BERNARDSTON — Students at Bernardston Elementary School are making chapbooks of original poetry and illustrations this week. When they’re done, the books will be shelved and cataloged in the school library.
The fifth- and sixth-grade classes are working on the project with Greenfield resident Alice Thomas, a speech-language pathologist, writer and artist. The program was sponsored by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Thomas gave the students three basic templates for their poems — odes, lyrics and narratives — and worked with them to find subject matter that can be expressed in a poem and in an illustration for the book’s cover.
Students drew on diverse sources of inspiration. In Kelly Palasciano’s sixth-grade class, Allie Clary focused on one of the ponds at her house. Anna Page wrote about the beach, and drew a landscape with the sea. Livi Baker wrote an ode to her pet rock, Tyrone. Ethan Mauthe wrote a narrative poem about his first home run.
The students will donate their books to the school library in a public event either next week or the week after. Scheduling has been difficult due to ongoing standardized testing, Thomas said.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261 ex 261.