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Dobbins first-graders share pocket poems
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .After a short group presentation on poetry, Dobbins first-graders were invited to share the poems in their pockets with family and friends. Student Caden Evans read his own poem to his mom Christine Pavlik during the April 27 event.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Poetry was a a family affair for first-grader Eric Prikryl (center) on April 27. The student shared his poems with Miranda Prikryl (left), Brittany Prikryl, and Jimmy Rogers during his "Poetry in a Pocket" day.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .First-grader Evan Antil (left) shared a poem with his mom Kelly Antil (right) during poetry in a pocket day at Dobbins on April 27.
By SARAH FOOR
Dobbins Elementary first-graders celebrated “Poetry in a Pocket Day” April 27 to honor April as National Poetry Month. The event marked the sixth year at Dobbins.
Parents, grandparents and friends were welcomed to the school to see how the students have improved their literacy skills throughout the year with the help of poems.
The first-graders first performed for their guests, sharing pieces like “Poetry Time,” “My Promise,” and “Pass the Poems, Please.” Between performances, the first-graders told guests they’ve found that poems can help them learn about things like time, seasons, holidays, money and science. The first-graders shared that poems help with skills like fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and rhyming.
Because of all the skills that poems help them learn, the first-graders explained why they keep a poem in their pocket.
During the performance, they recited, “Keep a poem in your pocket and a picture in your head, and you’ll never feel lonely at night when you’re in bed.”
The students then shared the poems in their pocket with their special guests.
Teacher Kim Aikens said the event is part of a larger focus on the importance of poems in first grade.
“We read poems together all year, but in the last week, we’ve had an intense focus on the students writing their own so that they can share them today,” she explained.
Mother Miranda Prikryl was proud as her first-grader, Eric, read out his own poems during the event.
“He wrote from experience, about green being his favorite color and the best parts of his lunch. He also had a big imagination – he wrote about a robot being bopped on the head. It was a fun little look into his mind,” Prikryl said.