The other day I read this line at the end of a fifth grader's book summary and realized it is probably the most beautiful sentence anyone has ever written. And she was just trying to be matter-of-fact:
"And there they were standing there in the past going nowhere because there was nowhere to go."
Since then I've been noticing the inadvertently poetic phrases that come out of children's writing. Fifth graders play with grammar (and spelling) in ways that e.e. cummings would envy... and they don't even know they're doing it. This week I accidentally wrote a vocabulary test that was too hard. On the bright side, it resulted in a lot of inadvertent poetry.
(All grammar is sic., spelling and capitalization is not sic.)
Write a meaningful sentence using the word scarcity:
"The scarcity of god is large."
(He meant gold, but this is so much better.)
Define and give the part of speech for the word pitiful:
"Noun -- you're in bad shape and something small."
"Noun -- people are pitiful sometimes."
(Please read directions. But also, very nice.)
Not poetry, but here is my favorite unintentionally antisemitic line:
"The Jews think that they have dignity."
(The kids are reading a Holocaust book. He's trying to say the opposite of what it sounds like, I promise).
Also not poetry, but here are my three favorite spellings of the words philosopher:
1. Phalafaser
2. Flastifer
3. Flosper
And here are my favorite surrealist/ terrifying lines:
Write a meaningful sentence using the word secede:
"I secede from the skunk in the old days."
"I seceded back into my mom because I didn't want to come out."
(I have NO idea.)
"And there they were standing there in the past going nowhere because there was nowhere to go."
Since then I've been noticing the inadvertently poetic phrases that come out of children's writing. Fifth graders play with grammar (and spelling) in ways that e.e. cummings would envy... and they don't even know they're doing it. This week I accidentally wrote a vocabulary test that was too hard. On the bright side, it resulted in a lot of inadvertent poetry.
(All grammar is sic., spelling and capitalization is not sic.)
Write a meaningful sentence using the word scarcity:
"The scarcity of god is large."
(He meant gold, but this is so much better.)
Define and give the part of speech for the word pitiful:
"Noun -- you're in bad shape and something small."
"Noun -- people are pitiful sometimes."
(Please read directions. But also, very nice.)
Not poetry, but here is my favorite unintentionally antisemitic line:
"The Jews think that they have dignity."
(The kids are reading a Holocaust book. He's trying to say the opposite of what it sounds like, I promise).
Also not poetry, but here are my three favorite spellings of the words philosopher:
1. Phalafaser
2. Flastifer
3. Flosper
And here are my favorite surrealist/ terrifying lines:
Write a meaningful sentence using the word secede:
"I secede from the skunk in the old days."
"I seceded back into my mom because I didn't want to come out."
(I have NO idea.)
Maybe the last one meant to say "'receded' back into my mom"? No idea Mia...
ReplyDeleteI love what you notice about your students! I love that you so enjoy what they do...even if it isn't what you intend or want for them.
ReplyDelete