The Sierra Nevada collection was written to culminate a poetry unit with the purpose of assessing students' ability to write descriptively using a variety of poetic devices.  This collection is intended to introduce students to viewing art in a more meaningful way.  Additionally, it is intended to help students recognize that art is both visual and in the written word, such as in poetry, and see that one can inspire the other.  From ongoing practice with these routines students can make more meaning from the art they see in their social studies and nonfiction texts.