That Feeling You Get When You Solve a Hard Math Problem

Have you had a kindness? Pass it on.  ~Henry Burton

That Feeling You Get When You Solve a Hard Math Problem

The numbers click in place like a combination lock. You have

cracked the code, you

have mastered the challenge! The problem had

you cornered, but it was decimals that gave you a

way out. A mathematical kindness

was bestowed by the universe: a “Pass

Go Collect $100” card, and it

gives you the joy and energy to carry on.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

A couple of my students had a great day in math this past week. (One was the future astronomer from Day Two's poem.) We were working on irregular volume and they got to the challenge problem -- making an irregular figure with a total target volume of 325 cubic units...with the additional self-imposed challenge of not using a 1 in their answer. So, for example, they didn't allow themselves this solution: 10x(3x10) + 5x(5x1). They were stumped at the end of math class, but later, at the end of the day, grabbed their papers out of the pile and kept working while we waited for the buses to be called. The student who gave me this quote asked, "Can we use decimals?" I answered, "Why not?!" and he promptly found a solution: 10x(3x10) + .25x(10x10).

So there's that amazing feeling you get when you solve a hard math problem, but there's also that amazing feeling you get when you have a birthday and the entire Poetry Friday community sends out best wishes! Add mine to the cascade:

Happy Birthday to the Grand Master of Children's Poetry, 

Lee Bennett Hopkins!!

Robyn has the Poetry Friday roundup and the birthday party this week at Life on the Deckle Edge.

Tenacity

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.  ~ André Gide

Tenacity

You are the one who gets the job done. You

don’t wait to be told what to do, you can

find the work and you can do it. This is also true: you are never

the kind to sit on the shore. You cross

to the other side even if you have to paddle across what feels like the

ocean.

You paddle until

you know where you are going. You paddle until you

see the sun coming up to light your way, until you have

a clear view, until you have the

courage

to

lose

all the burdens you carry and set your sight

on the new path that starts at the distant edge of

the

barely visible shore.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Confidence

Always do what you are afraid to do.  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Confidence

You will not always

be sure, but don’t let that stop you. Do

the brave thing. Do the right thing. Do what

will make the world a better place and you

will be one of the ones who are

not afraid

of what the world asks you to

do.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Luminosity

When it is dark, be the one who turns on the light.  ~Joseph (in 365 Days of Wonder)

Luminosity

I hear music even when

you can’t. It

calls me to dance, tickles my feet, is

a beam of light when all the world is dark.

My pen calls me, too. Calls me to be

the

one

with a new way to see, the one who

finds beauty, the one who turns

lines on

paper into the

vision that amplifies the world with ever more light.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Teamwork

It's good to be important, but it's more important to be nice.  ~Anthony’s Grandmother

Teamwork

Your team surrounds you. It’s

the day of the big game and it feels good

to

be

geared up and ready to play. It’s important

to remember that you have to play as a team, but

if you get the chance to make a big play, it’s

nothing that makes you more

important

than any of the other players. No matter what, you have to

always be

humble and just plain nice.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Congratulations to our school's dodgeball team, the elementary champions for the second year in a row!

Indomitable

Just keep swimming no matter how hard the current is.  ~Ava (365 Days of Wonder)

Indomitable

I will fight for what is just. 

I will keep 

swimming

upstream against hate and discrimination. No

matter

how long the battle, no matter how

hard

the fight, I will do my best to change the

current

way the world is.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Springtime

Life is short. Make it amazing.  ~Hugh MacLeod 

Springtime

Springtime, and life

returns in a green haze of leafbuds. The seasonal burst of life is

short-

lived, but the surprise of the splashy daffodils will make

it

all the more amazing.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

My Favorite Subject is Science

The miracle is not to fly in the air or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.  

~ Chinese Proverb

My Favorite Subject is Science

Photosynthesis is the

miracle

inside plants. Our planet changing from season to season is

not

any less miraculous. And to

learn that planes fly

not because of the engine but in

response to the

lift of the air

under the wings -- amazing! Food chain or

food web – both work elegantly to

balance life in the wild. Walk,

run, stand, sleep: your heart beats on.

The

water

cycle, symbiosis, sound waves – more miracles asking nothing but

that we pay attention to

this walk

we have been given on

the

earth.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Some process notes about this (crazy) project...

In about mid-March, each of the thirty 5th graders in my class chose a quote from the classroom quote books or the stack of GapingVoid (gapingvoid.com) cartoon-quotes I printed and laminated a few years ago.

Before the end of March, I typed each quote (vertically and right-justified) in its own document.

On the drive from Ohio to Colorado and back during spring break the last week of March, I fiddled around with most of the quotes and wound up with about 10 poems that felt mostly ready. I panicked a bit because I realized that I wouldn't be able to write a poem about each child using the quotes they'd chosen. So I made a sheet with all the names and a brainstorm list of all the topics we've studied so far this year. Whew! There are at least as many topics as students! Some of the poems will wind up being more about the child who chose the quote than others, but all of them taken together will be a record of our year together this year.

In answer to Diane's question from yesterday's comments about how I actually go about drafting the Golden Shovels: As I mentioned, I have the quote written vertically and right-justified. I write into those end words, going for as much enjambment as possible. I am trying to write a poem that's not necessarily on the topic of the quote so that the quote and poem together are a little bit surprising. I think I'll be doing a better job with this in upcoming poems where I won't try to write about the child who gave me the quote. I'll be choosing a quote and writing a poem on a topic from our classroom. Stay tuned. We'll see how that goes! Beyond that, there's lots of staring into space, starting and stopping, retyping the quote again below the first draft and trying another draft (and another), and a nice dose of mystery and magic and surprise!

Keep Your Promises -- this quote came from the child who gave me the 30 days 30 students 30 poems challenge. Seemed only right for him to go first!

Astronomical Passions -- the child who chose this quote aspires to be an astronomer.

Legos -- this original quote was written by a Lego-maniac.

Walt Didn't Say This, But He Would Approve -- my Everything Disney girl wrote this original quote. It was fun to work the Disney-ness in!

100% Authentically ME! -- if you knew this girl, you would understand how perfectly this poem captures her spirit. She beamed when I showed it to her!

My Favorite Subject is Science -- I'm not sure if the guy who chose this quote would agree that science is his favorite subject, but it's definitely a favorite for most students in my class. It's such a perfect age for beginning to learn about the way things work on this beautiful planet (and in this amazing solar system) of ours.

Amy has this week's Poetry Friday Roundup at The Poem Farm.

100% Authentically ME!

Just be who you want to be, not what others want to see.  ~Unknown

100% Authentically ME!

I am me. Perfect just

the way I am. I will not be

someone who

changes the way I look at the world because of what you

say or do. I want

to

always be

the one who tells the truth, not

without a smile, but also not just repeating what

others

say. I want

to be authentic, to

show you all the truths I see.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

Walt Didn't Say This, But He Would Approve

If you have a life, why not live it!  ~Lexie

Walt Didn't Say This, But He Would Approve

If

you

wish upon a star you will have

a

life

filled not with the why

but the why not.

Grab life by the mouse ears and live

it!

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018