AUBURN - From now on, Dominick West will always check the toilet for a slithering serpent before he shuts the bathroom door.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Seward Elementary School students watch as author and poet Kalli Dakos performs her works. Dakos is touring Auburn's elementary schools speaking about her children's poems, that revolve around scholastic themes.
Seward Elementary School students watch as author and poet Kalli Dakos performs her works. Dakos is touring Auburn's elementary schools speaking about her children's poems, that revolve around scholastic themes.
“Make sure you check the toilet before you go to the bathroom,” the 7-year-old from Auburn cautioned.
Why, oh why, would West think twice about the bathroom plumbing?
It's all about poetry.
Last week, poet and children's book author Kalli Dakos visited Seward Elementary School, reciting to students poems published in her numerous books. Pulling students and teachers from the audience, Dakos dramatized some of her poems, including “There's a Cobra in the Bathroom.”
Third grader Emma Butler whizzed from the gymnasium bleachers to the basketball court below to portray the cobra. She wrapped an inflatable plastic cobra around her waist and sat in a blue plastic chair that represented the bathroom.
Portraying a student in the poem was Butler's teacher, Susan Fennessy, who turned a ghostly white and shook at the knees when her eyes glanced the cobra.
Dakos portrayed the teacher, Mrs. Kay.
“There's a cobra in the bathroom, Mrs. Kay,” Fennessy said to Dakos after a bellowing yelp escaped her lips.
“What did you say,” Dakos asked
“There's a cobra in the bathroom, Mrs. Kay. And he won't go away,” Fennessy replied, her eyes widened with fright.
“Sandra, nine times five is 45, Rick, check your spelling.” Dakos said. “A cobra in the bathroom, Renee? Why don't you clean him away?”
Replied Fennessy, “I can't touch him, Mrs. Kay, I'm too scared to even blink. I have goosebumps everywhere, and now he's crawling on the sink.”
The scene evoked giggles, thunderous applause and pitter-patter from stomping feet from the second and third graders en masse who listened to Dakos' hour-long presentation last Wednesday.
Second grader Brianna Reynolds liked every minute of the presentation, but especially enjoyed the cobra.
“She did the poems and brought the snake,” she said. “It was funny, and everybody was screaming; I like to scream.”
All this week and last Dakos spoke to elementary school students in each of the five elementary schools in the Auburn Enlarged City School District to support literacy and instill in children a love of poetry.
“A poem can change a child,” she said. “and a child can change the world.”
The Auburn school district annually brings in a poet or author to talk to students as a way to support district goals, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Carolyn Hirst-Loucks said.
“We are looking to support poetry in the classroom,” she said. “Through the English Language Arts assessments, we thought that was one of the areas that needed a little strengthening, and we select authors with wide appeal through all elementary grade levels, kindergarten through fifth grade. She fit the bill.”
Dakos will also speak at Seymour Library and at the Auburn Public Theater.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Juliet made an appearance at Seward Elementary Wednesday.
Dakos recalled a story of a principal from a Syracuse school that promised her students that she would kiss a pig right on the snout, but at the last minute wimped out.
That scene was a source of inspiration for Dakos through which she wrote a love poem about Hamlet the Pig and Juliet the Teacher. Juliet promised Hamlet - a plastic inflatable pig donned in a 16th century outfit - that she would kiss him right on the snout, much to his chagrin.
Just before the deed, Juliet a.k.a. Seward teacher Anne Brazee, whipped out a tube of lipstick for preparation.
“I'm lipping up,” she said, evoking squeals of laughter from many a-student.
She slowly leaned in to give Hamlet a kiss. Her lips touched Hamlet not once, not twice, but three times a-snogging.
Dakos was so impressed that she gave Hamlet the Pig to Brazee to keep.
When she got back to her classroom an hour later, all her students requested that she give Hamlet another kiss.
“She's gotta get more lipstick on,” Reynolds said.
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
Winners in Kalli Dakos poetry contest
The Auburn Enlarged City School District sponsored a student and community poetry contest in honor of poet and children's book author Kalli Dakos' visit to each of the five Auburn elementary schools, Seymour Library and her forthcoming talk at the Auburn Public Theater. Below are the winning poetry entries.
Casey Park Elementary School
Jillian Dayton
Kindergarten
Ms. Mennerich, teacher
School Acrostic
School is where I learn and play with all my friends.
Centers are cool because you can play games and do art.
Happy at school because all my friends share with me.
On school days I learn how to be nice.
On school days I get dressed and I eat breakfast and I go to school to have some fun.
Like science because it's real, real fun and we learn about X-rays.
Casey Park Elementary School
Lukas Short
Third grade
Ms. Blaisdell, teacher
School.txt
School is the best,
Out of all of the rest,
I wish there was no Summer,
Because Summer is a bummer,
And if I had a wish,
Then it would be this,
All year long it is school,
Now I think that would be cool.
Genesee Elementary School
Logan Neese
First grade
Ms. Holmes, teacher
School
Boxes of crayons such pretty colors.
Spread them out on your paper.
So pretty, colors make a flower
Using green, red, blue, and pink.
Oooh, pretty.
Genesee Elementary School
Bryant Samuels
Third grade
Ms. Ridley, teacher
Another School Day
School is awesome,
School is great,
This school is so awesome
I'm going to faint.
Some teachers may wear a silly wig,
While Mr. Gorney will be kissing a pig!
I'm in Mrs. Ridley's third grade class,
And try my best every year so I will pass.
There's a boy in my class so tall and manly,
I asked him his name and he said it was Stanley.
Gym is my favorite, I also love math,
Genesee Elementary has a wonderful staff!
I like the cafeteria,
But sometimes it makes me feel like I'm in Siberia!
My friends are so cool,
We always follow the school rules.
Recess time gives us a break,
We run and play together for goodness sake!
At the end of the day we gather our things,
Then we sit and wait for the bell to ring.
Herman Avenue
Elementary School
Alex Blodgett
Second grade
Ms. Gaston, teacher
School Rules
Stop your snoring.
It's time for school. Reading and writing
So much fun.
Lots of work to be done.
Gym, art, computer lab
Much fun before the day is done.
Teacher's work to do their job
2 + 2 = 4
That's too easy.
Give me more.
Wow! Wow! School Rules!!!!!
Herman Avenue
Elementary School
Mackenzie Haff
Fourth grade
Ms. Drogo, teacher
Stinky Poems
My library teacher said that we have to write a poem for a contest,
But the thing is I don't know how to write a poem.
I would rather just go home and be alone.
I cannot rhyme. I do not like to rhyme,
I would rather do time for a crime then have to rhyme.
I do not like to write. I barely even know how to write.
It's not right that teachers can make us write all day long.
The only thing I want to do is pull my teacher's hair and
Make him sit in the time-out chair.
Then at the end of the day, right before we went home
I noticed I wrote a poem!
Owasco Elementary School
Allison Colella
Second grade
Ms. Murphy, teacher
Mrs. Murphy
Mrs. Murphy's very nice
Don't think twice!
She's twice as nice
As some mice
Owasco Elementary
School
Monica Montgomery
Fifth grade
Ms. Fisher, teacher
The Auditorium
Singing and dancing on the stage
Keep performing as students age
Watching performances from your seat
Tap, tap, tap to the rhythm and beat
Singing along to a delightful song
No one caring if you sing it wrong
Messing around while you wait backstage
Singing in a chorus with lyrics on a page
Heading to an assembly in the morning
The auditorium lets me do my favorite thing -
PERFORMING!
Seward Elementary School
Robert George Hill
Kindergarten
Ms. Keiser, teacher
The Five Senses of School
School sounds like people
Talking in the hallway
It tastes like chicken nuggets and corn
And smells like breakfast in the cafeteria.
School looks like kids running home
At the end of the day.
And feels like the sun on the playground
And a hug from Miss Keiser.
Seward Elementary School
Aileen Mack
Grade 5
Ms. Wakeham, teacher
The Jungle
I look amazed to see this sight,
I sip a bit of my milk jug,
Flying food turns to swarming bugs,
Students to explorers, eating PB&J,
Tables to rafts, we float all day,
Lunch ladies to lions,
A lunch man to a tiger,
The noise gets louder and louder,
Knee-high grass a sort of rare flower blooms,
I can hardly believe it's the lunchroom!
The high heels click,
What do you know, the Principal comes
Suddenly the jungle hides,
Too scared to show its pride
She walks away in defeat
And then I eat in a room that can't be beat!
Auburn High School, First Place
Erin Savino
Grade 12
Ms. Rielly, teacher
Another Me
You look me up and down
As if I'm a dead piece of meat.
Roll your eyes,
And sneer your mouth.
How dare you judge me?
For someone I may not be.
Because of how I dress,
Or different from all the rest.
I am my own person.
My own style and kind.
My own thoughts and mind.
I am the word individual.
For when I look before me,
What do I see?
Another conformed mask.
A clone of a cliques' creation.
That's the difference between you and I.
I can hold my head high.
For I promise,
You will never meet another me.
Auburn High School, Second Place
Meghan Murphy
12th grade
Ms. Rielly, teacher
School Days
We follow the ringing of the bells like busy bees.
Day in and day out, eight to two.
Looking down the halls it is like a beehive.
People buzzing in and out of rooms,
Doors slamming open and closed.
The chatter of the kids and teachers,
Become a constant humming.
The bell rings a second time,
All halls are quiet.
The humming has stopped,
No more busy beehive.
Auburn High School, Third Place
Jordan Pelc
12th grade
Ms. Rielly, teacher
Senioritis
A word know on the contrary,
Though not in the dictionary,
SENIORITIS.
School attended to the slightest.
Where you go to class,
Only to ensure you pass.
You never hear a thing,
You're lost in your daydream.
The teacher's lips are just moving,
All classmates asleep drooling.
It's when you earn an A.P. detention,
Or even In-School Suspension, Because you're always late,
Um, can I just graduate?
Summer can't come soon enough,
Staying in school is way too tough,
Until you walk across that stage,
And get your diploma you can say,
“I am finally cured!”
“Senioritis was absurd!”
Teachers, First Place
Ms. Aversa
Grade 5
Casey Park Elementary School
Teacher
Numerous tiny faces,
Each one leaving their
Own distinct imprint
Upon my spirit.
You taught me simplicity
Of language and actions,
From your eyes lighting up,
When we cut up Hershey
Bars to learn fractions, and
Your deep scowls when I
Cruelly assign homework.
You taught me there
Are no degrees of honesty.
You're either honest or
You're not. Thus brutally
Revealing, the red dress
I thought to be smashing,
In reality was “yucky!”
You taught me that
Macaroni necklaces sometimes
Can mean more than pearls,
And with the right outfit, paperclip
Earrings can be just the right
Touch.
You taught me that
Your charming stick figures
And the drawings of your hands,
Containing just as much elegance
As my Degas.
You taught me that snack
And recess really are
Essential, and everyone
Deserves a gold star on their
Forehead.
Numerous tiny faces,
I will never cease to learn from each one of you.
Yet, you call me Teacher.
Teachers, Second Place
Ms. Parker
Speech
Herman Avenue Elementary School
My Speech Teacher
I've had this tongue since I was young and still I just don't know,
Exactly how to place it or how to make it go.
I practice and I practice all day into the night,
She says “stick with it and then you'll see that you can make it right.”
“I think you just said Lello, can it possibly be so?”
I thought that I said Yellow but now, gosh, I don't know.
“Did you say Wabbit?” she softly asks, as gently as she can,
I know she cares about my speech but I just say, “Oh man!”
I'm tired of trying! I'm giving up! I told her that I quit!
But she won't let me and she says, “You'll get the hang of it.”
I know you're smart and will show the world exactly what you know,
Before we know it you will have some better sounds to show.
Every time you use your sounds exactly like you should,
You will be successful, just like I knew you would.
She knew that I would get it and we worked and worked for years,
Now I speak so clearly that for her I give three cheers.
So thank you to my speech teacher for not giving up on me,
And forcing me to be the very best that I could be.
Teachers, Third Place
Ms. Dietsche
Fifth grade, Genesee Elementary School
My School Alphabet
Algebra, Biology, Cursive
Desks, and Elevators, too
Fridays, Globes and Hallways
Ideas flowing through
Janitors, Kids, Librarians
Mathematics, and the Net
Outstanding, Papers, Quiet-time
Recess, Standards, Tests
Unity and Values
Wise, Xerox, Youth
Zeros are not fun to get
And that's the honest truth!
Why, oh why, would West think twice about the bathroom plumbing?
It's all about poetry.
Last week, poet and children's book author Kalli Dakos visited Seward Elementary School, reciting to students poems published in her numerous books. Pulling students and teachers from the audience, Dakos dramatized some of her poems, including “There's a Cobra in the Bathroom.”
Third grader Emma Butler whizzed from the gymnasium bleachers to the basketball court below to portray the cobra. She wrapped an inflatable plastic cobra around her waist and sat in a blue plastic chair that represented the bathroom.
Portraying a student in the poem was Butler's teacher, Susan Fennessy, who turned a ghostly white and shook at the knees when her eyes glanced the cobra.
Dakos portrayed the teacher, Mrs. Kay.
“There's a cobra in the bathroom, Mrs. Kay,” Fennessy said to Dakos after a bellowing yelp escaped her lips.
“What did you say,” Dakos asked
“There's a cobra in the bathroom, Mrs. Kay. And he won't go away,” Fennessy replied, her eyes widened with fright.
“Sandra, nine times five is 45, Rick, check your spelling.” Dakos said. “A cobra in the bathroom, Renee? Why don't you clean him away?”
Replied Fennessy, “I can't touch him, Mrs. Kay, I'm too scared to even blink. I have goosebumps everywhere, and now he's crawling on the sink.”
The scene evoked giggles, thunderous applause and pitter-patter from stomping feet from the second and third graders en masse who listened to Dakos' hour-long presentation last Wednesday.
Second grader Brianna Reynolds liked every minute of the presentation, but especially enjoyed the cobra.
“She did the poems and brought the snake,” she said. “It was funny, and everybody was screaming; I like to scream.”
All this week and last Dakos spoke to elementary school students in each of the five elementary schools in the Auburn Enlarged City School District to support literacy and instill in children a love of poetry.
“A poem can change a child,” she said. “and a child can change the world.”
The Auburn school district annually brings in a poet or author to talk to students as a way to support district goals, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Carolyn Hirst-Loucks said.
“We are looking to support poetry in the classroom,” she said. “Through the English Language Arts assessments, we thought that was one of the areas that needed a little strengthening, and we select authors with wide appeal through all elementary grade levels, kindergarten through fifth grade. She fit the bill.”
Dakos will also speak at Seymour Library and at the Auburn Public Theater.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Juliet made an appearance at Seward Elementary Wednesday.
Dakos recalled a story of a principal from a Syracuse school that promised her students that she would kiss a pig right on the snout, but at the last minute wimped out.
That scene was a source of inspiration for Dakos through which she wrote a love poem about Hamlet the Pig and Juliet the Teacher. Juliet promised Hamlet - a plastic inflatable pig donned in a 16th century outfit - that she would kiss him right on the snout, much to his chagrin.
Just before the deed, Juliet a.k.a. Seward teacher Anne Brazee, whipped out a tube of lipstick for preparation.
“I'm lipping up,” she said, evoking squeals of laughter from many a-student.
She slowly leaned in to give Hamlet a kiss. Her lips touched Hamlet not once, not twice, but three times a-snogging.
Dakos was so impressed that she gave Hamlet the Pig to Brazee to keep.
When she got back to her classroom an hour later, all her students requested that she give Hamlet another kiss.
“She's gotta get more lipstick on,” Reynolds said.
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
Winners in Kalli Dakos poetry contest
The Auburn Enlarged City School District sponsored a student and community poetry contest in honor of poet and children's book author Kalli Dakos' visit to each of the five Auburn elementary schools, Seymour Library and her forthcoming talk at the Auburn Public Theater. Below are the winning poetry entries.
Casey Park Elementary School
Jillian Dayton
Kindergarten
Ms. Mennerich, teacher
School Acrostic
School is where I learn and play with all my friends.
Centers are cool because you can play games and do art.
Happy at school because all my friends share with me.
On school days I learn how to be nice.
On school days I get dressed and I eat breakfast and I go to school to have some fun.
Like science because it's real, real fun and we learn about X-rays.
Casey Park Elementary School
Lukas Short
Third grade
Ms. Blaisdell, teacher
School.txt
School is the best,
Out of all of the rest,
I wish there was no Summer,
Because Summer is a bummer,
And if I had a wish,
Then it would be this,
All year long it is school,
Now I think that would be cool.
Genesee Elementary School
Logan Neese
First grade
Ms. Holmes, teacher
School
Boxes of crayons such pretty colors.
Spread them out on your paper.
So pretty, colors make a flower
Using green, red, blue, and pink.
Oooh, pretty.
Genesee Elementary School
Bryant Samuels
Third grade
Ms. Ridley, teacher
Another School Day
School is awesome,
School is great,
This school is so awesome
I'm going to faint.
Some teachers may wear a silly wig,
While Mr. Gorney will be kissing a pig!
I'm in Mrs. Ridley's third grade class,
And try my best every year so I will pass.
There's a boy in my class so tall and manly,
I asked him his name and he said it was Stanley.
Gym is my favorite, I also love math,
Genesee Elementary has a wonderful staff!
I like the cafeteria,
But sometimes it makes me feel like I'm in Siberia!
My friends are so cool,
We always follow the school rules.
Recess time gives us a break,
We run and play together for goodness sake!
At the end of the day we gather our things,
Then we sit and wait for the bell to ring.
Herman Avenue
Elementary School
Alex Blodgett
Second grade
Ms. Gaston, teacher
School Rules
Stop your snoring.
It's time for school. Reading and writing
So much fun.
Lots of work to be done.
Gym, art, computer lab
Much fun before the day is done.
Teacher's work to do their job
2 + 2 = 4
That's too easy.
Give me more.
Wow! Wow! School Rules!!!!!
Herman Avenue
Elementary School
Mackenzie Haff
Fourth grade
Ms. Drogo, teacher
Stinky Poems
My library teacher said that we have to write a poem for a contest,
But the thing is I don't know how to write a poem.
I would rather just go home and be alone.
I cannot rhyme. I do not like to rhyme,
I would rather do time for a crime then have to rhyme.
I do not like to write. I barely even know how to write.
It's not right that teachers can make us write all day long.
The only thing I want to do is pull my teacher's hair and
Make him sit in the time-out chair.
Then at the end of the day, right before we went home
I noticed I wrote a poem!
Owasco Elementary School
Allison Colella
Second grade
Ms. Murphy, teacher
Mrs. Murphy
Mrs. Murphy's very nice
Don't think twice!
She's twice as nice
As some mice
Owasco Elementary
School
Monica Montgomery
Fifth grade
Ms. Fisher, teacher
The Auditorium
Singing and dancing on the stage
Keep performing as students age
Watching performances from your seat
Tap, tap, tap to the rhythm and beat
Singing along to a delightful song
No one caring if you sing it wrong
Messing around while you wait backstage
Singing in a chorus with lyrics on a page
Heading to an assembly in the morning
The auditorium lets me do my favorite thing -
PERFORMING!
Seward Elementary School
Robert George Hill
Kindergarten
Ms. Keiser, teacher
The Five Senses of School
School sounds like people
Talking in the hallway
It tastes like chicken nuggets and corn
And smells like breakfast in the cafeteria.
School looks like kids running home
At the end of the day.
And feels like the sun on the playground
And a hug from Miss Keiser.
Seward Elementary School
Aileen Mack
Grade 5
Ms. Wakeham, teacher
The Jungle
I look amazed to see this sight,
I sip a bit of my milk jug,
Flying food turns to swarming bugs,
Students to explorers, eating PB&J,
Tables to rafts, we float all day,
Lunch ladies to lions,
A lunch man to a tiger,
The noise gets louder and louder,
Knee-high grass a sort of rare flower blooms,
I can hardly believe it's the lunchroom!
The high heels click,
What do you know, the Principal comes
Suddenly the jungle hides,
Too scared to show its pride
She walks away in defeat
And then I eat in a room that can't be beat!
Auburn High School, First Place
Erin Savino
Grade 12
Ms. Rielly, teacher
Another Me
You look me up and down
As if I'm a dead piece of meat.
Roll your eyes,
And sneer your mouth.
How dare you judge me?
For someone I may not be.
Because of how I dress,
Or different from all the rest.
I am my own person.
My own style and kind.
My own thoughts and mind.
I am the word individual.
For when I look before me,
What do I see?
Another conformed mask.
A clone of a cliques' creation.
That's the difference between you and I.
I can hold my head high.
For I promise,
You will never meet another me.
Auburn High School, Second Place
Meghan Murphy
12th grade
Ms. Rielly, teacher
School Days
We follow the ringing of the bells like busy bees.
Day in and day out, eight to two.
Looking down the halls it is like a beehive.
People buzzing in and out of rooms,
Doors slamming open and closed.
The chatter of the kids and teachers,
Become a constant humming.
The bell rings a second time,
All halls are quiet.
The humming has stopped,
No more busy beehive.
Auburn High School, Third Place
Jordan Pelc
12th grade
Ms. Rielly, teacher
Senioritis
A word know on the contrary,
Though not in the dictionary,
SENIORITIS.
School attended to the slightest.
Where you go to class,
Only to ensure you pass.
You never hear a thing,
You're lost in your daydream.
The teacher's lips are just moving,
All classmates asleep drooling.
It's when you earn an A.P. detention,
Or even In-School Suspension, Because you're always late,
Um, can I just graduate?
Summer can't come soon enough,
Staying in school is way too tough,
Until you walk across that stage,
And get your diploma you can say,
“I am finally cured!”
“Senioritis was absurd!”
Teachers, First Place
Ms. Aversa
Grade 5
Casey Park Elementary School
Teacher
Numerous tiny faces,
Each one leaving their
Own distinct imprint
Upon my spirit.
You taught me simplicity
Of language and actions,
From your eyes lighting up,
When we cut up Hershey
Bars to learn fractions, and
Your deep scowls when I
Cruelly assign homework.
You taught me there
Are no degrees of honesty.
You're either honest or
You're not. Thus brutally
Revealing, the red dress
I thought to be smashing,
In reality was “yucky!”
You taught me that
Macaroni necklaces sometimes
Can mean more than pearls,
And with the right outfit, paperclip
Earrings can be just the right
Touch.
You taught me that
Your charming stick figures
And the drawings of your hands,
Containing just as much elegance
As my Degas.
You taught me that snack
And recess really are
Essential, and everyone
Deserves a gold star on their
Forehead.
Numerous tiny faces,
I will never cease to learn from each one of you.
Yet, you call me Teacher.
Teachers, Second Place
Ms. Parker
Speech
Herman Avenue Elementary School
My Speech Teacher
I've had this tongue since I was young and still I just don't know,
Exactly how to place it or how to make it go.
I practice and I practice all day into the night,
She says “stick with it and then you'll see that you can make it right.”
“I think you just said Lello, can it possibly be so?”
I thought that I said Yellow but now, gosh, I don't know.
“Did you say Wabbit?” she softly asks, as gently as she can,
I know she cares about my speech but I just say, “Oh man!”
I'm tired of trying! I'm giving up! I told her that I quit!
But she won't let me and she says, “You'll get the hang of it.”
I know you're smart and will show the world exactly what you know,
Before we know it you will have some better sounds to show.
Every time you use your sounds exactly like you should,
You will be successful, just like I knew you would.
She knew that I would get it and we worked and worked for years,
Now I speak so clearly that for her I give three cheers.
So thank you to my speech teacher for not giving up on me,
And forcing me to be the very best that I could be.
Teachers, Third Place
Ms. Dietsche
Fifth grade, Genesee Elementary School
My School Alphabet
Algebra, Biology, Cursive
Desks, and Elevators, too
Fridays, Globes and Hallways
Ideas flowing through
Janitors, Kids, Librarians
Mathematics, and the Net
Outstanding, Papers, Quiet-time
Recess, Standards, Tests
Unity and Values
Wise, Xerox, Youth
Zeros are not fun to get
And that's the honest truth!
The Citizens' Say
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