After three years of pause, the Middle School English department was thrilled to welcome back their traditional Poetry Assembly. As April is National Poetry Month, each grade has been learning about the history of poems and the tools to write them effectively. In this fun filled assembly, students got to hear their classmates read their work and collaborate on poetry-themed mini-challenges.
After students were evenly divided into groups with every age and a faculty member, English teacher Mr. Cusano had them write verbs, nouns, etc. to hand to Math teacher Ms. Shiv and Art Department Chair, Music teacher, and Song Leader Mr. Glaser for their “Poetry Mad Lib Competition.” For this competition, Ms. Shiv and Mr. Glaser spent the assembly vigorously creating poems featuring the words that the students generated. The final reveal ended in an applause competition to choose the winner.
A handful of students from each grade were selected to read poems that they wrote. Their poems included similes, alliteration, and other poetic devices they have been learning about. Faculty and clergy members also had the chance to recite famous poems, as Head of School Danny Karpf read “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The poem recitations were alternated with mini-challenges, where the groups had a mere three minutes to respond to specific prompts. They had to write down as many words as possible that rhymed with the word “tree”; one team was able to accumulate over 30 words! Groups then had the opportunity to fill in a simile sentence about poems. One student shared his, stating, “ A poem is like a superhero because it has a lot of power.” It was so great to see the middle school collaborating and using their various lessons to create great works of writing. A special thank you goes to the English teachers—Tom Cusano, Deb Orlep, and Leinana Two Moons—for facilitating and resurging this great Rodeph Sholom School tradition.
