Not sure how to study a poem? Here are some ideas! Choose one or all of these:
Read aloud and enjoy the poem
Neatly write out your favorite stanza for handwriting practice or…
Copy and paste the poem into your word processor and print it out
Draw a picture about the poem
Underline words in the poem that describe what the author sees, feels, tastes, smells, or hears.
Read more about the author’s life
Share with someone you love <3
Summer in the South
The Oriole sings in the greening grove As if he were half-way waiting,
The rosebuds peep from their hoods of green,
Timid, and hesitating.
The rain comes down in a torrent sweep
And the nights smell warm and piney,
The garden thrives, but the tender shoots
Are yellow-green and tiny.
Then a flash of sun on a waiting hill,
Streams laugh that erst were quiet,
The sky smiles down with a dazzling blue
And the woods run mad with riot.
~Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 – 1906)
Hungry for more? Check out this week’s…
Poetry Activity (for kids, adults, and everyone in between): Five Senses Poem
Ready for this week’s Story Share Topic?
Join in the fun! Write your story and send it in for a chance to have your story shared on the site!
This Week’s Story Share Topic:
Write a story that makes people laugh!
What does the character do that’s so funny? What does he/she say? Or perhaps the situation they’re in is funny and the character gets swept away in it!
FAQ: If you don’t want to share your story, can you still write one? Absolutely! Do you have to write a story on this particular topic? Nope! Writing stories is a great creative writing exercise, no matter what the topic. The topic is a prompt to get you started!
Writing with little ones? Read this post about how to include young children in writing activities.
Think you know which animal? Click here for the answer!
Simplified definitions: Adjective: a describing word, placed before a noun (or pronoun)
Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea
Verb: an action word
Biome: the type of environment where living things make their homes, a habitat (ex: desert, rainforest, tundra)
herbivore: plant-eater
carnivore: meat-eater
omnivore: eats both plants and meat
Ready to free your writing? Let’s do a freewrite together!
Write about something funny.
Help to get you started: Has something funny happened to you? Have you ever done something funny? What kinds of things do you find funny? Out of ideas? Try writing “It would be funny if…” and make something up!
Set your timer for 10 minutes and write, write, write! Have an especially meaningful freewrite? Share it in the comments or on my Facebook page.
About Freewrites: A freewrite is exactly what it sounds like: free! Use a freewrite to practice channeling thoughts from your mind to the paper. Never done a freewrite? Learn more in my Guide to Freewriting
Hello! Welcome to Poetry Tuesday: the day we dip (or dive) into the lovely world of poetry!
Each Tuesday from June 19 to August 21, 2018, I’ll share a Poetry Activity, a Poem Study, plus an Advanced Poetry Lesson. Feel free to enjoy one, two, or all three of these fun resources! (Click on the title links)
Poetry Activity (for kids, adults, and everyone in between): Limerick fill-in-the-blank
Poem Study: The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
Hello! Welcome to Poetry Tuesday: the day we dip (or dive) into the lovely world of poetry!
Edward Lear’s Illustration of his Old Man with a beard
Interested in poetry? Construct a limerick in this activity for kids, adults, and everyone in-between.
A. Introduction to Limericks Have you ever read a limerick? They sound a little like this…
The Jibbericky
There once was a poem named Limerick, Who thought everything was a gim-er-ick.
It started to giggle,
Which made the words jiggle,
And mixed them all up into jibberick.
~Hannah Spuler
(Written in complete and utter silliness three minutes ago. The birds in my back yard are wondering what’s so funny)
Limericks are (often) silly poems that follow a certain pattern of beats (stresses) and rhymes. If you’re looking for a poem to make people laugh, a limerick fits the bill. No one is quite sure where the limerick started, but Wikipedia.org seems to think it’s as old as the early 1700’s. Oh, and there’s also a town of Limerick in Ireland which seems to have nothing to do with the poem. (Didn’t you want to know that?)
B. Limerick Example
Here’s an example from Edward Lear, master of the limerick. He wrote a book called A Book of Nonsense that’s full of all kinds of silly… nonsense. (Hm! Imagine that.) His book was full of limericks, which is actually what made the limerick a popular form today.
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!–
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”
~Edward Lear (Book of Nonsense, 1)
C. Fill-in-the-Blank!
Now it’s time to write your own Limerick! To make it easy for you, I’ve made a form so you can just fill in the blanks.
Details in case you get stuck:
A limerick has 5 lines.
The 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines rhyme
The 1st, 2nd, and 5th lines all have 3 beats and 7-9 syllables
Need help understanding syllables? Think of how many times your chin drops when you say a word. Lim-er-ick has three syllables. Li-on has two. Cat has one. Still don’t understand? Ask an adult to help!
The 3rd and 4th line rhyme
The 3rd and 4th line have 2 beats and 5-7 syllables
They’re as silly as you want them to be. So don’t get too caught up in the details!
Form poem: Limerick
There once was a ____________ named __________
Who wanted to ________________________.
He/She/It(sat/stood/laid) on a _________________,
And said, “What a ______________!”
And then ___________________________________.
Still feeling stuck? Go back to the Edward Lear example and follow it as a model.
Note to parents: Limericks are fun for the whole family to write together! Small children like to come up with the character in the poem but might not be able to rhyme or do syllables on their own yet. That’s perfectly fine! Let them help as much as they’re able! By 4th or 5th grade many children will be able to contribute quite well.
Pleased with your poem? Share it in the comments or post it on my Facebook pageso we can all read and enjoy them!
Hungry for more? Check out this week’s…
Poem Study: The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
Edward Lear’s Illustration of The Owl and the Pussycat
Not sure how to study a poem? Here are some ideas! Choose one or all of these:
Read aloud and enjoy the poem
Neatly write out your favorite stanza for handwriting practice or…
Copy and paste the poem into your word processor and print it out
Draw a picture about the poem
Circle or color-code the words that rhyme!
Read more about the author’s life
Share with someone you love <3
Since we read one of Edward Lear’s limericks in the Poetry Activity, I thought it would be fun to read another one of his famous poems!
The Owl and the Pussycat
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat;
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the moon above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love!
What a beautiful Pussy you are,—
You are,
What a beautiful pussy you are!”
Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!” How wonderful sweet you sing!
Oh, let us be married,— too long we have tarried,—
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away for a year and a day
To the land where the Bong-tree grows,
And there in a wood a piggy-wig stood
With a ring in the end of his nose,—
His nose,
With a ring in the end of his nose.
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one willing Your ring?” Said the piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the turkey who lives on the hill. They dined upon mince and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon,
And hand in hand on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon,—
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
~Edward Lear (1812-1888)
Hungry for more? Check out this week’s…
Poetry Activity (for kids, adults, and everyone in between): Limerick fill-in-the-blank
What are Four Things That Make You Laugh (And Two That Make You Cry)?
Have you ever laughed so hard it hurt? Every time my toddler says the word, “Boots,” in his little toddler voice, it makes me giggle. I also have a soft spot for picture books that say something serious but show something humorous. What about you? What tickles your funny bone?
Write a list with me! Every Monday I will post a fun list. Fill out your list and enjoy it by yourself, share it on my Facebook page, in the comments or on Twitter (with the hashtag #FunListMondays). Not convinced? Read about how lists encourage better writing here.
Like this activity? See other Fun List Mondays here.
Ready for this week’s Story Share Topic?
Join in the fun! Write your story and send it in for a chance to have your story shared on the site!
This Week’s Story Share Topic:
Write a story about an unlikely friendship between two characters.
Why do they want to be friends? What makes their friendship unique? What happens as a result of their friendship? What problem (conflict) arises and how is it solved?
FAQ: If you don’t want to share your story, can you still write one? Absolutely! Do you have to write a story on this particular topic? Nope! Writing stories is a great creative writing exercise, no matter what the topic. The topic is a prompt to get you started!
Writing with little ones? Read this post about how to include young children in writing activities.
Can you guess the animal based on the clues? Smash up science and English parts of speech together with this guessing game!
adjectives: fluffy, “wise”, unintelligent, nocturnal, regal, brown or white or black, feathery, stealthy verbs: hoot, hunt, screech, stare, dive, swoop nouns: wings, beaks, talons biomes: Deciduous Forests, Conifer Forests
Think you know which animal? Click here for the answer!
Simplified definitions: Adjective: a describing word, placed before a noun (or pronoun)
Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea
Verb: an action word
Biome: the type of environment where living things make their homes, a habitat (ex: desert, rainforest, tundra)
herbivore: plant-eater
carnivore: meat-eater
omnivore: eats both plants and meat
Hannah Spuler 