Kirk students spend the day in poetry cafe
Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Lynn Kirk students Sierra Cortez (left), Allissa Baxter and Alana Bowser (right) pose in front of their poetry displays before participating in a poetry meeting for their parents.
Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Duane Fisher (back) visits the refreshment table with his daughter, Makayla, and classmate Christian Myers during the “Poetry Café” event.
Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Kamryn Pechatsko shared her poetry with parents who visited the classroom May 7.
Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Nick Mitchell (left), Sam Warg and teacher Stacey Banko (back) prepare for the first poet to read for the guests attending the third-grade event.
Neighbors | Pam Jadue.Kim Veltri (left), the mother of third-grade student Dominic Veltri, gets a poetry program from student teacher Gina Sanetrick as parents arrive in the classroom.
By PAM JADUE
Poetry students from Lynn Kirk Elementary School converted their classroom into a Poetry Caf May 7.
With help from third-grade teacher Stacey Banko and student teacher Gina Sanetrick, the classroom was decorated with poetry posters created by the students and parents were invited into the classroom to enjoy the poetry the students had written.
Dim lighting and a drum beat helped to set the mood as students prepared for this poetry reading experience.
“Our poetry unit required the students to write different types of original poetry as they developed grammar and writing skills. This was a fun way to show what they had learned and celebrate our student teachers last day with us,” said Banko.
Banko had planned similar events in the past and hopes to make this Poetry Caf an annual project.
Students performed their own poetry on a small stage in a caf -like setting. They also shared their individual posters that colorfully displayed various types of poetry the class had worked on during this unit of study.
Students learned the difference between acrostic, concrete, haiku, couplets and cinquain poems, which they shared in their recitations. They demonstrated their knowledge of the various characteristics of poetry such as keeping a rhythm and making a rhyme.
“This has been such a nice school. I am proud of the students and their work. I have enjoyed my time here,” said Sanetrick, who taught poetry writing during her time at Lynn Kirk as a student teacher.