Remember

I read the girls "Remember" by Joy Harjo, and a response written by a fourth-grade boy. After talking about favorite lines and the use of repetition in the poem, I asked them to write their own, repeating the word "remember" at the beginning of each line. What did they want their readers to remember about the world? What joy or pain did they want to share with others?

Remember when the stars were
playing with the moon and having fun.
Remember why the sky and the bird
were fighting and then became friends again.
Remember when the cars were trying to go
to the sky and fly in the sky and trying to put
their shoes up in the sky.
-Adout

Remember when dinosaurs were
alive. Remember when my brother
ruined my cake. Remember
when the stars helped you.
Remember when I was laughing
so hard that I even died.
-Safia

To Anna
Remember when you were playing outside?
Remember when you were happy in the sun?
Remember when boys weren't jerks and didn't lie?
Remember when we were laughing and you weren't sad?
-Melisa