A Barrington fifth-grader has found a new way to express her thoughts about being stuck at home.
Hampden Meadows School student Isabel Sander has been writing poems about life during the …
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A Barrington fifth-grader has found a new way to express her thoughts about being stuck at home.
Hampden Meadows School student Isabel Sander has been writing poems about life during the coronavirus pandemic.
The poems chronicle her personal situation, which has been shared by countless people all over the world.
"School" shares her feelings about the final few days before officials closed schools across Rhode Island and sent students home to an uncertain future.
Lysol spray
In the air
Clorox wipes
Need be shared
We pack our bags
With work to do
Because this hasn't happened
Since the Spanish Flu
We take home our computers
So if they cancel school
We can still do school work
Since education is our fuel
I stop a moment in my seat
Wondering if it’s all true
Could it be the last time
I see all of you?
As we start dismissal
I shake the notion away
It’s only when I get home that I realize
Today could have been our last day
They say Friday 13th
Is a scary day
And school is canceled
Leaving us in dismay
Eleven-year-old Isabel said she is doing "pretty well" with distance learning. She also said she really enjoys writing poems to fill some of her free time at home.
"I am writing these for people to see what living in this time is like for me and other kids around the world," she said.
Isabel said she had been looking forward to a fun finish to the school year, her final year at Hampden Meadows before starting middle school in the fall. Officials at Hampden Meadows School normally celebrate the end of the year with a large awards ceremony outside, attended by teachers, students and students' families. That will not be happening this year.
Isabel shared some of those thoughts in her poem "The Last Day Of The Last Year."
Now no one knows for sure
And some deny to say
But Many people think
We have had our last day
The last day at HMS
Our last day in elementary school
Our last day being 5th graders
The thought just feels so cruel
I am also sad
Because this year we had a plan
To make the most of our last year
And enjoy it while we can
But now it may just be false hope
Because nobody is quite sure
If the last day of the last year
Could have passed in a blur…
Isabel said she has also had some memorable experiences recently.
"My mom organized a drive-by parade for the residents and staff at Orchard View Nursing Home," Isabel said. "A few other families from Barrington came and joined us. We made signs, banged pots and pans, and even delivered food for the hardworking staff. We had to stay in our cars because of social distancing, but it was a fun event for all the people that attended."
Isabel's poem "Not today" references some of the things the local girl has missed during the pandemic.
How I love the feel
When I get a perfect pass
And shoot the ball
Off the glass
But not today
And how I love the feel
Of the soccer ball
Beneath my feet
Round and small
But not today
Because Coronavirus
Just keeps getting in the way
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