Thursday, January 8, 2009

Tip #3 Write Poems about the story

Help your child or students come up with a poem related to one of the characters in the story. If the main character is an animal, for instance, have them write a poem using the letters of the name of the animal. Write a poem about how a character behaves. Have fun and see what you can come up with. Here are some examples.

O is for oven
K is for kitchen
A is for apple
P is for pie
I is for isn’t it yummy?
In the oven in the kitchen we baked an apple pie. Isn’t it yummy?


* * * * * * * * * *
Billy is sad.
Billy is mad.
Billy is bad.
Why is Billy sad, mad and bad?
Billy’s sad because he was mad and they he was bad.
* * * * * * * * * *
Okay, so I’m not a poet, but I think you get the idea. The important thing is to have fun.

14 comments:

Sharon Reece said...

I guess most kids aren't poets either but there is something about rhyming that triggers a different response than prose. Great idea.

Anonymous said...

How charming! Yes, kids love rhymes and alliteration. Dr. Seusse made his living on it. And I don't think we ever out grow it.

Joy said...

Thank you Sharon and Susan for stopping by. I agree that rhyme in poetry for children works better. They remember it longer, like Dr. Seusse. who can forget "Green Eggs and Ham?" The important thing is to just have fun.

Anonymous said...

That's an awfully cute little illustration you've got there, too!

lucia said...

Rhyming seems to us to find a word that otherwise would be ridiculous, and suddenly our imagination is opening another door.
Great prompts, for anyone. I'll share your site with my elementary school librarian friend.
Lucia
http://bluestemwriters.wordpress.com/

Morgan Mandel said...

I'm not into poetry that much, by short rhymes for kids sounds cute. Your picture is also darling.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com

Anonymous said...

An excellent idea. Doesn't matter if it's "good" poetry, just the effort and thought process of rhyming and reasoning is worthy teaching.

Joy said...

Thank you all again for stopping by.
Christina and Morgan, thanks for the comment on my picture. That's Mori, the okapi that's the MC in our book. Think he wants to eat that apple pie?
Lucia, thank you for sharing this with your librarian friend.
Thanks Lucia and Marvin for your comments on poetry. It really can be a springboard for imagination, don't you think?

Katie Hines said...

Read Friday's post, but there was nowhere to put a comment. I have to say I would not have to sing the ABC song to put the list in alphabetical order. But, it's a great thing to have kids do.

Joy said...

I don't know what happened to the comment link. Thanks for posting here. I'm glad you know your ABCs. You'd be surprised at how many people aren't sure if for example "o" is before or after "r".

Magic Carpet of 16x Books said...

Great Blog idea Joy. You are amazing, mate!! And yes, rhyming stories, when done well, bring the feel of words and music that has instant appeal.

Children learn from subtle rhyming stories far faster than from plain text. SNEAKY!!

Margot Finke
"Rattlesnake Jam" + More!
Manuscript Critiques
www.margotfinke.com

Joy said...

Margot thank you for the compliment. It means a lot coming from you.
As for rhyming, you are so right and you are one of the ryhming queens I know. As you can see I am not in that group. Maybe some day. . .
Thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

I tried to leave a comment on your latest post (1/10/09) but Idon't see a comments button. Anyway, another good post. I like the creativity for learning ideas you share here. Good stuff!

Joy said...

Thank you Marvin. I guess I need to spend more time trying to figure out why comments can't be posted. GRRR!