PCH Poetry
When Putnam County Hospital marketing coordinator Jennifer Bedwell sent out a call to local elementary schools for student-produced art, it fit right into teacher Jenny Riggle's plans for the grading period.
Her Deer Meadow second grade class was working on a poetry unit, as well as their publishing skills.
"We were starting a poetry unit, so it worked out well," Riggle said. "Also, this nine weeks they have to edit, proofread and type."
So they put the skills together and decided to send a book to the hospital for patients to read. They recently read the book "I Love You the Purplest" by Barbara M. Joosse, and wrote their own color poems based on the book.
Examples included, "I Love You the Brownest," "I Love You the Bluest" and "I Love You the Silverest." Not only were the poems based around the colors each child chose, they were also printed on paper of the same color.
Bedwell visited Deer Meadow Wednesday to get the book from Riggle's class.
"We have a lot of patients who will be excited to read this," Bedwell said. "I will take it to all the people who are sick, and when they are done they can pass it on to the next person."
Besides picking up the book, Bedwell also took a few minutes to listen to some of the students read their poems.
Riggle commended her kids on their accomplishments.
"You're published authors now," she said.
The call for art began when a hospital board member recalled some artwork a third grade class had donated to the hospital several years ago. So far, two local classes have responded, with Riggle's class making the first donation.