Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages,

Inspired by Lucy Calkins’ Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages, the youngest children explored writing poetry. The unit starts with a poetry museum, which asks children to write about objects that have been collected. As each object is observed children are encouraged to see with poet’s eyes, to see the unusual in ordinary objects. As the unit progressed over the course of 8 weeks,  students learn about the many ingredients that make up powerful poetry. They explored learning about line breaks, showing and not telling, searching for honest and precise words, patterning on a page and using comparisons. We encouraged children to stretch out their sounds and not to worry about spelling. It was important however, that they could read what they wrote. The highlight of each class came at the end when they each shared one treasured poem.

Six eggs in

a basket.

then a little girl

was picking up

some baskets.

Then she said,

“This is the best day ever.”

by Aurelia, aged 5

The park

is a place for everyone.

It’s a place

for

everyone.

The park

is a

place for

everyone

to

play.

by Eisen, aged 6

The vacuum is

A monster

And it eats dust and dirt

It gets mad

When you don’t

Drop

Anything.

by Frannie, aged 7

Boy camping

with my dad and

syris sleeping

There is a lot of

bugs.  I have soda

I sleep in a

sleeping bag

and I got

to toast marshmallows.

by Rowyn, aged 6

Socrates Trial

Socrates was found innocent! At his trial at The New School, our children rewrote history. The re-enactment of the trial of Socrates marked the culmination of three months studying Ancient Greece by the entire school. To set the stage, children created a set showing the hills of Athens and the Parthenon set against Corinthian columns. Everyone was dressed in robes and while the jury deliberated everyone munched on stuffed grape leaves, hummus and feta cheese.

         The action began when Socrates and his three accusers (Anytus, Lycon and Meletus) entered the court and took their seats. Socrates was charged with not worshipping the gods and corrupting the young. Meletus (Agnes Coleman) was the first to present his case. She said, “It is a disgrace to our city that a man who does not worship our god has a better life than some people who pray and chant up to our god.” Then came Lycon (Ace Wischman) who argued that Socrates “is a danger to Athens and the citizens of Athens. He is a danger to the law…ruining our city.” Anytus (Max Newman) made an impassioned plea, “Now my own youth is a drunkard and Socrates is responsible. Look at what this man has done to my son.”  Xanthippe, (Maia Gostin) Socrates’ wife, made a plea to the court, and was escorted by guards (Asher Creel, Ben Foley) out of the room. (Women had no place in the Athenian courtrooms.)

         Then it was up to Plato, (Nora Vancalcar) and Chaerephon (Jake Aretsky) to support their friend and colleague. Chaerephon argued that the oracles of Delphi had confirmed that Socrates was the smartest man in all of Greece and accused his enemies of jealousy. Plato eloquently used an analogy to explain that “without knowledge we are but prisoners who spend our entire lives in a cave.” What was the danger of “asking questions?” After all “we learn from asking questions.” Finally Socrates (Neona Krabacher) spoke. He said, the charges brought against him “are the result of rumors that Athenians have heard since they were children.” He trusted that the Athenians, will think for themselves and find him blameless. Throughout the trial Socrates’ friends Cristobulus, Apollodorus and Adeimantus ( Alaira Otteson, and Juliette Waters) kept a record of all the trial proceedings, writing down the information on their papyrus rolls.

         After listening to these arguments the jury of eleven 2^nd and 3^rd

 grade children found Socrates innocent! Jury member, Greer Foley argued amongst her peers, “There is nothing wrong with asking questions.” Mae Cohen said, “He is a great teacher.” Lola Gostin agreed, “He believed in the Gods. He said it. Asking questions is not a crime. He just wanted his students to learn from a different perspective.”