Bennett's Virtual Field Trip to The Poetry Barn

On April 30 at high noon, Bennett Middle School (BMS) teachers Kristina Countryman, Melanie Knutson and Julie McCarthy arrived at The Poetry Barn, laptops in hand, courage in their hearts. The next few hours flew by in a whirlwind of words and images as they presented back-to-back virtual tours of The Poetry Barn to Bennet’s 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students, via Google Meet.

Poetry Barn Director Lissa Kiernan kicked each tour off with some background about the barn’s history, and shared a few of her favorite untraditionally-bound books From airplanes to a deck of cards, from haiga to art journaling, the children discovered that poetry doesn’t always live inside books. After getting inspired, they dove into the activity of illustrating individual poems at their respective homes.

To express their thanks for the experience, BMS students donated the results of their annual book boogie to The Poetry Barn: a wonderfully diverse selection of middle-school poetry books.

On Monday morning, Ms. McCarthy reported that everyone was still buzzing about the field trip, and is eager to come back next year with the children in tow. Special thanks to Poetry Barn neighbor and Bennett Art Educator Roberta Ziemba for organizing such a fun and rewarding event.

Until next year!