For the past 3 years, the media center has hosted a poetry contest leading up to Poem In Your Pocket Day. The hope was that this contest would encourage students to carry and read original poetry rather than just a copied poem. Each year participation grows. This year, we had over 180 entries from students in grades PreK-5th grade. It is near impossible to choose just one winner in each age bracket. This year, we had 7 top winners. Each of these students earned a certificate, an autographed book or journal, and their poem featured here on our blog.
Over 60 other students earned certificates for poetry in several categories including: list poetry, science poetry, Where I’m From poetry, concrete poetry, acrostic poetry, feelings poetry, humorous poetry, story poetry, found poetry, and deep thinking poetry. These students had their names announced on BTV and earned a pencil, pen, bookmark, or other small prize.
I can’t wait to see how this contest grows, and I especially can’t wait to listen to all of the great poems read aloud at our annual Poem In Your Pocket Days this Thursday and Friday. Please join us! You can find the schedule here.
Where I’m From
By Natalie
2nd Grade
I am from the Georgia Bulldogs
A cat who scratches
My Mommy, Daddy, Grandmas and Grandpas
I am from a big purple rose bush
I am from Friday Movie Nights
Eating out at the Burger Barn
I am from a family of worry warts
Rise and shines and Goodnights
I am from golf clubs and bridles
And dreaming to own a famous racehorse
I am from a big funny family
That is where I’m from!
Hummingbird
By Patricia
3rd Grade
Hummingbird, Hummingbird
They drink nectar from pretty little flowers.
Hummingbird, Hummingbird
They fly around all day.
Hummingbird, Hummingbird
They flap down and snooze in their nests.
Hummingbird, Hummingbird
It is great to meet you!
Hummingbird, Hummingbird
It is sad to leave you!
Dragons Today, Dragons Tomorrow, Dragons Past, Dragons Forever
By Cassie
5th Grade
The air beats around me as I open my eyes to see the beautiful creatures flying above my head,
Their wings beat up and down in a pattern together,
Together,
Their wings display colors like you’ve never seen, hypnotizing you, making you see colorful
rabbits hopping in front of your eyes and otters gliding through a river,
I always see wondering dragons all around, wandering, but never this close,
Never this close do I get to hear them,
Roaring and beating their wings, snapping their tails,
Never this close do I get to see them,
Flying above and away,
Never this close do I get to feel them,
The breeze blowing around me at the top of the hill and their breath down my neck,
Never this close do I get to taste them,
The sweet grass I’m chewing and the taste of the freedom and wind,
Never this close do I get to smell them,
The smell of wondering and knowing and curiosity from the young ones,
The young ones fly around, chasing each other and occasionally bumping into elder ones,
while older ones roll their eyes and beat their wings, keeping a steady rhythm through the air,
they don’t notice me on top of the hill watching them,
More dragons sweep through, gathering gusts of air whipping my long hair around,
One glides so close to me, I know if I wanted to reach out and touch it, I would have
touched its scaly skin,
For I am too a young one full of curiosity, living in the world where no man has touched yet,
Where it is peaceful,
The wandering dragons keep sailing through the sky and I don’t notice them growing
smaller as they soar farther away,
As quick as they had come they disappear back into the sky,
I wave goodbye, and as I put my hand down it seems as if a tail sticks out of the sky and
starts waving, as if the dragons are saying good bye to me too,
I take one last look at where the dragons disappeared and then look away, you can’t hope
wandering and wondering dragons to stay forever, because it’s not in their nature,…….
They like to wander and wonder.
April
By Hank
Kindergarten
April is warm
April is baseball season. Hooray!
April is rain
April is sunlight. Doesn’t everybody love April?
April makes grass green
April is the Final Four and the championship and go Louiseville!
April is the best season
April is when lots of plants grow
April is when people play outdoors
April is school time
April is when it is dark in the morning and light at night
April is when more sports go on.
Fireworks
by Sadie
1st Grade
Fireworks glisten in the air!
Boom! Crash!
Sizzle! Everywhere.
The colorful colors of light
But when it goes out
It’s the pitch black dark.
The Soldiers Lying on the Battlefield
By Taylor
5th Grade
For the strong and the powerful, the ones who lie to rest, all soldiers
who gave their lives, all soldiers who risked their lives for our country.
For our country, to be one people and stay one people.
Our one people, lying on that battlefield, never returning to the
country that will still be free, everyone still free, but them lost, them to never
be found, to always be missing.
Yes it’s them on the battlefield that kept our country one people.
Them, that kept us free. Them, they deserve to be alive more than any of
us. Them, lying on the battlefield.
This is the power of war, this is the power of one bomb, of one
missle, one gunshot, one person with a knife in the forest, this is what it
does to one people, many people.
Thank you veterans lying at rest for giving your life for this nation.
Thank you veterans wounded for everything you lost.
Thank you veterans here before me for going out to war and fighting
brave, as a reward you come back with scars and bruises that show you’re
brave.
Thank you for fighting the fear, for facing the bombs, and missiles,
and one person in the forest with a knife, for keeping us one people, for
keeping us all free.
You deserve the best, you gave me a beautiful nation to live in, and it
was you, you deserve the thanks, you deserve to be one people.
You and soldiers lying on the battlefield.
You.
Extinction
By Eli
4th Grade
As the fires rain down
as the gunshots are heard
as the trees burn I wonder
I wonder what caused this
why do we turn on each other
what drives us to kill
why does hell rain from heaven
and why does mankind discriminate,
When we love each other
or do we
and when the bomb drops on only ashes,
what have we achieved
except
destruction
death
terror
extinction
what do we achieve
every move brings us down with a weight
constantly
bearing
down
and
I
know
what did we gain when we made the bomb
what did we achieve when the cities
burned
human torches
terror
all hell rained down
that day
as the towers fell
as the planes exploded
as the harbor sank
all hell rained down
what do we achieve
do we become godly
or devilish
do we gain power
or lose money
do we become popular
or outcasts
this
is
the
Human
Races
Extinction
when all hell rains down
Here’s a gallery of our winners from this year:
Expect the Miraculous 
This is so exciting! My school is hosting our first annual Poetry Contest this year and I can’t wait to read what my students write. Thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas!