Friday, April 13, 2018

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.


Thursday, April 12, 2018

Tenacity


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



Wednesday, April 11, 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



Tuesday, April 10, 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



Monday, April 09, 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!







Sunday, April 08, 2018

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



Saturday, April 07, 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



Friday, April 06, 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.


Thursday, April 05, 2018

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



Wednesday, April 04, 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