Date: Fri 11-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-counting-poems

Full Text:

How Many Ways Can

You Count To 10?

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Fourth grade students in Jaret Liotta's math classes at Hawley School recently

sharpened their pencils as well as their thinking skills as they wrote poems

about counting from one to 10.

Several of the students' most original poems were submitted for publication in

The Newtown Bee in the hopes that readers would realize that these days,

elementary school math is more than just a counting exercise.

Who knows how many poets and philosophers started off the same way as these

Hawley students - by counting from one to 10, and then sitting back and

thinking about what they had just done?

Lonely Times

Sometimes when I'm just One,

All alone, only one,

I think of times of Two

Like playing with a friend,

Or going over homework with a parent.

And sometimes

In the lonely times,

I think of times of Three

Like eating dinner with my family.

I also think of times of Four,

Like when a guest comes for dinner,

Or playing with my best friend

And her two sisters.

In the lonely times

I think of times of Five, Six and Seven,

Like playing with cousins.

I sometimes think of Eight, Nine and Ten times,

The times when many families related to mine

Get together.

By Megan O'Connor

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10

I like One because it's easy to make,

it reminds me of a birthday cake.

I like Two because of a sail,

it makes me think of a pink pig's tail.

I like Three because it looks like a bird in the sky,

it looks like part of a nose passing by.

I like Four because it looks like a chair,

it looks like the first letter in the word `hair.'

I like Five because it looks like a question mark,

and a dog going bark, bark.

I like Six because it looks like a note

and a telescope on a boat.

I like Seven because

it seems so big you can float to heaven,

and somehow it's related to 11.

I like Eight because it looks like glasses,

so you can see better in your classes.

I like Nine because it's my age,

and this is almost the end of the page.

I like Ten because right after it, you say it again!

By David Modzelewski

One is sad,

Two is happy,

Three is frustrated,

Four helps out,

Five collects bee hives,

Six taught Five how to find his hive.

Seven plays baseball,

Eight is Seven's coach,

Nine is having a ball,

Zero is nothing at all,

Ten eats hen.

By David Marcucilli

One is a straight line, it is so stiff

If you turn Two to the right,

it looks like a slide that goes up.

If you turn Three to the left, it looks like frog eyes.

Upside-down Four looks like a step stool.

Five looks like a weird creation.

Upside-down Six looks like a Nine.

Seven looks like a cliff with an elevator.

Eight looks like a snowman,

Nine is mad at 10.

Ten is a One and a Zero next to each other.

By Ashleigh Pasko

Cats And Numbers

One everlasting ball of string,

One cat and one mouse playing = two furballs,

Three bags of catnip,

Four tinkling cat toys,

Five claws on each foot for clawing furniture.

Six looks like a cat (almost)

Seven stripes on a tabby cat,

Eight whiskers,

Nine lives.

By Lenora Thornton

Zero is an O and a circle,

One is a line to measure,

Two is a Q in cursive,

Three is frog eyes,

Four is a small h without a hump,

Five is a cup,

Six complains and grumbles about his sick head,

Seven is an L, slanted,

Eight is two balloons tied together,

Nine is a Six feeling strong,

Ten is a line and a circle, too,

Eleven is a beginning of a capital H,

Twelve is the end of the poem.

By Kristen DeFilippe

One just stands alone all by itself.

Two reminds me of a snake hissing back at One.

Three is two half circles put together,

Four has no curves, very straight,

Five looks like an upside-down hook.

Six, loose - it's a circle with a tail.

Seven, it's a pick digging for diamonds,

Eight, two golden rings put together to form the shape of spectacles,

Nine, jealous of Ten,

Ten, brags to everyone about having two digits.

By Sable Stevens

We use numbers every day

in cooking building and even play.

You don't realize but it is true,

You use numbers in almost everything you do.

Numbers are cool, so don't be a fool,

when it comes to numbers, numbers rule.

So be aware, be on the lookout,

you'll see numbers here and about.

By Anthony Santella