He is brown, always
smiling, never down.
Has wrinkled
tortoise-neck skin.
He remembers when
my father
went to this school.
He frowns
when I tell him
they’re going to crash it
to the ground.
So what
if Emerson’s
getting old?
Grandpa talks to me
in a voice low
and smooth.
“I’ve seen you
from my window,”
he’ll say.
“Climbing trees
the way I used to do,
sitting in the branches,
telling yourself
stories.” I wish
Grandpa was
a kid again. I think
we would be friends.
October 7
WHERE THEY LIVE
Brianna Holmes
At Hannah’s father’s house I saw a piano.
She called it a baby grand.
Looked full-grown to me.
Rennie’s house has its own library.
Books on every wall
and soft chairs to read in.
I went to Sloane and Sydney’s.
They have their own walk-in closet filled with clothes.
Some still have price tags on them.
Shoshanna’s got this little box on her door.
She says it has a prayer inside. At the motel where I live,
we can’t put stuff on our door.
If they close our school in June,
maybe the kids in my class will get it…
what it’s like to be homeless.
Until then, I want to play at each girl’s house
so when my mom gets a job, an apartment,
I’ll know exactly what I want:
A place filled with music and books,
closets stuffed with the clothes I design,
and my own room—the answer to my prayers.
October 8
GREEN TOENAILS
Katie McCain
I like to paint my toenails green.
It drives my mother crazy.
My room’s a mess. Mom wants it neat.
She says that I am lazy.
I streaked my hair with blue Kool-Aid.
I stand out in a crowd.
Mom says I’m like my own parade
because I am so loud.
My grades are good. My friends are nice.
I sing and dance and juggle.
Mom would have liked a quiet kid,
who never gets in trouble.
I’m noisy, goofy, colorful,
and I’m okay with that.
Still, my mother seems to think
her daughter is a brat.
October 9
MR. WHITE TANKA POEM
Newt Mathews
I have Asperger’s.
My aide is Mr. Ron White.
He says I am smart.
He helps me write down poems.
It is hard to describe things.
October 10
OBSTACLE COURSE
Rachel Chieko Stein
The best thing we do all year in P.E.
is the obstacle course.
I love climbing on the gym bars
that curve like a rainbow.
I can do it, no hands.
At home, we have lots of equipment
for my brother Alex.
He’s in middle school,
but he doesn’t go next door
to Montgomery Middle.
Alex uses a wheelchair
and a scooter to get around,
so every place we go
is an obstacle course.
We’re hoping he gets strong enough
to walk by himself,
just with crutches.
Some kids with disabilities
go to our school,
but not Alex.
Maybe if they close Emerson
and Montgomery Middle,
Alex and I will be able to go
to the same school,
and Alex could be in PE
with so-called normal kids
and be better than all of them
at the obstacle course.
October 13
ESPAÑOL
Mark Fernandez
When your last name
is Fernandez
everyone thinks
you’re automatically
fluent in Spanish.
My dad was always telling me
and my older sisters
And we’d say, Papi, no way.
They’ll stick us
in some kind of ESL class.
So I’m helping Gaby
rewrite her poems in English.
We both need the practice
and I like having someone
to speak Spanish with.
I miss the sound
now my dad’s not around.
October 14
MY SONG
Tyler La Roche
New kid, new kid,
what’s your name?
Are you cool
or are you lame?
Wild as a bear
or calm and tame?
New kid, new kid, new kid.
Big guy, sky high,
where you from?
Mansion, farm,
or city slum?
Are you smart
or are you dumb?
New kid, new kid, new kid.
Red head, white bread,
Why are you here?
Your lunch smells funny
and your accent’s weird.
How about you
disappear?
New kid, new kid, new kid.
October 15
CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Shoshanna Berg
Draw her posters.
Write her speech.
Give her my skirt to wear.
Buy a new
red, white, and blue
headband for her hair.
At recess
I find every girl,
go up to them and say,
“You better vote
for Hannah Wiles
when it’s Election Day.”
I know that she
won’t do a thing
to help our school survive.
She sees herself
as the queen bee,
and I’m part of her hive.
When Hannah wins
class president
I’ll finally be free.
If she is boss
of our whole grade
she won’t be bossing me.
October 16
ELECTION DAY
Rajesh Rao
The teacher asks me to be
an impartial judge on Election Day.
She also asks me to clean the board,
log in the class computers,
help Newt find his pencils,
sit by kids who get in trouble,
be the Captain of Patrols.
She says I’m a good influence.
She calls me “responsible.”
Maybe I should have run.
Instead I’m counting votes
for Hannah and George.
Don’t worry.
I’m too responsible to tell anyone
when the kids on George’s
Save Our School ticket
win by a landslide.
October 20
MY WAY
Hannah Wiles
Shoshanna says
I always
have to get my way.
That is so not true.
If I always got my way
I would have won
the class election.
If I always got my way
I would’ve been picked
for safety pat
rols
instead of Rachel Stein.
If I always got my way
my parents would still
be married, I wouldn’t
have a stepmother and
two annoying half brothers.
If I always got my way
I wouldn’t have to go
live with my father
for the rest
of the school year.
If Shoshanna
weren’t so mad at me
I’d tell her,
if I always got my way
my mother wouldn’t be
deploying.
October 21
FIELD TRIP
Edgar Lee Jones
Why did my mom sign up to chaperone?
I’ll have to answer questions like “Who’s she?”
“Your mom is white?” Well, should I be a clone
with her light hair and skin, not brown like me?
I’ll slide down in my seat and read a book,
so kids won’t stare at us the whole bus ride.
I hate when they’re pretending not to look.
My mom is cool. Why should I have to hide?
So what if I am black and also white?
Who cares that I don’t look just like my mom?
My family is different, but we’re tight.
Get over it, because there’s nothing wrong.
If someone gets up in my face today,
at least that’s what I think I’m going to say.
October 22
NEWS AT THE NEWSEUM
Sloane Costley
So my mother,
who chaperones
EVERYTHING,
had to come
to the Newseum.
And the one thing
she wanted me
(and Sydney, Tyler,
Mark, and Gaby)
to see was photos
from some famous
Women’s Liberty March
in Washington, DC.
Because my crazy
hippie grandmother
was there,
doing embarrassing
inappropriate stuff
like lighting fire
to her underwear.
And I’m looking close,
trying to spot Nana,
when Tyler says, “Hey!”
And he points to a face
in a photograph.
There is a girl
in a paisley scarf,
turning around to scream
at the policeman
handcuffing her.
And Tyler says,
“It looks a lot like
that old picture
of Ms. Hill.”
October 23
GETTING THE MESSAGE
Rachel Chieko Stein
Sloane took a picture.
She sent the picture to Hannah
with a text: Is this Ms. Hill?
Hannah sent it to Shoshanna,
who forwarded it to Jason,
who showed it to Edgar and Raj.
Soon our whole class was crowded
in front of a single photograph
at the Newseum. We’ve all seen
the picture on Ms. Hill’s desk.
It must have been taken the same day,
when she marched for women’s rights
in Washington, DC.
Ms. Hill is always telling us
to make our voices heard.
We are starting to get the message.
October 24
SPEAKING MY MIND
Rennie Rawlins
Dear Ms. Hill,
The whole class is talking
about the picture on your desk
where you’re standing on the steps
of Capitol Hill.
The whole class is saying
you were really brave,
speaking your mind
to the government.
But the whole class is saying
we’re just fifth graders.
Who’s going to listen to us?
I say, yes, we are fifth graders.
We should stand up
for the younger kids at this school,
like my sister Phoenix.
I promised her I’d do whatever it takes
so she could stay at Emerson next year
and I’d be right next door
at Montgomery Middle.
Maybe it’s true,
a bunch of fifth graders
have no say about what happens
to our school, but
in fifth grade we’re supposed to be
studying democracy
and constitutional rights,
right?
Well, I already know
the First Amendment
is the right to free speech.
Your student,
Rennie
October 27
SOS
George Furst
Ms. Hill,
we won’t tell anyone
you got arrested.
It was a long time ago,
and Rennie, Norah, and I know
it’s okay to get locked up
for something
you believe in,
like civil rights.
Ms. Hill,
I promised to
Save Our School
if I got to be
student council president,
but I don’t know how.
My dad hasn’t been
around much lately,
and my mom’s busy,
so I can’t ask them for ideas.
And since you
marched in Washington,
even though it was
a long time ago,
we were hoping, Rennie
and Norah and me,
your fifth-grade student council,
that you could teach us
how to tell the Board of Ed
we want to keep Emerson.
Ms. Hill,
a long time ago
you wanted the people in charge
to hear your ideas.
That’s what we want
now.
October 28
HIJAB
Norah Hassan
On my birthday, there was a package
at our front door, covered in colorful stamps!
My cousin Amina sent it from Paris,
where she goes to college.
Inside was a head scarf, blue as a clear sky
woven with golden threads.
I wrapped the scarf around my face,
the way my mother does
when she puts on her hijab before work.
My older sister, whose clothes come
from Abercrombie & Fitch, said,
“You’re not going to WEAR it. Like, outside?”
My cousin’s letter said
there are laws in France forbidding girls
to wear a hijab at school.
This morning, when I put the hijab on,
I thought of you, Ms. Hill.
Even though you can’t help us protest
to save Emerson, I want to say
thank you for marching for our rights
all those years ago. Including my right
to wear a head scarf at school.
Did you know then that you
would grow up to be a teacher?
When I put the hijab on
I float inside my scarf’s blue cloth,
the golden threads shimmer
like sunshine on water.
October 29
IS IT TRUE?
Rennie Rawlins
Is it true
the Board of Ed wants to turn our school
into a supermarket?
That’s what my mom heard
at Mrs. Stiffler’s community meeting
last night.
Shelves of cereal
and toilet paper
inst
ead of shelves of books.
Bored cashiers at the checkout
instead of the school media specialist
saying, “I’ve got a great book for you!”
Trucks filled
with tomatoes and broccoli
instead of buses filled with children.
I told George and Norah
it’s time. The student council
needs to come up with a plan.
We can’t let a bunch of vegetables
get in the way
of saving our school.
October 30
I HATE HALLOWEEN
Hannah Wiles
I wish I had a long black dress,
a bright green wig, and spider rings.
I wish I had a witch’s broom
and other evil things.
I can’t wear a tall black hat.
I’d be grounded for a week!
Our pastor says good kids do not
like to trick-or-treat, so
I don’t draw pumpkins with a grin
or help my friends put makeup on.
The school parades, but I stay in.
I’m done with Halloween.
October 31
COSTUME: A RAP POEM FOR MS. HILL
Tyler La Roche
Our teacher’s all dressed up
as this Emerson dude
who wrote about nature
and the things that he viewed.
He was walking in the sunshine.
He was swimming in the sea.
He was drinking up fresh air
and writing poetry.
Ralph Waldo was a poet.
Never heard of him before,
but his name’s right there
on our school’s front door.
November 5
ONE SEAT, TWO SEATS, WE HAVE NEW SEATS
Jason “Seuss” Chen
One seat, two seats, we have new seats.
Black seats, blue seats, missing-screw seats.
Some kids are glad and some are sad.
You sit by Teacher. Were you bad?
The teacher moved our chairs, but why?
I don’t know. Go ask a fly!
Some seats are comfy, some are hard.
I wish my seat were in the yard.
Oh me! Oh my! I want to cry!
I’m still by Katie. That’s no lie.