Democracy and THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY

Welcome this week to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by the talented Buffy Silverman Here. Be sure to stop by for a visit.

This month, I have been thinking about Democracy and what a real life lesson we are all receiving daily, and discovered this wonderful 2016 middle grade novel in verse, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, by Laura Shovan. It was waiting on my desk, actually. It seemed so relevant at this moment in history, that I wanted to post about it.

It is possible that the teachers on Poetry Friday have already read this, but maybe not. I hope middle graders are reading it and talking about it.

I was so impressed with the author’s craft: 18 memorable character, yikes! And all different, the use of different poetry forms to reflect character, and the engaging story.

A full discussion of the plot as well as an excellent teacher’s guide can be found here.

The main plot briefly goes like this: The Board of Education of Emerson Elementary wants to close the beloved school and the students are determined to stop it. The themes include Democracy and the right to protest.

Students protest with the following poem, which is a petition to the school board, recalling the words of our Founding Fathers in our Constitution:

PETITION
George Furst, Edgar Lee Jones, and Rennie Rawling

We the People of Ms. Hill's Fifth Grade,
in order too give a more perfect Understanding
of the importance of our student voices
here at Emerson Elementary,
seek to establish a Protest by our Classroom,
which hath Studied the U.S Constitution and Civil Rights,
to Provide our United opinion
regarding the fate of our beloved Emerson Elementary,
and Demand that the Board of Education
promote general Knowledge about its plans,
and share the Blessings of Facts
with ourselves and all Emerson
and Montgomery Middle Students.
Thus we do create and Submit this petition
to halt the razing of Our School
indefinitely.

Signed in Equality on this 6th Day of January.

In the study guide, the first question posed is this:

“Have you ever found yourself in a situation that seemed very unfair and you were unsure what to do about it? How did you handle it?”

This is exactly the question I have been asking lately. What can I do to have any impact given what’s going on in America today? But this book gave me hope that children are learning about the fundamentals of Democracy, and how important their voices are. The book is an opportunity to appreciate our rights as Americans, especially, the freedom of speech.

Thank you, Buffy, for hosting. I hope everyone is safe and anticipating with excitement the vaccine that just might restore our ability to be with friends and family.

12 thoughts on “Democracy and THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY”

  1. That book is a gem–I read it a while ago, but remember being amazed at how such a large cast of characters came to life through their poetry. And yes for the hope of young people who believe they can make change.

  2. Oh, I love, love, love this book – and so does my daughter. When it came out she was 13 and devoured it one sitting. Thanks for giving it shout out at a most relevant time in history, Janice. 🙂

  4. Janice — what a surprise to read this post today. Thank you so much for reading The Last Fifth Grade. This spring, I heard from several school communities who were helping their students cope with loss due to the pandemic. Especially graduating fifth and sixth graders who would never return to their elementary schools as students.

  6. Love this post! Thank you for illustrating so beautifully how kidlit can be the backbone of our teaching. We can absolutely teach through story–especially now. This book is one of my favs and I donated my copy to my school library so that our teachers could use it with students. I love how real it is.

  9. This sounds like a wonderful book. I am adding it to my reading list. And it really is timely! Thanks for sharing it. I enjoyed the poem/petition. I’m glad, too, that students are learning about these things in a relatable way.

  10. Thanks for sharing a favorite book of mine Janice, I so enjoyed it–And your spot on in connecting it with our testing Democracy. I also loved the variety of poem forms Laura used and how perfectly she seemed together the many character voices.

Comments are closed.