We had an unintentional, but fortuitous, confluence of subject matter today between our writing and history lessons. The topic for the day in history was flood stories. I read a section of the Genesis flood story (Noah) and a simple retelling of the Sumerian flood story from Gilgamesh (Utnapishtam) aloud, and we talked about the flood stories from other cultures. Our writing lesson for today just happened to be about Noah and the flood, with the goal of producing a poem full of action verbs, -ly words, and strong adjectives. I thought Captain Science might appreciate the project more if we broke from the assignment somewhat, so instead, we brainstormed about him being involved in a Great Flood of some kind. How would he feel if God, a dream, a magic fish, or something/someone else came to him and warned him that a flood was coming? What would it be like? What would it look like? What would he hope for? With very little prompting from me, other than asking him to add adjectives or use stronger words (“What kind of trees?”), he produced this magnificent poem:
[Captain Science] and the Flood
The rain
Breaks through walls
Forcefully falls
Icy and heavy
Snapping every towering tree
Like a toothpick.
The water
Violently rips off roofs
And sneaks in through
cracks.
My boat
Surrounded by endless
Oceans of dark flood water.
I am anxious for
The flood to end.
Hopeful for other people
That survived to help
Rebuild after the
Rapid waters leave and
The world is full of
Green plants and
Great friends.
Captain Science and the Flood
I LOVE his handwriting/cursive! And that is an exceptionally well written poem!
And here his teachers last year criticized both his handwriting (which, granted, can be VERY sloppy but is quite nice when he tries) and his actual writing content.
What a great poem!
Do you mind if I share it with a friend who inspired my boys with poetry?
Please do share it, Megan! I’m sure Captain Science would be thrilled.