poetry slam 2011

all year, since they came back from christmas, the first grade at st. elizabeth's school has been learning about poetry: cross stick, limericks, etc...  about a month ago, lionel came home from school and said, "i'm lionel and i'm lazy!"  i got all emotional about it, "no!  you're NOT lazy!  you work very hard and make me very proud... (and so on)"  he smiled and said, "i'm lionel and i'm little and intelligent.... and lazy!  i couldn't think of another 'l' word, so i just went with lazy."

last night, the first grade hosted a poetry reading.  at grace before dinner prior to going to school for poetry, we discussed things we were happy about and thankful for.  lionel said he was thankful for his hard work, but nervous and sad about which poem he picked to read.  he picked his cross stick poem, but wished he had picked his shape poem about the moon.  he said he was feeling bad about saying he was lazy.  i realized he might not know, exactly, what lazy means.  i explained to him the meaning of lazy, and told him that lazy is something he is not, but lovely, learning, limber, loving, lovable, or lucky are all things that begin with 'l' that describe him.  i encouraged him to simply change the word he read while reading it, but he decided to change his whole poem.  he decided to re-write his shape poem about the moon, in the shape of a moon and give it to ms. dulek to replace the poem he had originally picked.  upon arrival, he proudly marched up to her and informed her of his wishes, to which she replied, "but i have already gotten them in order.  you did a very nice shape poem, i like the moon, but can't you just read your lionel poem?"  he looked at her, then at me.  i said, "yes, lionel!  you CAN read your lionel poem!  it's great!"  when it came time to read it, he ended it with, "i'm lionel and i'm LUCKY!"  ...SO proud!!