I Am From: Through the Eyes of Children

You can read this I Am From Poem here, and your can follow the guidelines below to create your own.

So what if it’s the last week of school — they think they’re home free!! Mini-Mall is over. The Egg Drop Done. But they’re not getting out that easy!! We give them one last writing assignment: Turn George Ella Lyon’s Poem, you know the one, I Am From, into their own good-bye to Elementary School.
Here are some excerpts:

I Am From the Pink Pearl Erasers and Oriole Pencils,
I am from the Chautauquas and Pods
I Am from blacktop only on rainy days, and the Barrington Rock
I am from the Bobcat, the fish tank, the Buckeye Tree, and the Ash Tree
I am from rooms that are too hot, and rooms that are too cold
I am from grad31.gifTuesday’s Donato’s Pizza, and Friday’s Bosco Sticks
I am from Mini-Mall, and from the Principal’s “Make it A Great Day,” and “Please Pull All the Way Up.”
I am from Kids for Critters, and the “Student Staff Basketball Game”, and “Wacky Wednesday.”
I am from the Golden Rule and Warm Fuzzies
I am from the School Newspaper, “The Times,” and the backpack where I keep my Journal.
I am ready for Jones.

You can write your own version of George Ella Lyon’s poem. Follow these instructions:

I am from _______ (specific ordinary item), from _______ (product name) and _______.
I am from the _______ (home description… adjective, adjective, sensory detail).

I am from the _______ (plant, flower, natural item), the _______ (plant, flower, natural detail)

I am from _______ (family tradition) and _______ (family trait), from _______ (name of family member) and _______ (another family name) and _______ (family name).

I am from the _______ (description of family tendency) and _______ (another one).

From _______ (something you were told as a child) and _______ (another).

I am from (representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.

I’m from _______ (place of birth and family ancestry), _______ (two food items representing your family).

From the _______ (specific family story about a specific person and detail), the _______ (another detail, and the _______ (another detail about another family member).

I am from _______ (location of family pictures, mementos, archives and several more lines indicating their worth).

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6 Comments

  1. Gosh, I just love I Am From. That was the first piece I read of yours and it made me an ever-lasting fan.

  2. [...] a ceremony.) Before they left elementary school, they wrote their very own, I Am From Poems, and I share them here. And, you can watch a you tube video of the balloon arc, that took 4 hours to make, with not enough [...]

  3. [...] reading my thoughts below, do yourself, your well-being, and everyone around you a favor and use this form to guide you in writing something of your [...]

  4. [...] you can arrange into a poem of your own.  And like Bleeding Espresso, I used the poem format that SusieJ so kindly offered up to create my own [...]

  5. [...] wrote a poem modeled after George Ella Lyon’s, “Where I am From.” She included a form you can use to collect your own thoughts, and finding myself in a momentarily ambitious state, and [...]

  6. [...] I WON! The George Ella Lyons I Am From Writing contest. For instructions for writing your own George Ella Lyon poem, read here: [...]

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