Field trip to Prestige Assisted Living combines poetry and personality

HPA students in Ms. Norman’s and Mrs. Gates’ classes visited Prestige Assisted Living as a community service learning project. The fourth and fifth grade students have been studying poetry in class.  To provide field experience for the students, the teachers chose the elderly community as our focus for community service and enhancing our learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. The purpose was to have the students give back to the community by visiting the elderly and reading the residents poems the students had written in class. The teachers built knowledge of lines, stanzas, rhyme scheme, rhythm, imagery and types of poems such as acrostic, haiku, limericks, etc. for weeks prior to the visit.
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Valentine's Day was chosen as an appropriate day to complete the project because of the general purpose of the holiday. The residents and staff were very inviting and happy to have the students attend. Students took turns reading their poems aloud and then meeting the residents on a one on one basis. The students left feeling that they had done a good deed, and enjoyed using their time to meet others in the community and making them feel happy on Valentine's Day.