Response to "An Alchemist" by Adriaen van Ostade (1600s)

I feel very tired.
The smoke is blowing in my face.
I am very sad to do all this work.
My arms are getting tired
because I keep going
up and down
up and down
up and down
with my bellows.
My tummy is gurgling of hunger
because I'm poor.
But if I keep doing my work
I can earn money for another meal.

By Oliver, Angeliese, and Alice

Mysteries of Harris Burdick

One day I went to the pumpkin patch. I picked one in the very back. And when I took it home it started glowing. I got a knife and slowly and carefully got it open. Inside of it were glowing seeds brighter than the sun. I was afraid of what was going to happen if I told my parents so I didn't. Then I took the pumpkin and threw it in the garbage. Then it blew up and the pumpkin was still there. It was perfectly new.

By Oliver, Grade 3

The Third Floor Bedroom

It all began when someone left the window open. I see doves flying off the wallpaper. It is a magic room and the best part of all the magic was the curtains. They were magic and someone climbed in the room and vanished in the wind. Five minutes later he was falling 15,000 feet from the building to the ground and I would not do that because it is scary and it is Halloween.

By Angeliese, Grade 3

Tree Poetry

It has some thick clouds and some thin clouds.
It has large mouontains.
It has colors of purple, pink, red, yellow, and gold.
It is a beach.
The water is colorful because the reflection.
It has sea water.
It is sunset!
Let's go home,
It is getting dark.

By Lillian, Grade 2

A breeze is blowing in my branches.
A soft summer breeze.
It makes a whistling noise in my branches.
The clouds are thin and don't look as soft as some days.
Are they hard?
No, just don't look soft is all.
The water has a ripple, a large one.
I am getting cold, and evening is coming.
I must think about dinner.

By Cheyn, Grade 3

Response to "The Sunset Tree"
The water is moving.
The grass is wiggling.
It's the yellowish, reddish sunset,
Dark and red lika a tomato.
The tree is swishing back and forth because of the wind.
The mountains are purple like a plum.
It will all be gone because the sun is going down.

By Oliver, Grade 3

Student Podcast: The History of Flight

Michael, a sixth-grader, has an astounding and constantly growing wealth of knowledge about planes, flight, and aerodynamics. He is especially interested in fighter planes of World War II, up to the present and into the future. Michael's fascination with planes in contagious, and this fall we developed a plan to share it. He worked diligently organizing, discussing, researching, synthesizing, and creating this podcast on the history of flight, right down to editing the sound file. We hope that you learn something new and get excited about the possibilities of flight yourself!

LISTEN HERE:

Art Inspires Poetry Inspires Art Inspires Poetry . . .

Have you ever thought about what inspires people to write? Beautiful artwork has been an inspiration for many, many writers over time. Today at Ignite, our Creative Writing class wrote free verse poetry as a response to Monet's painting "The Poppy Field." Then, we painted our own watercolor pictures and wrote free verse poetry in response to our own art. Here's the poem we wrote together:
















Response to Monet’s “The Poppy Field”

There is a field.
The poppies and the sky are bright.
There are four people walking.
There is a building way, way in the back.
You can smell the flowers’ sweet scents.
You can hear the field whishing through the wind. The bushes are like a horizon.
The clouds in the sky are like big, poufy cotton balls.

-Group poem written by 2nd and 3rd graders Oliver, Angeliese, Lillian, Alice, and Arianna

Nature Poetry

June
The sunset makes the sea look like blood,
part of the sky day
part of it at night
The mountains dark
and forbidding against
all the colors of the sky
makes me wonder, what
lurks there under the cover of darkness?
Mitch, grade 7

Hills

Despite what I have been told,
hills do not just roll,
they sway
and shake
and whisper.
They whisper things
that you can only hear if you listen.
Madi, grade 7

For the gods
big to small
or maybe a series of rivers
Divided by cotton
Meandering back and forth
Ultimately flowing towards something,
an ocean of sky.
Sean, grade 7

November 2009

From above I see the tip
2 points of ice floating on the water
never coming together,
never floating apart.
But when I go under
the cold water I see
it's all connected
and larger than before
for there's something hidden,
if you dare to look.
Andrew, grade 7

Poems, stories, and responses by kids

Responses to Van Gogh's Artwork

Vincent's Chair with his Pipe

Where is my pipe? Where is my pipe?!
I know I brought it with me!
Didn't I?
I set it on the chair,
But did I ever pick it up?
Yes, I'm sure I did.
I picked it up right before I left.
Didn't I?

My Garden

In my garden,
everything is peaceful.
In my garden,
nothing moves.
In my garden,
the flowers grow up, and the roots grow down.
In my garden,
It is completely, totally silent.
In my garden.

The Perfectionist

I drink a glass of tea
and set it down.
Exactly 7 inches from the pitcher,
no more, no less.
I halfway close the window,
so a gentle breeze blows through,
no greater than the breath of a fly.
I straighten a picture,
more,
more,
too much!
Back a little.
Perfect.
I lay in bed, and pull the covers right below my neck.
I set my alarm clock to 7:32 A.M. sharp!
and gently fall asleep.
-Andrew, grade 7

Hospital at Saint-Remy
Lots of trees
at a hospital.
People walking,
in a hurry.
Where are they going?
Windows everywhere and a door
in the middle of a forest.
Sean, grade 7

The Starry Night, 1889

The wind swirls around itself in confusion,
the grass getting taller and taller, reaching up into the wind's confusion.
The churches spire does not go nearly as high as the grass that obscures almost half of my vision.
The sun is filling the rest of the moon as they meet in the sky.
But yet there us light coming from the side of the sky that seems to have no source
as it forms the exact shape of the hills.

Irises, 1889

They look like a huge jungle, proud and tall
with so many fearsome and gentle beasts.
Insects, tigers, gazelles and many others live in harmony in this great jungle.
They have flowers and plants that are found nowhere else in the world,
and yet no human has ever been there,
How can this be?
Mitch, grade 7

From the perspective of William Carlos William's notebook

Willie is wearing me to tatters! I wish he would put down the pen for at least a second. My pages are frayed, and my spine, my elegant, leather spine, is split! I'm being pulled apart. Well, at least I have something beautiful on me permanently. This writing on my paper is strange, no rhythm at all, but oddly enchanting.

So much depends

on the red wheelbarrow

glazed with rain water

beside the white chickens.

Music to my three-hole punched ears!

Today, though, Willie died, an old man of 79.

If I had eyes, there would definitely be tears. Now I am

just a worthless notebook, locked in a drawer, but I will always have those magical words.

-Natalie, grade 6

Response to: Garden of Earthly Delights, a painting by Hieronymus Bosch

As I sit
in the dark, sea-green pool of wonder
I try to relax
But it is difficult, considering
that naked nymphs are running
around my head and men are riding pigs.
I sigh a pitiful sigh.
I cannot think with these distractions.
I trudge to my blue, cloud forest home,
with brass horns jutting out every which way
I pull on my favorite cozy robe.
I'm happy to be clothed.
Those naked people have no idea what they're missing.

-by Natalie, grade 6



You can see the original painting here:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GardenED.jpg

Rice Krispie Thunder

BOOM!
CRASH!
Powerful streaks hit the sky
Endless
Cascading
Transpiring
BOOM!
CRASH!
Crooked
Shocking
The invading serpents of light are striking
Just waiting...
Waiting...
BOOM!
A smell of burnt, crispy toast is in the air...
There are SNAPS, CRACKLES, AND POPS!
Rice Krispie Thunder is coming.

-By Natalie, grade 6

Welcome to Kids Write!

At Ignite Creative Learning Studio, kids are inspired every day to write from the heart, explore ideas, and express themselves. Kids Write is a place where they can share their thoughts, poems, stories, podcasts, inventions, and photos with the world.

Please check back soon to hear from kids in their own words . . .