160 More Explorers, Poets, and Artists

All fourth-grade students and all teachers (K-5) at Franklin Regional Heritage Elementary School in Murrysville participated in Poetry and Art workshops with PHLF on November 5 and 10, thanks to an invitation from Reading Specialist Valerie Piccini and funding support from the Parent-Teacher Organization.

After exploring the history of their school through discussions and recollections, each teacher sketched a detail of their school and contributed a sentence of poetry. Click here to see group one’s and group two’s poems about their school.

After exploring Pittsburgh through a series of images, from 1816 to 2006, each student selected a photo detail of a Pittsburgh place, composed a poem about it, and used charcoal to draw it. The fourth-grade poetry and artwork was displayed in the hallway for parent’s night.

“This experience helped everyone feel more connected to our school and to Pittsburgh,” said Valerie. “Our teachers and our fourth-grade students of all abilities were able to imagine being the building, and our students had a great time using the charcoal to draw. Everyone was so impressed with the quality of the poetry and art. Pittsburgh came to life through these workshops.”