The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary Page 8
who was invited.
No one knows
where all the paints, markers, and poster board came from.
No one knows
who figured out the Board of Ed was visiting Emerson today.
No one knows
who thought of doing a poster protest.
No one wants
Mrs. Stiffler to blame you, Ms. Hill,
so it’s better if you don’t know.
March 18
HOW IT STARTED
Sloane Costley
So it’s lunchtime
and I’m eating with Hannah Wiles,
who happens to be my new best friend,
when the principal does her fast walk
into the cafeteria.
Her nose is all purple
(it does that when she’s mad).
She clears her throat (gross),
and I can tell she’s trying
not to yell about the posters
and how we defaced school property
when Very Special Guests
were touring the building.
Blah blah blah.
But then Mrs. Stiffler
says something about
taking away
our Moving Up ceremony.
Hannah and I stare at each other
with our mouths wide open in shock.
Can a principal do that?
March 19
RAJ’S RANT
Rajesh Rao
Ms. Hill picked me for Captain of Patrols.
I wear a badge and help kids cross the street.
It’s like I’m older brother to the world
when I tell students, “Hey! Slow down those feet.”
I’m always quiet when I ride the bus.
I get straight As. My homework’s never late.
But I got mad when Stiffler yelled at us
and told us that we might not graduate.
She left the room. Somebody threw their snack.
At first I ducked when food began to fly.
But then I thought, Why not? and with a crack
I popped my bag of chips into the sky.
I laughed inside when people said, “How cool!
I never thought that Raj would break a rule.”
March 20
LUNCH
Newt Mathews
Our class was bad.
We broke the rules.
Everyone threw food.
It was loud.
After lunch, Mrs. Stiffler came to fifth grade.
I didn’t like it when she yelled.
And then Ms. Hill said
we know better ways
to solve our problems. She said
she was disappointed in our class.
I got upset.
I left my seat without permission.
I went to the cafeteria.
Mr. Dutcher is the janitor.
I helped him clean up.
I swept the mess with his extra broom.
I heard him tell my aide, Mr. Ron White,
“Nothing wrong with this kid.”
I want to save our school
so I can always visit Mr. Dutcher.
March 23
INSUBORDINATE
Rachel Chieko Stein
My father made me brownies
to celebrate
the fact that I marched
into Mrs. Stiffler’s office
(I told him
I wasn’t marching,
but he said permit him
to embellish),
burst through the door
after the fifth-grade
food fight,
and said
(actually,
asserted,
according to
my father)
that the fifth grade
would not have to protest
if she actually
listened to us.
(That’s when Mrs. Stiffler
called Mom’s work
complaining about
a fifth-grade mutiny.)
I got my first
detention ever
for being
“insubordinate.”
(I looked it up.
In means “not.”
Subordinate means
“inferior.”)
I like the way
that sounds.
24 Marzo
HACIENDO EL PAPEL DE LA BELLA
Gaby Vargas
En casa, me miro en el espejo.
Mi hermana golpea la puerta del baño.
Piensa que me estoy peinando
pero estoy ensayando para la pieza de teatro.
Recito mi parte
en la escena donde la Bestia se muere.
Miro en el espejo.
Pienso en Mark con maquillaje
y una peluca muy peluda. Debo decir
“Te amo, Bestia!”
Mark siempre se ríe
cuando la practicamos.
Por mucho tiempo yo hacía
como si sintiera algo especial por Mark.
Pero quizás fue sólo un medio-amorcito.
Quizás yo y Mark sólo somos buenos amigos.
March 24
PLAYING BELLE
Translated by Gaby Vargas and Mark Fernandez
In my house, I see myself in the mirror.
My sister hits the door of the bathroom.
She thinks that I am combing my hair,
but I am practicing for the play.
I recite my part
in the scene where Beast dies.
I look in the mirror.
I think of Mark with makeup
and a very hairy wig. I have to say,
“I love you, Beast!”
Mark always laughs
when we practice this part.
For much time I was thinking
that I feel something special for Mark.
But perhaps it was a half love.
Maybe me and Mark are only good friends.
March 25
BEING THE BEAST
Mark Fernandez
I put on a hairy mask.
You can still see a little skin around my eyes
so Sloane’s mother covers it
with brown makeup.
I have whiskers and furry gloves with claws.
It doesn’t look like me at all.
I am the Beast.
This whole school year
I’ve been acting like someone else.
Pretending to be funny
so no one would feel sorry for me.
My friends Tyler and Gaby
don’t mind when I’m sad.
And Jason draws those flip books
to make me laugh.
Laughing feels strange.
Bad and good.
Before the last song of the show
I have to run backstage,
take off the mask and the hairy gloves.
Sloane’s mom brushes my hair,
wipes the makeup off my face.
I let out a big breath.
That costume is hot!
It feels good to see my curly hair
and a human nose.
I feel like myself
for the first time
since my father died.
Sloane’s mother calls it
my transformation
from Beast to boy.
March 26
BEASTLY ME
Jason Chen
Dear Ms. Hill,
I am sorry I put on Mark’s Beast costume,
jumped out of the coat closet,
and started singing at you
in the middle of quiet reading time yesterday.
I thought you were going to be someone else.
I’m sorry you didn’t think it was funny.
Mrs. Stiffler is already mad
at the whole fifth grade for interfering
with plans to close this school.
; Please don’t send me to her office.
This is not my best poem of the year.
I’ll put a good rhyme at the end.
I hope my joke did not offend.
March 27
STARGRAMS
Mark Fernandez
My sisters spent a whole bunch
of their babysitting money
so I’d have the most Stargrams
of anyone in the cast.
When the show was over
and we were done taking bows,
I went into the hall and saw
the walls covered in paper stars.
Twinkling, yellow. I read them all.
“Hey, Mark. Way to go, bro!”
“You may be the Beast
but you sing like an angel.”
My sisters thought
I was embarrassed. They didn’t know
about me and our Papi
looking at las estrellas.
April 7
SPRING BREAK FIVE SENSES POEM
Norah Hassan
I hear my mother chattering Arabic into her cell phone.
I smell the jet engines when we arrive at the airport in DC.
I see my grandfather! Jaddi looks tired, carrying his luggage,
but I feel him squeeze me tight and shake from laughing.
This is what happiness tastes like.
April 8
MARVELOUS MATZO
Rachel Chieko Stein
Passover is my favorite holiday.
I love matzo for lunch, spread thick
with cream cheese and strawberry jam.
I love how the matzo crunches
around the soft cream cheese
and gooey jelly.
I promised my dad I would eat
at the allergy-free table during Passover
even though people eat bread there,
because the janitors
keep that table really clean.
But when I sit at the allergy-free table,
my friends think I am mad at them.
“Why aren’t you sitting with us?”
“Why do Jewish people eat weird food?”
“You have to eat that for a whole week?”
“Don’t you miss bread?”
I told my dad I wanted a thermos of soup
instead of a delicious matzo, cream cheese,
and jam sandwich for lunch.
He took out a recipe
covered with chocolate streaks.
“Aunt Jennie’s Matzo Candy.”
We buttered matzos, baked them
until they were hot, spread them
with chocolate and butterscotch chips.
Melting, crispy, buttery, sweet. Mmmm.
Dad said, “I think this is the right medicine.
See the bottom of Aunt Jennie’s recipe?
To stop teasing, administer
one dose to classmates.”
I didn’t see anything written on the recipe.
But when I shared Aunt Jennie’s candy at lunch,
no one said matzo was weird.
April 9
YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND
Tyler La Roche
I liked the song
we listened to this morning.
Music always gives my day
a dose of sunshine
(as my mom likes to say).
That song was the helping hand
our class needed
to get us smiling again.
It’s good to know
we’ve got a friend-
ly teacher.
April 10
SIXTH GRADE
Shoshanna Berg
My sister says sixth grade is
no parents at the bus stop, new friends,
drama in the hallways, tears and shouting,
laughing so loud everyone in the lunchroom stares,
elementary school friends acting like they don’t know you.
My sister says sixth grade is
crushes shorter than a phone call,
texting under your desk and having to pay your own bill,
Friday night dances in the gym
feeling awkward dancing with friends,
maybe even boys—so what if they’re shorter than you—
tons of homework, even on weekends.
My sister says sixth grade is
kissing in the empty band room,
seeing the whole thing posted online,
hoping your mom doesn’t find out.
My sister says sixth grade is
hard sometimes
in the middle of the day
when you just need someone
who loves you.
“But I’ll be there,” my sister says.
She promises, no matter where we end up,
she’ll say hi in the hallway,
and if I get sad, I can find her.
Sixth grade is everything changing
except my older sister.
April 13
LITTLE RIVER
Rajesh Rao
Some of us
went on a trip
to Little River Middle.
The halls
of that school
made me feel like a frog
in an overcrowded pond.
Teachers don’t
line kids up
and walk them quietly
from here to there.
Instead
kids jostle, push,
yell, and rush
across the halls
to class. Wow!
I can see my future.
Little River Middle is
no teachers
treating us like babies,
no younger sisters
for me to watch over.
FINALLY
freedom.
April 14
HOLY ANGELS
Hannah Wiles
Holy Angels School—
I love that name.
Sloane and Brianna
think the blue dresses
Holy Angels girls wear
are dorky. Gaby can’t believe
I’m going to a school
where there are no boys.
But I told them
if your mom was in the army,
and she was stationed
in a place whose name
you can barely pronounce,
you would want
to go to Holy Angels.
You would wear
a plain blue dress
and go to religion class,
and you would not miss boys
one bit.
I unwrap one chocolate kiss
and say a prayer for my mother
every morning, every night,
that she is safe,
that she’s all right.
I think the angels
will listen harder
to my prayers
when I am at Holy Angels.
I hope they can hear me.
April 15
FREE SPEECH
Norah Hassan
Ms. Hill,
I don’t think our class
understands
the First Amendment.
Most of them never
lived without
freedom of speech,
but I have.
I don’t think our class
understands
that someone can
get in trouble
for saying what they think,
or lose their job
for speaking
against their boss.
I don’t think our class
understands
why we spent
our social studies period
learning about
First Amendment rights
and how people staged sit-ins
during the civil rights
movement.
But I understand why,
when we packed up today,
/>
you told our class
there is a Board meeting
coming up soon
and it is open
to the public.
April 16
STUDENT COUNCIL
George Furst
Student council means nothing
If the elected students aren’t given the chance
To make their voices heard.
If we are determined to save our school,
No one has the right to ignore us.
April 17
ODE TO MY MOM
Rennie Rawlins
My mom may look little,
but she is the mighty
Angela P. Rawlins, Esquire.
That means she’s a lawyer.
She does mom stuff, too,
makes the best
double chocolate chip cookies
in the universe, reads books
with me and Phoenix every night.
But if my mom thinks
you’ve done someone wrong…
look out.
I told her how Mrs. Stiffler
said she would cancel
the fifth-grade celebration.
My mom’s eyes got as sharp
and dark as pencil tips.
She said, “We will see about that.”
Between the two of us,
I swear we called every single family
with a student at our school.
George and Norah are worried
no one’s going to show up
at the Board of Ed meeting.
They are underestimating
Angela P. Rawlins, Esquire,
and me.
April 20
THE PROBLEM WITH K–8
Sydney Costley
Ms. Hill, I have a secret.
I don’t want to go to Montgomery Middle.
Crossing a hallway between schools
isn’t going to change anything,
no matter how much the teachers clap for us.
We’ll still be with the same kids as always.
The problem with K–8 is,
I can’t take three more years
of them calling me Sydney Kidney.
The problem with K–8 is,
Brianna told everyone
I’m the tomboy twin, and now