“Soft snow rides the wind/ Intricate flakes waft slowly/ A white, pristine quilt.”
That haiku was written by Lauren Cage, a U of M student. But Cage isn’t a sophomore. She is not even a freshmen. Cage is a sixth-grader from the U of M Campus School. By the end of the school year, Cage — along with her 21 classmates — will be a published writer.
An all-girl sixth grade class, taught by Judith Thomson at the U of M Campus School, has received the Memphis Art Counsel Grant in order to publish a book of poems.
The book, “Facets,” has taken Thomson’s students nearly a year to complete. It will contain over 100 poems and illustrations that have been written and drawn by the sixth grade girls. “Facets” will be on bookshelves by the end of May.
The campus school students were responsible for writing, editing, typing and illustrating the book of poetry. The poems discuss several different issues ranging from nail polish to Osama bin Laden. Each poem, whether a haiku, free verse or limerick, was written using a variety of descriptive words and languages.
According to Thomson, the title of the book symbolizes the different personalities of her students.
“The idea of the title represents their many facets,” Thomson said. “The girls are very sophisticated for their age. But one minute they’ll ask a lot of questions, and then they’ll turn around and worry about nail polish.”
During the school year, Thomson exposes her students to a variety of vocabulary words, such as ominous, pariah and labyrinth. Thomson believes that her students are learning to appreciate the importance of language.
“One thing that we have worked on is vocabulary. Because we have built on the vocabulary, it has helped us in our writing,” Thomson said. “I’ve sort of watched them fall in love with language. All of the words that they have used have come to be a part of their word bank.”
According to Thomson, the girls have put over a year of really hard work and time, in order to create “Facets.” Thomson also said the girls were mature and able to handle criticism and feedback.
“I think that they have learned a lot about themselves and how to take risks in writing. They are not lazy,” Thomson said. “When they have come to point of frustration, they have been willing to see it through.”
Thomson’s students are very eager to see the finished product of “Facets.”
“At some point, we were really stressed out. It was hard to find the right words and sometimes we couldn’t think of anything,” said Anna Roach, 12, a U of M Campus School student. “It took a really long time. It was really hard work, but I’m proud of what we’ve done.”
Amy Schweig, 12, a U of M Campus School student, agrees with her classmate.
“We had to write a lot of poems. We each wrote at least eight, and some of us wrote about 20 poems. We had to keep searching for the right words, so every word would be perfect,” Schweig said. “It was really hard and it took a lot of time.”
Thomson believes that her students will benefit from this opportunity.
“This wasn’t something they did for an assignment. This was something over and beyond that. Doing this book has really made them think and contemplate things that they wouldn’t otherwise contemplate,” Thomson said. “I hope that they take the love of language with them for the rest of their lives. I am so proud of what these girls have accomplished.”
