.
Then, moves on in the ocean.



Paint
Dymon G.

It looks like a lobster
with a trimmed tail.

It sits over looking like it’s
about to snip and snap.

With it’s furious face, saying
you want some, get some, because
I’ll make you wish you never
snapped and hurt me.

Also, with flaky skin, flakier
as you look down her tail.




Ms. Kennedy 5th grade
Week 11
01/22/08



I See
Eric M.

I see a boxing frog.
He got punched back.
He has his fists up
and his eyes closed.
He has blood out of his ears.
He has black feet
and black hands. He
is screaming for help.
He is hungry.
He has a broken leg.
He has red shorts.



Heart Broken
Michaela C.

It looks like two hearts
surrounded by a person who
is in love. But, his heart
is broken because the girl
doesn’t love him.



3 Paintings
Catterin G.

The paint is a little girls with red
hair, and on the edge of the red hair,
I see black hair.

I see a nose, red nose, 4 teeth,
red eyes, a black scale and skin.

I see 2 hearts that look like
claws, and an evil spider with
a green head.



Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade
Week 11
01/22/08



The Paint Splash
Dominique B.

It looks like a man doing yoga, or
an alien that’s red and came from Mars
with black armor. In the middle there
looks like a ghost. And it has blood
red hands and arms.



The Paint Splash
Ariel T.

The plain white paper turns
into a mutated man in a
space suit. It turns into a robot.
This plain white piece of paper
turns into a cactus or a man
with green eyes.
My last white piece of paper
is a bat, or a gorilla. Maybe
an airplane that is
red, green, and black put together.



The Paint Splash
Leslie M.

There was one time three little
paint splashes turned into a flower.
The other one turned into a
Christmas tree. The next day,
they turned into a human and
the other one turned into a spider.
The other one turned into an
eagle. Two days later, it was
an airplane.

In My Head

This week, we stepped outside of ourselves to see what kinds of images might be lurking inside of us. We read "A Boy’s Head" by Miroslav Holub, translated from Czech by Ian Milner. The students were amazed at what kinds of things represented knowledge and were excited to explore images of their own. Look at their great work!


Ms. Mitchell 5th grade
Week 8
11/27/07


Dymon’s Head
-Dymon G.

In it there is my mom telling me to wake up
and trying not to think of school too much

And there is a store filled with generous shoes

Thinking of all the wonderful gifts on Christmas
then right after that my birthday

In it is heavenly chocolate chip dough pie
fresh from the oven

There is a memorized birthday list

An entirely new day

The tunes of soulja boy & I-15 going on & on & on

It cannot be cut down



In Neila’s Head
Neila R.

In it there are lots of words
and questions about life.

And there is my cousin saying
chu-chu which means he wants
to watch Thomas the train on T.V.

And there is an entirely new
me, an entirely new house,
and an entirely new school.

There is a river filled with chocolate.

There are equilateral triangles.

There are a lot of gray rainy clouds.

And it cannot stop.
I believe that only my heart can stop
what I think about my life.

There is a lot of promise that not a lot
of people think what I’m thinking.




My Brother’s Head
Rafael V.

In it I see him playing
with car toys.

In it I him
in a 1945 van.

In it I see all kinds
of car toys only him
playing with them.

In his head I see him
making a mess in my room.

All I see is him having
a good day and me having
a bad day.



In my head
Marc B.

In it there is a devil side
and an angel side.

In it there’s a blood fountain
but the angels ice it up.

In it there’s a brave guy
that wants to come out
its in chains because
of the devil side of me.

In it there is a video game
calling my name.





Ms. Kennedy 5th grade
Week 8
11/27/07

In My Head
Alan R.

In it is a penguin flying
that is red and pink

And there is
a boy charging up
a dog that breathes fire

And there is
a puma hunting in the sky
me walking on the sky

There is a
river full of ire

And it just cannot
get out of my head





In My Head
Sergio D.

In it there is me
playing Xbox 360.
There is a game inside.
There is Halo 3 in there.
There is me killing all
the zombies with a
bazooka and a sergeant
killing them with a laser. There
is me driving a Jeep where
it is the end of the
world. I believe I will
never stop playing
my game.





In Oswald’s Head
Oscar L.

In it there is a fling rat
there is a dead dog
there is a hamburger
there is a book
and a math problem
there is a soccer ball
I believe that only
a head could be
trimmed




Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade
Week 8
11/27/07

In Kelvin’s Head
Kelvin H.

There are snow balls.

There is a little puppy.

There are presents just for me.

There is a snowman
shaking hand with Santa Claus.

There are miles of
hot chocolate rivers.

There are chocolate bunnies
with whipped cream
inside.

There are penguins
and husky dogs dancing
to disco music.

There are games for
free at stores.

There are snow white
birds flying to Antarctica.




The Army Life
Tariq R.

There is the army
inside my head
that is green with so much
of a war of fight
with blood and fight
real hard as a legend




In a Girl’s Head
Tyriona W.

In a head there is the F.B.I.
protecting her from villains.

And there is a singer singing on
a stage in the clubs.

There is football, baseball, soccer,
cosmetology jobs.

There is a growing diamond
of love and peace and quiet.

There are movies like Peter Pan
and DVDs like Manda playing inside.

There is a lot of promising for her,
that she lives with no voices.

And she believes she will be
a singer. That’s her goal.




In My Head
Marquis G.

In my head is a jet pack.
In there is me, just me.
In my head is my mom,
and in my head is to become rich.

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.

Miss Rosie

We read "Miss Rosie" by Lucille Clifton. This lesson focused on mood and concrete details that give us cues about mood. The students were very close readers noticing how Lucille Clifton changes the mood midway through the poem from sad to victorious. The students wrote really interesting poems.




Ms. Kennedy 5th grade
Week 5


My Cousin
Carlos T.

When I watch you
in the park
playing with
your red bike

surrounded by
big balloons
and a cake

or

when I watch you with your
new bike and that
I want to ride
in the park

waiting for your mind
like next week
with a new thing.




Bird
Rogelio J.

When I watch you
I see you coming to the cables
you got electricity
between the cables
you crash to the garage.

Surrounded by bees all over the place.

When I watch you, you have broken one wing.

Waiting for the bird to not die in time.

I say why did you die.




Happiness
Mineya G.

When I watch you I see you on the playground
going up and down, up and down having
a swing by your mother.

Surrounded by butterflies, birds, flowers and people
and balloons in the sky. A huge bundle of roses
sitting there waiting for somebody to get them.

When I watch you in your dream I see running around
asking for a drink and drinking it, then having the energy
to shout and play.

Waiting for my mom’s favorite food with is mine too.

I say I love my life
as a wonderful wind blowing in my face.
I love it. I love it a lot.




Ms. Shaeffer 5th grade
Week 5


Little Miss Sandra
Devonte C.

When I watch you wrapped up like a boa constricter
sitting
surrounded by stinking garbage cans smelling
like rotten eggs
or
when I watch you in your old shirt you had 6 years
ago with your collar missing
waiting for you to try to get help, get food, get a house but
you have no money
I say to myself I wish you were not like that I wish I could give
up my life and take yours



The Kid
Anareli L.

When I watch you
in the playground
surrounded by
bullies
or
people that you don’t know
when I watch you in your
house
crying
waiting for
your dad or mom
I say
believe in yourself
be brave



My Dad
Juan A.

When I watch you
play soccer
I have fun
surrounded by
all of my
games
or
when I watch you in your
nice house
the way you painted it
because you’re a
cool/nice dad
waiting for
you get home from work
I say
I am
so excited
to see
you because
you’re the
best/awesome
dad

Best Brother
Brandon W.

When I watch you
play football
I want to play
football

surrounded by
all your friends
and teammates

or

when I watch you in your
Morgan Park football
uniform playing in
a lot of dirt

waiting for
your games to start
on kickoff I love
to see

I say
I would love
to be you

Little Room

We read Max Jacob's poem "Little Room." The students and I discusssed concrete details and how they create setting. We had a really great discussion about the way the speaker remembered and imagined his childhood room. Then, the students were asked to remember a place they knew and to focus on setting while they wrote. There were many favorite places revisited.



Ms. Mitchell 5th grade
Week 3
10/23/07


Mom’s Garden
-Lesli P.

I remember my mom’s garden.
I would always go there when mad.
There are a lot of roses in a circle and
a circle in the middle. All the trees around
the yard, green and purple leaves. All flowers
red and white with a nice smell. There is a pattern.
the red rose goes first, the n the white flowers
or you could step on the big green grass.



Poem
-Annabel H.

I remember in my room with my nephews
imagining that we could walk on the ceiling
and jump over the door. There are fans
on the ceiling, so we had to take
another path in the house. And then we notice
that if we were in the ceiling, what if the stuff
from the floor becomes the ceiling
like the beds and couch.



Poem
-Jose R.

I remember the time I was in my own
basement jumping on my own king size
bed where I jump and play and I
wrestle with my little seven-year-old
brother.

Me and my brother and my little
sister Julianna R. and my sister
Katy R. jumping and playing in my big
bed.

Playing and imagining that we are
heroes. That we are transformers fighting.




Ms. Kennedy 5th grade
Week 3
10/23/07

The Hour Glass Short Poem
-Rafael G.

I remember me
on my back lawn
laying down and
imagining me flying
meeting birds and
even new birds
bluejays, greenjays
fruitjays, blackbird
woodpeckers, yakkers
swallow, and even
hawks. And I can
imagine I am a
big bird with gray
and blue stripes
and my wings are
1 foot wide and 3 feet tall.



Poem
-Oswald O.

I remember my house. There was
a big space in my living room. There was
a guitar. It talked and it told me play me.
And I did. So now I am a good guitarist.



Poem
-Anais N.

I remember my mom’s room.
I see make-up everywhere. Bam!!
Bam!! I jump on the bed. Click.
Click. I am a super model. Cheese.
Cheese. Whoa. Whoa. Bam! I fell
on the floor. I forgot I was imagining.
Next time I will become a singer.




Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade
Week 3
10/23/07

Poem
-Jackie P.

I remember my old garage
with its old rusty ladders and rakes
and its shallow walls with spider webs
everywhere with spiders crawling.
And the voice of the old lady
that used to live there echoing
and bouncing off the dusty old walls
with its gasoline smell and oily floors
and gardening knives and tools.
But now my garage has
been remodeled.




Poem
-Karen L.

I remember the room I had as a child.
It was very nice. Blue and white, many flowers.
When I look the top of it transforms into a dragon
with one princess. His head was yellow, its eyes
blue. She was on the sky and it was like one
fantastic place with many colors, flowers, dragons,
unicorns, animals, people, stars and many letters
that transformed into people. It smelled like
strawberries. It was like a book. Very beautiful.



I Remember
-Jerrett C.

I remember basketball rims, bleachers, an office, gym equipment,
rolling pads, basketballs, skid marks, volleyballs,
people around me talking to each other.
Goofing off. Just being a kid.

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

To get in the spirit of Halloween, we read a segment of Act 4 from Macbeth. We had a discussion about mood, and how moods can actually be set by the inclusion of specific concrete details. The students were then asked to create a mood by designing their own brew. As expected, the brews got pretty scary.

Ms. Mitchell 5th grade
10/30/07
Week 4


Girl’s Devil Brew
-Natalia C.

In my brew I will include
a soldier’s guts and a
witch’s broom a
horn of a devil and
an eyelash too, an
eye of a vampire and
the fangs will do.




Half, Half Creepy Not
-Cecilia F.

Boil bubble, double trouble
cauldron bubbles throw in
a baby owl your future
is candy twix, pixie dust and
a small pinch of cinnamon.
A giant snail is in, candy out.
A devil’s horn and a poison
frog. In goes a fairy’s leg
and out come the bubbles
your future is half
and half devil horn and
halo stick. That’s what my
brew can do. Half
and half to you on
halo devil day.




My Halloween Brew
-Monica R.

Double, double toil and trouble,
eat a snake and take a bubble.
Eye of dog and fur of rat,
baseball mitt and baseball bat.
A broken car and a set of lights
a big box filled with fright.
No truck, no luck, nothing but talk
can’t even see, can’t even walk.
I should have told myself I knew
I shouldn’t add this to my brew.




Ms. Kennedy 5th grade
Week 4
10/30/07

Devil’s Brew
-Alberto E.

In my brew I will include
eye of a cobra
toe of a lion, hair of a demon’s
soul. Tongue of an alligator.
for a charm of powerful trouble I
will add a devil’s horn. Here
is what my brew can do. It
gives you power exchange for your soul.





A Nasty Brew
Catterin G.

Double, double toil and trouble,
fire burn and cauldron bubble.
In my brew I will include a goldfish tail
and eye of rat, a toe of cheetah.
Hair of a lion, tongue of buffalo.
For a charm of powerful trouble
I will also include a leg of pig,
and his leg is black and pink.
Here is what my brew can do. It is
a magical medicine and is like
juice. You can sleep and ask
for witches double, double toil trouble
fire burn and cauldron bubble.




Mix It Up Brew
Jeremiah B.

In my brew I will include a wing
of owl, eye of a frog, toe of a mouse,
hair of an armpit, tongue of a human.
For a charm of powerful trouble
I will add a shell and slime of a snail.
And something else too, a tail
of a lion. Here is what my brew
can do, make me ruler of the world
and control minds too.





Ms. Schaeffer 5th grade
Week 4
10/30/07

The Evilest Brew
Laura M.

In my brew I will include
a old shoe. Eye
of a tiger, toe of a wolf,
hair of a cat
tongue of a bluebird.
For a charm of trouble
I will add a tail of a devil.
Here is what my brew can do,
it can send you to a black hole.





The Animal Brew
Jose G.

In my brew I will include
a tooth of shark,
wing of a bee,
blood of a dragon,
wolf’s nose
and an ear of a rabbit
and the eye of the tiger.

And for a powerful charm
of trouble, I will add a shark’s tongue.

Here is what my brew
can do. It will make you
transform into any animal you want.





The Nasty Brew
Luis M.

In my evil brew I will include
a human’s arm
eye of snake
toe of a skeleton
a brain of a human.

for a powerful charm of trouble
I will add a dragon’s scale.

Here is what my brew can do.
It can raise the dead.