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A couple of weeks we started with a science research on a disease in the nervous or the cardiovascular system.

Here are some of the results that I have in.

Polio

Autism

Bell's Palsey

Mitral Valve Prolapse

How does a morning walk to school

turn into a Writers' Workshop,

and then into a poem?

like this.

I just have to share this work with you, as this makes me a very proud teacher. April is the month of Poetry (at ACS), and my students have churned out some fantastic work already!!

Here are two publications they have worked on so far:

The Red Wheelbarrow (First Issue)

The Red Wheelbarrow (Second Issue)

Enjoy!!

I Am From

I am from the sound of humming lawn mowers in the park, signaling the coming of summer. I am from the smell of dry grass, from tiles with green moss, and a garage door with safety glass.

I am from the smell of apple pies that never succeeded, and I never ate. From the green tiles in the kitchen and the alarm at the bottom of the wooden stairs, signaling dinner time.

I am from the smell of wet wood in my grandmother’s bathroom, the chimes of church bells every 15 minutes in the dark night, and sleep-overs with cousins I did not really know.

I am from cornflakes only at grandma’s house, from caring about one single cent, and wooden parquet, a piano that only she could play, and the ostrich egg on the shelf.

I am from 100 chewing gum balls for a guilder, playing in the back street where children come out of porches at night. I am from “Hello, I’m home”, and “What did you do at school today?”

I am from a best friend with a similar name, from laughing over trees planted at National Tree Planting Days and bicycling to the library in rows of two. I am from Holland

Where Are You From?

I went out to the Farmer’s Market today (Souq el-Tayeb) downtown, and guess who I met? A real author and illustrator! I met Joumana Medlej. She has illustrated many books, but you may know her as the author and illustrator of the only Lebanese graphic novel super hero we have: Malaak.

Meeting the inventor of the first Lebanese superhero is supercool! Actually, Malaak is a heroine (female version of a hero) .

You may have met her Mom last year when you were in grade 4, and the librarians organized a ‘How Do You Write a Book?” meeting during I Love to Read Week. Her name is Youmna Jazzar Medlej, and she has written a series of childrens books (see examples )

She came to ACS and explained the very long process of writing and publishing a book.

If you don’t remember that event, than surely you remember that in the beginning of the year, when we were studying landforms, Makram brought in this book to share during Morning meeting about caves. It explained all about limestone and carbonic acid, and how Jeita cave was formed. Well, that one was one of the series.

Joumana , her daughter, is a graphic designer and writer who graduated from AUB, and she has illustrated all her mom’s books, but what’s more, she has also written her own books. Malaak , the superhero (or heroine, actually, which is the female version of hero), is one of them.

I was very excited to meet her for several reasons;

First of all, to meet a real author and illustrator. Here are examples of some of her illustrations.

Secondly, she is Lebanese and thinks with a Lebanese schema, yet she writes in English, so you can read her work. Now think about that when you are about to write your second realistic fiction piece; her settings are totally Lebanese! That is something else than to wrestle your way through the Arabic reading books in the classroom. I think it is exciting to see that you can write excellent English fiction while using your own background.

And finally, she is using a medium that is one of my favorites; the graphic novel. We don’t have a lot of graphic novels in the classroom library, and almost none at all in elementary library.

So I bought the whole series of Malaak for the classroom, and she wrote a dedication to you all. Here you can read more about her amazing creator.

So if you don’t know what to do this spring break; drag your parents over to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning, and meet the author/illustrator yourself, buy her books, and have them dedicated to you!

We are currently reading Love that Dog (level T), as a classroom novel,

written by Sharon Creech. Love that Dog is a great novel to introduce

a wide variety of poetry to students. One of the poems is The Red Wheelbarrow .

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

The poem is so short; it is just one sentence of 16 words. It shows that a

poet has to choose words very carefully in order to create an image. It

follows a very tight syllable system. It contains no capital letters, another

feature of some forms of poetry. Carlos Williams chose everyday

subjects.

And although the poem was not written for children, it is amazing to see

what children understand from poetry, and how it inspires them to write

their own poetry. The 5A students were asked to think of a moment that

was very vivid in their memory. They had to try and ‘paint’ with words

that moment, trying to use the same verse pattern as WCW had used.

They did not have to explain the moment, the poem would explain itself.

And these are the results. I hope you will enjoy them, because I did.

So here's a selection of my students' poetry, inspired by William Carlos

William’s ‘The Red Wheelbarrow’.

The Grand Piano

By AH

so much depends

upon

a black grand

piano

polished with clean

water

beside a silent

crowd

Standing on Stage

Written by EB

so much depends

upon

standing on stage

singing

in front of an

audience

and being the

best

Inspiration

Written by WS

so much depends

upon

a little poem

inspired

by William Carlos

William

the great rhythmic

poet

Class

Written by MK

so much depends

upon

a very quiet

class

with an angry

teacher

beside the principal’s

office

Street

Written by AC

so much depends

upon

a lousy busy

street

filled with honking

sounds

through the tall

buildings

The Fried Chicken

Written by OZ

so much depends

upon

a crispy fried

chicken

covered with hot

gravy

served on a

plate

A Lamp

Written by HC

so much depends

upon

a lamp that

shines

lightening up the

dark

enlightening my heart

warmly

Fried Chicken

Written by AF

so much depends

upon

a deep fried

chicken

covered with hot

sauce

served with rice

pudding

Home Work

Written by RH

so much depends

upon

me doing my

homework

and not flunking

so I don’t

repeat

Cabbage

Written by MHM

so much depends

upon

a head of

cabbage

when someone is

hungry

just like I

The Red Lipstick

Written by LW

so much depends

upon

the stick of

lipstick

without a cap

beside the black

glasses

Gum Chewing

Written by May

so much depends

upon

chewing gum with

you

through day and

night

on T.V. or

not

The Rabbit

Written by MA

so much depends

upon

a small white

rabbit

struggling to escape

from

the enormous white

cage

Remember that French session we had in the computer lab? Well, it is on Voices of the World now. Check here (second voki). We don’t sound so bad, do we?!!

So what is the importance of planting your own tree? Leave aside the obvious reasons such as the environment, and taking care & responsibility of your own country. How about the memories?

Here is one of Ms. Noshie’s most vivid memories of her elementary school years. When I was young (yes, last year) I lived in Holland. And in Holland we have something called the International Tree Planting Project. One day a year, every child of every elementary school, public and private, goes out with his/her fellow students, and plants a tree. They usually do this in the neighborhood of their school, or village, so that when they grow up, they can also see ‘their’ tree grow up. It creates a type of ownership, so to speak. And I remember so vividly, one of those years, when in grade 3, my school was given a plot of grassland next to the river to plant that year’s trees. The municipality was there with their people, the workers, to help us dig the holes. And each group of children was given a few trees to plant. I was with my very best friend - we were kind of like Siamese twins for 6 years – and we were given a bunch of sticks. They didn’t look much like trees. Actually, they looked like branches. And we thought that they had given us one tree. So we proudly dug our holes, placed the ‘tree’ in it, and went proudly to the teacher to show our fantastic work. The teacher was quite amused. The municipality worker was even more amused. “Well, you ladies probably should not try a career in the forestry business.” It turned out we had placed seven trees all together in one hole. My very best friend and I thought this was hilarious, and we couldn’t stop laughing for the rest of the tree planting trip. And up to this day, I remember that moment. And very year, when I go back to my hometown, and I bike past that little plot of grassland, I am reminded of that moment. It is no longer grass, but it has become a wooded area next to the river. A perfect place for people to sit on a wooden bench, and see the water flow by, and the ducks. And every year I am reminded of the fact that within that little forest, seven of the trees are planted by me.

That is the power of planting trees. And so for you, a little slide show.

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