Poetry connects across generations

A story as National Poetry Month comes to a close:

Fourth grade studies one poem a week. As part of the process, students can choose to respond to the poem in a variety of ways: reinterpreting the poem as a drawing, for instance, or writing a response poem, or writing a letter to the author.

Recently, a student responded to Naomi Shibab Nye’s In the school cafeteria with a letter to the poet, asking a few questions, offering a book suggestion (Sarah Weeks’ Save Me A Seat), and seeking to connect with her.

Yesterday, a response arrived! Ms. Nye was kind enough to answer the fourth grader’s questions and connected with her on a number of points (favorite colors? blue for both of them. favorite subject? reading for both of them.).

Along the way, Gordon made another connection: a member of the team at Ms. Nye’s literary agency, Eliza Fischer, attended Gordon for first grade in 1970.

This fourth grader will have a chance to reconnect with Ms. Nye in Middle School. As part of their yearlong study of poetry, seventh graders write poems based on Ms. Nye’s Famous. Here’s one powerful example of that assignment from earlier this year.