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MENTONE - Mentone fourth-graders in Jodi Montel's class time-warped Tuesday.
The students, dressed in tie-dyed shirts, drinking latte, coffee or juice, took turns reading poetry aloud at the Bulldog Cafe. Poems ranged in topics from "My Life As a Piece of Tin Foil" to "The Life of My Underwear."
The poetry reading was the culmination of a poetry unit. Students were introduced to different kinds of poetry, such as haikus and limericks, and then asked to write one of their own in each category. The class then printed out their poems and each student made a book of their poetry. The books were dyed, too.
Coffee mugs were decorated by the students to use at the coffeehouse to drink their selected beverages.
"They really surprised me," said Montel. "They did an awesome job."
She said that even the more reserved students showed real creativity in their poetry. "They enjoyed doing it," she said. Many of the students were a little nervous about speaking in public, but, Montel said, they did a good job.
After each student read his or her two selected poems, they received a round of applause and/or finger snaps, much like the beatniks of the early 1960s.
