Illustration of a person carrying a bag with "2022" on it as someone else holds a bag labeled "2021"
Rebeca Luciani
Poetry,

New Year’s Eve

Say goodbye to the old year and meet the new one in this wistful poem about New Year’s Eve.

By Beverly McLoughland | art by Rebeca Luciani
From the December 2021/January 2022 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify examples of personification in this rhyming poem about New Year’s Eve. 

Complexity Factors
  • Purpose & Levels of Meaning
    The poem uses personification to describe the old and new years as two people at a train station crossing paths and heading in different directions. On another level, the poem expresses wistful regard for memories along with anticipation for what’s ahead.
  • Structure
    The poem has six stanzas, each consisting of three lines. The last lines of the first and second stanzas, third and fourth stanzas, and fifth and sixth stanzas rhyme. The rhymes are slant rhymes. The poem is told in the third person.
  • Language
    The poem uses language related to train travel: station, one-way ticket, whistle blows, and climbs aboard. In addition, it employs an extended metaphor about the old and new years as passengers at a train station and includes the figurative phrase “luggage packed with memories.” The last line of the poem uses the word wondering in a way that reflects two different definitions for the word: wanting to know more about something and feeling surprise or amazement.
  • Knowledge Demands
    Some basic familiarity with train travel will be helpful for understanding the poem.
Featured Skill: Personification,
Other Key Skills: text features, vocabulary, setting, visual literacy, key details, interpreting text, inference, compare and contrast, drawing conclusions
Standards
  • Common Core
    RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL.5, RL.7, RF.4, SL.1, SL.2, L.1
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3b, 3d, 4a, 6a, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f, 6g, 7c, 7g, 8b, 8c, 8d, 9b, 10c, 10d
Content-Area Connections
  • Social Studies
    holidays
  • Social and Emotional Learning
    self-awareness (growth mindset)

Presentation View
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Personification

This poem describes years as if they were people. How do the Old Year and the New Year act like people in this poem?

New Year’s Eve

The Old Year

Is at the station

Waiting for the train,


A one-way ticket

In his hand—

He won’t be back again.


Where is he heading?

No one knows.

Some place faraway,


His luggage packed

With memories

Of each and every day.


Happy memories,

Sad ones, too—

The whistle blows, and then,


He climbs aboard

As the brand New Year

Steps, wondering, from the train.

Reprinted by permission of THE POET. All Rights Reserved.

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Activities (4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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Activities (4) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras
From the Storyworks 3 Archives

Pair this poem with another seasonal poem from our February 2021 issue, “The Snowflake.” 

Make Your Own Gift Wrap

Your students will love learning more about personification with this foot-tapping animated video from The Bazillions. Or if you prefer a shorter, non-musical-number approach, try this short video instead.

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading

3. SEL Focus

4. Skill Building

5. Differentiate and Customize

Struggling Readers, Multilingual Learners, Advanced Readers, Creative Writing

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading (5 minutes)

  • Read aloud the title of the poem along with the poet’s and illustrator’s names. 

  • Ask students what they think about when they hear the words New Year’s Eve and write their responses on the board. You might want to create a concept web.

  • Read aloud the bubble labeled Personification, and instruct students to keep this prompt in mind as they read the poem.

Preview Text Features and Vocabulary (15 minutes)  

  • Go over any vocabulary terms that may be challenging for your students. 

  • Invite students to describe the illustration and then predict what the poem is about based on the artwork.

2. Close Reading

  • Read the poem to the class, play the audio version, or use text-to-speech.

  • Next, ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poem.

  • Discuss the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, assign all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck, which contains the questions as well as other activities from this lesson plan and a link to the poem.)

Close-Reading Questions (30 minutes)

  • When and where does the poem take place? (setting) The poem takes place in a train station on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2021.
  • What details in the illustration help you understand when the poem takes place? (text features, visual literacy) The clock shows that it is a few minutes before midnight. The label 2021 is on the Old Year’s suitcase. The label 2022 is on the suitcase carried by the New Year.
  • Who are the two people in the illustration? What are they doing? (text features, visual literacy) The two people in the illustration are the Old Year and the New Year. The Old Year is waiting to get on a train. The New Year is getting off the train.
  • What does the Old Year hold in his hand? Why does the poet say “He won’t be back again”? (key details, interpreting text) The Old Year is holding a one-way ticket in his hand. The poet says “He won’t be back again” because the old year, 2021, is over.
  • What important change happens after “The whistle blows” at the end of stanza 5? (interpreting text) The important change is that the Old Year climbs aboard the train while the New Year steps off the train.
  • What do you think the New Year is wondering about as she steps from the train in the last line of the poem? (interpreting text, drawing conclusions) The New Year is probably wondering what will happen in 2022 and what memories she will have of each day at the end of her year.
  • Think about what you read in the Personification bubble. How do the Old Year and the New Year act like people in this poem? (personification) The Old Year acts like a person because he is waiting for a train, holds a ticket in his hand, and has a suitcase. The New Year acts like a person when she steps off the train holding a suitcase and wondering about what will happen next.
  • What do you think will happen to the New Year on New Year’s Eve 2022? (inference) The New Year will become the Old Year on New Year’s Eve, 2022. She will probably hold a large suitcase full of memories of 2022 as she waits to board a train that will take her to a faraway place.

3. SEL Focus

The Importance of Wonder

A sense of wonder and curiosity fosters a growth mindset. The last line of the poem describes the New Year as “wondering.” Read this line aloud and ask students what the word wonder means. Point out that wonder has more than one definition: to want to know more about something or a feeling of surprise or amazement. The New Year is wondering about what’s ahead as she starts 2022. Ask: What are you wondering about for this new year? Tell your students about a time you experienced a sense of wonder in your life (perhaps while taking a hike in nature or looking at a newborn baby), and invite them to share their own stories of wonderment.

4. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Personification

Distribute or digitally assign our Personification Skill Builder and have students complete it in class or for homework.  

Differentiate and Customize
For Striving Readers

Before reading the poem, preview the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions with students to help them know what they should be focusing on as they read. Read the poem aloud as students follow along. Read the poem again, this time pausing to work with the group on each question. Afterward, have students work in pairs to complete the Personification Skill Builder. 

For Multilingual Learners

The language related to train travel might be unfamiliar to your multilingual learners, so go over these terms before reading the poem: station, train, heading, luggage, one-way ticket, whistle blows, and climbs aboard. In addition, explain that “luggage packed with memories” is a figurative phrase: It’s not meant to be understood literally. Instead, it’s a way for the poet to express that the Old Year is like a person with a full suitcase. But instead of the suitcase being filled with clothing, it’s filled with memories of the events of the year that has just passed. Ask students to name a memory that might be in the Old Year’s suitcase.

For Advanced Readers

Have students compare and contrast this poem with “Make up your mind, March!,” also by Beverly McLoughland, in our March/April 2020 issue. Both poems use personification to describe a particular time of the year.

For Creative Writing

Ask students to write a paragraph from the perspective of either the Old Year or the New Year in the poem. What might the Old Year be thinking about as he waits for the train? What are some of the memories in his luggage? Does he greet the New Year as he walks by her? What do you think the New Year might be wondering as she steps from the train? How is she feeling? What is one of the first memories she might put in her luggage?

Text-to-Speech