Back in March, Irene Latham and Charles Waters visited our school virtually to share their passion for poetry and to create “wordzines” with our students. Before their visit, teachers shared Dictionary for a Better World, Irene and Charles’s amazing collection of “poems, quotes, and anecdotes from A to Z.” We were all inspired by the wisdom and love that fills this book. Our fourth graders were so excited about their wordzines and the poems in Dictionary for a Better World that they decided to create their own book of “poems, quotes, and anecdotes.” And so What the World Needs Now was born. My friend and colleague Bernadette Linero, teacher extraordinaire, found a way to publish the book and all students have a copy to keep and treasure always. Here’s a peek into the creative work of our fourth graders:
Thank you to Irene and Charles for helping our students to think deeply about empathy, kindness, compassion and more. Thank you for inspiring them to create their own art and poetry that will, in the words of Nelson Mandela, “create a better world for all who live in it.”
Please be sure to visit Buffy Silverman for the Poetry Friday Roundup!
Reading to the Core 
How wonderful! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Catherine, what a joy for your students to have that treasure of their poems and anecdotes of empathy. Beautiful!
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“Protect tastes like a jawbreaker”! Exactly! I have loved making books with my students & now you’re sharing this one, Catherine. How fabulous for each & every one to treasure! I love Irene’s & Charles’ book, wishing a copy of it for all classrooms! Happy weekend!
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Catherine, this is wonderful! My students also had fun creating dictionary pages for a better world. It’s really empowering for kids to be in charge of their own dictionary and it’s fun to see what words they find important. I love that you got to see Irene and Charles together. You lucky duck!
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I love that your colleague not only used Irene and Charles’ book to inspire the fourth graders, but she saw the project through to an amazing final product. This is the kind of thing kids never forget.
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So cool to see what your fourth graders were inspired to create–and that they each have a copy to treasure.
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Fabulous!! So many hands and hearts working together for the good š
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What a wonderful project!! Thanks for sharing. Charles and Irene are the best :).
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Oh what a wonderful project for those students! What an affirmation of their work, to see it bound in a book.
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