The 6th Annual Cedar Hill Prep School Poetry Day dawned hot, windy, and sunny. But nevertheless, it was an amazing experience for all students, staff, and family members involved.
Pre-K & Kindergarten
Pre-K 3 classes celebrated Poetry Day on Monday, May 11th by reciting 2 poems. Their poems were based on the Spring theme they have been studying. Parents and grandparents were invited to share in their activity. The two poems were “Spring Planting” and “I See a Rainbow”. The students created their own headbands to reflect the message of the poem.
Both Junior Kindergarten classes did a great job reciting their two poems together on Poetry Day.
Their first poem: “My Body” focuses on the child as an individual and incorporates their unit on “The Five Senses”. Since the alphabet is an integral part of their curriculum, the teachers thought it would be appropriate to learn their second poem ”Alphabet Break”.
The children had a fun time learning this poem but it was difficult for them to contain their laughter as they understood the humor in this poem.
The Kindergarten children recited poems by various poets. The poems varied from silly to sincere.
Individual poems were presented to the audience as well. Both Kindergarten classes wrote their own free verse poems during Poetry Month.
Grades 1-4
For Poetry Day, first-grade students presented poems from across the curriculum.
Focused on feeling, with few rules, poetry allows students to explore the world in a way that other literary forms do not.
In first grade, concepts as varied as phonics and science are made clearer and more enjoyable when introduced through poetry. Indeed, poetry has been infused throughout the first-grade curriculum all year, and children often choose to explore poetry given the choice of reading material.
Cedar Hill Prep’s second-grade students study many types of poetry throughout the year. For our annual poetry celebration, the students recited poems by Joyce Sidman and Maryann Hoberman. The students chose a poem to memorize and recite for the poetry celebration. Second grade also wrote their own free verse poems and shared them and some of their other writing pieces with their parents after the show. The students enjoyed having their parents visit the classroom. A fun day had by all!
Our third-grade poets did a wonderful job reciting poems from Emily Dickinson on Poetry Day!
In addition to their beautiful recitations, the students created poetry booklets that included poems of alliteration, similes and metaphors, acrostic, onomatopoeia (in the style of a cinquain), couplets, and free verse. The students presented these poems to their parents after reciting their poems. Overall, it was a beautiful day filled with old and new poems!
All 4th graders recited selected poems written by Langston Hughes. In addition, many of the students shared their own poetry: some inspired by Langston Hughes and some very original pieces inspired by their own imaginations and feelings.
Grades 5-8
The middle school students were anxious to perform their poems under the shade of the trees. This year, the teachers changed the format a bit by mixing together the poems from all of the grades. The pace was lively as the students flew from sad to serious to outrageously funny poetry.
Fifth grade entertained the crowd with “funny poems”. Kenn Nesbitt and Shel Silverstein poems were among their favorite authors.
The sixth grade grew more serious with poems about places. Poems of homelands, heaven, and old time favorites such as “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” (Robert Frost) were memorably performed.
The seventh grade regaled the crowd with ballads (both serious and comedic). There were multiple duos (“The Raven” (E.A. Poe) , “The Highwayman” (Alfred Noyes) as well as one epic ballad, “The Idiot Boy” (William Wordsworth) performed by 5 7th-grade-girls. Ballads by Roald Dahl and Ernest Lawrence Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat” brought humor to the afternoon.
Eighth-grade selections from Shakespeare, raps, and other free verse poetry rounded out an excellent poetry recital.
Everyone at Cedar Hill Prep is quite proud of the work the students put into this year’s Poetry Day. Well done!
