Color Poems

 I love this assignment.  Poetry is such a beautiful form of expression!  Enjoy how each of these students perceive color in their lives, and how they express feelings and imagery through poetic tools!

My Color Poem, by Mira (4th grade)

White is the color of paper waiting to be seen, the soft fall of snow with a breeze,

White is the color of a polar bear’s fur, and the bright moon when you start to say “Brr!” White is the color of my front door, and the counter and the walls, but not the floor. 

Orange is the color of pumpkins sitting in the store, and the feeling of fire and heat

Orange is ripe persimmons on trees, the glow of the fireplace as you enter the house

Orange is the lumpy carrot stuck as your snowman’s nose alongside your parents decor.

Yellow is the burst of the hot sun that ripens the mangos until they are done, 

Yellow is the flash of a buzzing bee, the feeling of joy and happiness to me,

Yellow makes me bounce and I feel strong and proud,

Yellow is the lights around a dark green Christmas tree.

Green is a young leaf’s first stage, next to the Evergreen trees,

Green is the burst of the very bright grass, by the river where the seaweed grows,

Green is the excitement when the traffic light turns green, 

Green is the feeling of growth and calm, a quiet and peaceful place to be.

Blue is the sadness that you hope will leave, the waves and the ocean breeze,

Blue is the sky that hovers above, and what you see when a  bluebird chirps,

Blue is the light  from your computer, but the feeling of freedom and kindness.

My Color Poem, by Chelsea (4th grade)

The color violet is like the flower

Or the grapes your mother gives you for a sweet snack.

Violet is the color of my friend's front door

Standing there so vibrantly.

The color yellow is the color of the

Soft warm sand in summer,

Also the bright sun, warm and happy.

Even the color of the banana I ate this morning!

The color blue is like the ocean.

Its water salty and definitely not tasty!

Also the color of the bright blue sky,

Or the small lake that shines in the morning.

When the sun shines, it reflects bright light

On the small blue stream.

The color green is the tree swaying in the warm breeze.

Also, the grass dripping on wet dew,

Or vines you find the in the jungle

Blocking your path dangling from the top.

The color orange is like the fruit dripping sweet juice to the floor,

Also the color of the Cheetohs I ate at lunch

Making my fingers orange!

Even the color of a poppy!

My Color Poem, by Aarushi (4th grade)

The color aqua is like the ocean waves, splashing the shore.

Aqua is the color of the sky.

It's like the clouds and skies were meant to be.

The color lilac is the most exquisite flower.

Like the breeze of spring.

Lilac is the color of dawn.

The color rose is the most relaxing to be seen.

It's like perfume on a dresser.

Rose is a chocolate wrapped in foil,

Wrapped in its blanket

Like on winter days, drinking hot chocolate.

Peach is the color of peaches,

As I bite into peaches, they crunch

like heavy boots stepping in snow

Peach is the color of bubblegum.

A the bubble forms on my lips, it POPS!

When I let go.

Silver is the color of earrings.

The earrings glimmer as they swing back and forth.

Silver is the color of metal

Metal reminds me of the screws on my door.

My Color Poem, by Acey (4th grade)

The color grey is shadows

Or thunder, waiting to strike.

Grey smells like danger

Grey is the color of my blanket.

The color light blue is the sky

Or the color of my pencil.

Light blue is the color of the ocean.

Light blue is my favorite color.

Peach is the color of bubblegum.

Peach is the fruit

Or even the color of my pencil.

Peach is the color of my favorite shirt.

White is the color of the clouds.

White is snow falling

Or vanilla ice cream, "Sluuuurp!"

Violet is the color of Mrs. Huff's pen,

Violet smells like flowers.

Violet is a sweet story

Which takes me in.

My Color Poem, by Laila (5th grade)

The color blue means the ocean swaying, dancing

across the sand.

Blue is like a butterfly, wings outstretched ready

for flight.

Blue is the last piece of sweet blueberry pie.

Lemons are yellow, tart and sour

Yellow is the tips of leaves like the sun rising against the grass.

The color yellow is the pencil in my hand spreading

its lead across the page.

The color brown is my eyes, blinking and absorbing

my world.

Brown is the soil helping plans grow strong

and fierce.

Brown is the carmel oozing out of my chocolate

bar, deicious and warm.

Red is the color of cartoon hearts spread

across a page.

Red are the raspberries that sweeten my mouth

The color red is my knitted sweater, weaving

in and out.

My Color Poem, by Ben (6th grade)

The color brown is reminiscent of a

hyper active child.

Friendly at times, yet still astoundingly obnoxious,

It's the invigorating smell of leaves coming down

Or a refreshing piece of chewy, rich caramel.

The color blue is the calm before the storm

The never-ending oceans of the world gone round,

It's like a ballerina spinning round and round

Or the one and only great blue sky.

The color red, bearing the bad news, is a

huge, dense rock, weighing you down.

Maybe a cloud fogging up your mind,

Red is the CRUNCH coming out of a juicy

plump strawberry

Or maybe the first CRACK, coming from a

dark red apple.

Yellow, a man of ambiguity, whose intentions

never become known.

The intermediate step from green to red,

Like the lively lights on a busy intersection

Or the sun's healing rays, harmful and yet

warm and cozy in the end.

Personification of Pumpkins and Leaves!

 This is one of my favorite assignments of the session!  We discuss the tool Personification, and how we can give non-human things human traits and voices!  Some students personified pumpkins and interviewed them, and others did "Leaf Autobiographies."  Enjoy these samples from across the grades!

Interview with Pie, by Jojo (4th grade)

Jojo M: I’m so glad I could interview you Ms. Pie. Thank you for letting me come and meet you.

Ms. Pie: Thank you. My journey was very fun and interesting, but sometimes I was a bit bored.

Jojo M: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

Ms. Pie: Yes, I can. It all started when I was planted by a farmer called Sammie. She put me in this brown stuff and I was covered with it. Also, water was falling from the sky and I was drinking it. Through the weeks, I found a little green hat growing on my head. Every day it got bigger and more golden. One day, it was open and in full bloom. Then, on that same day, little flying things started hugging me. Later that warm afternoon, my hat shriveled up.

Jojo M: How exciting! What happened next?

Ms. Pie: Then, my arms started extending and before I knew it, my neighbor, Mr. Ray, said that if I kept touching him, he was going to hit me with HIS arms.

Jojo M: Oh my gosh! Were  you okay?

Ms Pie: Luckily, I was. Now I will continue. Through the next days, I had started to turn orange and one day, Sammie cut me off my stem with these weird forky things. Then, she took me in and put me on a carnival ride. It was a spinny ride. It was so fun!!! In that ride, I made friends with two eggs, milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt. Then, I got poured into this weird cold stuff and I got put in a sauna. It felt so nice and before I knew it, I fell asleep.

Jojo M: Wow, that must have felt nice!

Ms. Pie: It was. Then, I woke up. I was out of the sauna and saw Sammie coming at me with a red canister that said, “Cool Whip.” Then Sammie squirted some cold, swirly white makeup on me.

 And here I sit, not knowing what is going to happen next, but I’m sure it will be fun! 

Jojo M: Well, I don’t want to spoil that surprise for you!!!

The End

Pumpkin Interview, by Lydia (5th grade)

Me: Hello, Mr. Pumpkin, it is very nice to meet you. You look amazing. I love the look on your face. 

P: Ok, whatever, I absolutely hate these upright standing creatures. First they killed my mother, then they kidnapped me, and finally they carved and painted my normal face into a monstrosity of insanity. 

Me: That sounds bad. Would you like to talk a little more about it? Maybe your first memory?

P: I don’t remember much because I was so young. But I do recall just being really happy with my siblings and mother. That  changed when the standing creatures came. With a wedge, they split my mom’s skull open! I could hear her screams of despair as the cruel creatures dug through her guts to find me and my siblings; it was an absolute nightmare. Then they kidnapped me! 

Me: That sounds horrible! What happened next? 

P: If you thought that was bad enough, this is just the beginning of my torture. After they kidnapped me, the creatures carried me to a big area filled with brown stuff. One of the beings stuffed me into the brown stuff away from my siblings. How was I supposed to socialize now? Then they put even more brown stuff on top of me. Now I was in a cramped cell! 

Me: Ok, did you become thirsty?

P: Of course! I desperately needed water right after they stuffed me into the cell. I waited, and waited, and waited. I was becoming thirstier and thirstier. I felt weaker and weaker. Just when I thought I was going to die from thirst, some water finally fell from the sky and filled my cell in the refreshing liquid. 

Me: That sounds like such a relief. Being unable to drink any water until the brink of death, that just seems scary. 

P: It most definitely was. Anyways, after my thirst was quenched, I heard the sound of the creatures again. I think they talked about watering me? They were so evil for not feeding me until I almost died. 

Me: Those creatures seem so terrible. I wonder what they were thinking the entire time. 

P: I know, right? I just don’t understand how they can mess up being nice to someone! 

Me: Can you tell us what happened in the cramped cell? Did you grow? 

P: I definitely grew. After around a week of just not doing anything, I finally started to grow legs. Then they became longer and longer, and more grew. It was pretty exciting. “Finally! Something happened!” I remember thinking. 

Me: Okay, did anything happen next? 

P: Not much happened for about twenty days, but on the twenty-first day, something did happen: I started to grow a big nose. After being in a dark and stuffy place for twenty-one days, you can imagine how refreshing it is to finally be able to breathe easily. 

Me: That does seem pretty refreshing. Did you grow more, like the legs? 

P: Actually, no! After a few days with the nose, they got replaced with even bigger noses that will actually grow more! Then the noses started to become longer and thicker. Now, they were like the combination of nose and arms. Not only did I get arms, now I could actually socialize with my siblings! It was a pretty happy moment. 

Me: Now that I imagine it, I can see how happy you would be. 

P: Anyways, after that, a golden dress somehow grew out of me. It was weird! But luckily, it only lasted for half a day and shriveled up. But in that half a day, more of these standing creatures put a bunch of sticky powder onto the dress. I don’t know what their intentions were, but it was sus. 

Me: When did you start to grow into a  pumpkin? 

P: I actually grew with the dress. I started as a small green ball, but after the dress shriveled away, I got bigger and bigger until I became an orange color. 

Me: What happened next?

P: After I became big and orange, the standing creatures came back and cut me from my other body parts and only left me with the orange ball. And after that, the real nightmare was beginning. 

Me: What was the nightmare? 

P: When they cut me off from my other parts, the creatures took me indoors where I sat on a platform and waited for a few minutes. Then they came back with sharp razors and ridged spoons. One of them used a knife to cut open my skull and carved a big hole in my head. Then, another creature used the ridged spoon to scoop out all my insides. I felt every single stab and cut. After that, the creatures pulled out all kinds of knives and razors and started to carve away at my face. The pain was unbearable!

When the carving was done, I saw the hideous face they engraved on me. First, there were the stupid triangle eyes. It looked like the creatures tried to make a replica of their eyes but utterly failed. Then there was the nose. It was just another one of the triangle eyes. And lastly, there was the mouth, which was so lazily and poorly carved that the creatures didn’t even bother to give me a proper mouth with a full set of teeth! I only had two! But that wasn’t all. After the creatures finished cutting my face, they brought out colorful liquids. I think they were called paint? Anyways, they started to slather the paint all over my already destroyed face until you couldn’t even recognize a pumpkin underneath all of the liquid. And somehow, the creatures said that it looked amazing! When they were finally done with their shenanigans, one of them set me on the table, and where I currently am. 

Me: Well, it has certainly been a pleasure to be with you, Mr. Pumpkin. Thank you for being here today. 

P: Thank you for distracting me from my misery.

An Interview With Pumpkin Soup

By Adeline (6th grade)

Joe: Hello Soupy, how do you do? Would you like to be interviewed?

Bartolomeu Algernon: It’s Mr. Algernon, sir. It would be most auspicious of you if you could call me that. And yes, sir, I consent to an interview. 

Joe: Okay, well let’s get started with the interview! So, Soupy—er, Mr. Algernon, what is the first thing you remember in your life. 

Mr. Algernon: Alas, I am senescent. Perhaps I may not be able to answer your questions. 

Joe: Oh, please try, Mr. Algernon!

Mr. Algernon: Alright, alright, be patient, child. Hmm, if I recall correctly, I was in a dark enclosed space. My companions and I stayed there for quite a while. We got quite exasperated, sitting there, waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and wai-

Joe: Yes, I’m sure it was very irritating indeed. What happened next? 

Mr. Algernon: Oh yes, I remember this part very clearly. It was quite painful actually. Excruciatingly painful. Oh, I was in so much agony!

Joe: Oh dear, what happened?

Mr. Algernon: Sunlight flooded into the space I was in, and I fell! I dropped into a dark colored mulch! And so much fell on top of me. Why, it crushed me. Mentally and physically. Oh dear, I thought I was lost forever!

Joe: Holy smokes! How did you ever get out?

Mr. Algernon: Hush! I’m not done yet! No interruptions. When I was in the mulch, I felt extremely dehydrated. Luckily, water soaked through the layer of soil on top of me and I immediately began to drink. This happened multiple times. 

Joe: Interesting. So when did you come out of the soil?

Mr. Algernon: Wait! No interruptions, I said so already. After a week, roots started sprouting out of my body, digging deep into the ground. They had voices too. Once, no water came through the soil and my roots screeched at me for liquid. If only they knew I couldn’t produce any. I thrusted my head above the soil and finally, I saw sunlight! Why, I could write you a whole story about the feelings I had right then…oh if only I had hands. At least I had leaves!

Joe: Ooh, tell me about that.

Mr. Algernon: Children these days! Stop demanding, and say please. Why, back in my day…

Joe: Oh alright, please tell me about the leaves, Mr. Algernon.

Mr. Algernon: I grew seed leaves, bland light green leaves. It took half a fortnight for them to be replaced by charming emerald green leaves. They were my vine leaves. I had the best looking ones in the patch. 

Joe: What happened next?

Mr. Algernon: How many times must I tell you to not interrupt? I grew more vines and small tendrils sprouting from the vines. They tried to fasten them to everything, jerking my vines into uncomfortable positions. How I despised them! Finally, amber colored flowers started growing. They were so beautiful, like the sun! Finally, I found my one chance of becoming a pumpkin, one of my flowers had a little green ball under it! Some bees were buzzing around, and one came over. It pollinated one of my flowers, and why, I was quite a ticklish young soul back then. It felt quite odd to be pollinated actually…hmmm…I believe there is a word to describe this feeling, actually…

Joe: Yes, um, of course, Mr. Algernon, I think there is a word to describe that, but um, sir, may we continue?

Mr. Algernon: Quiet, I’m thinking…oh alright, I’ll tell you more. After about a fortnight, my flower shriveled up and fell off. Why, I thought I’d never be a pumpkin after my brilliant flowers fell off. But I was an ignorant fool. The tiny green balls grew and grew until it seemed like they would burst. Finally, they turned a dark greenish color. I won’t bore you with the details, but a strange man with a straw hat ambled over, sliced my vines, and took me, a young pumpkin, to his house. 

Joe: Hey, that man’s my grandfather!

Mr. Algernon: Grandfather or not, he made me into soup. And now you’re staring into me like a maniac. 

Joe: Well, uh, thanks for the interview, I guess. 

Another class wrote Leaf Biographies. They examined their lives from Spring all the way to Fall! Enjoy!

My Life as a Leaf, by Vedant (3rd grade)

Spring

        I was born as a bud in spring. My tree was in Foothills Park. Life in my tree was okay. There were kids, teens, and grown-ups. Lots of the kids were riding on their parent's back.

        Everybody left, and I was the only bud awake. I was watching the dark blue, coated sky. I felt really relaxed watching it.

Summer

        I was a teen now. Life was okay, just like my life as a bud. I was green and tired. It was more lively now that it was summer. Kids were playing Airplanes on their parents' backs, kids jumping from branch to branch, grown-ups having talks with other grown-ups, and a lot more!

         I, however, was in my house. It was Sunday, and it was probably the most wild day of my life. The park was sooo active today. Well, it was normally like this on a Sunday.

        Suddenly, a water balloon came out of nowhere! We were all minding our own business. In fact, at first we didn't even notice!

        I was on my branch, and I saw the water balloon. So I shouted, "There is a giant water balloon coming towards us!"

        All the other leaves gasped. Then, one of them shouted, "Run!" But of course, we couldn't. We're leaves!! It was too late. The water balloon had hit me, and a lot of others.

Autumn

        It's autun now. I'm all wrinkly and crinkled. Life is much slower compared to summer. I don't remember much about the water balloon incident. All I know is it was painful, and I'm wrinkled because of it.

        One day, I was just chilling on my branch. I like to take naps because I'm old, and that's what old people do: nap. Anyway, that's what I was doing, but since I'm a leaf, I don't really sleep. I was resting on my branch.

        After I was done resting on my branch, something happened. We all started falling because of the wind! I was terrifed. This was my first (and last) time falling. But it was exciting, too. All of my friends were falling too. But it was also cold. My friends and I were freezing!

        After we stopped falling, there was a gust of wind. It sent us flying everywhere. I didn't even know where my friends ended up.

        It was morning, and I had been blown into a yard. There was a gigantic pile of leaves right in front of me. Just then, a man came out. He had a rake with him. He was coming towards me! Closer, closer, closer... wait a minute... I think he's gonna step on. me!

        He's about to step on me. Oh no! This story is about to end. Bye bye! Wait! MrphMrphMrph....

My Life as a Leaf, by Adelynn (4th grade)

        Spring

        Hello, my name is Magnolia, and this is my life story starting from Spring all the way to Fall.

        I was born as a bud, lime green, in a cold place in Canada. I could see a cloudy sky, and the farmland next to my oak tree. I was glad to be alive; I felt fresh, happy, and like I had a long, interesting life ahead of me.

        The next day, I met my grandparents. For some reason, they looked pretty crinkled, but I didn't care because I was so exctied. In one of the stories they told me, you can tell when it's the end of your life when you start getting crinkled and all dry. But lucky me, I didn't have any dry, crinkled skin yet! But I was worried for my grandparents. (PS, They bake great cookies!)

Summer

        It's Summer now. It's getting a little boring to be a leaf. Now I look green, big, and juicy. It's getting very hot, and there's green everywhere! All I get to see now are hot, sweaty farmers struggling to do their jobs. Things have changed now. No one talks to me anymore, and it's getting so, so boring. This one time the farmer got so annoyed, he threw his rake into our tree! Sadly, it knocked my grandparents right out of the tree, and now they live on the cement... argh!

Autumn

        It's fall now, and I am orange, red, and getting into fashion trends. Everyone is wearing these colors, and I love it! Sadly, my parents have fallen. They're still alive though, but my grandparents-- waaahh! They passed away by wind blllloooowwinggg them into the street, and a car ran over them. I was so sad!

        Whoosh! Uh oh, ahhh! I'm falling! I am so scared, angry, and mad because I know I am going to lose my grip and fly off the tree. But suddenly, I realized that it was pretty fun!

        The next day, I realized that I was getting crumpled. Then I suddenly remembered what my grandparents told me. "When you start getting crumpled, you're going to die." I start getting really nervous, and begin to cry! But at that very second, I realize that a boy is running right towards me, and for that second my mind floods with pur horror and....

CRUNCH!