Poetry Study Lesson Plan

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POETRY STUDY

Book A: Kennedy, X.J. The Phantom Ice Cream Man. David McPhail ill. New York, Atheneum, 1979. Print.

Collection

NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) recognized award winner: 2000.

Collaboration of 5th grade English Language Arts Teacher and Library Media Specialist for an upcoming poetry unit. Classroom teacher will introduce the lesson and the SLMS will prepare materials needed, block time and assist with project when students are in the library.

Lesson 1: The collection of nonsense poems in X.J. Kennedy’s book can be compared to what other nonsense writers found in fiction? For example Dr. Seuss, his books are known for their nonsense words and vocabulary. Locate two other authors that specialize in nonsense verse and make a comparison of at least three characters to one or more of the poems found in this collection.

Lesson 2: Nursery rhythms and fairy tales at times are referred to as poems since they tend to take on a lyrical style of writing. In the books we have just read; The Toll Bridge Troll by Patricia Rae Wolf and The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Janet Stevens there are examples of nonsense characters that form the story. What comparisons can you make between the characters in the story books and the poems found on pages 26 – 34? Give details and write your own nonsense poem.

1st Quality: “Consonance is repetition of the final consonant sound” (Horning 71). An example of this type of writing that is so often used in poetry can be found in the following poems:

“I am tired of looking down of boats!

I’m going to complain

That even gargoyles get sore throats’

From gargling winter rain.”

“The Gargoyles Protest” (Kennedy 5)

Another example of this can be found again in Kennedy’s poem ...

... middle of paper ...

...hymes are a very common feature found in many poems. The following poem by X.J Kennedy shows how similar end sounds give a patterned resonance to the poem.

“With large and swollen bag of milk.

She stands, this stabled cow.

Black cat pads in on cushioned feet

To raise a loud MEOW.

Now farmer squeezes- bag

oh, see

The warm white fluid sluice-

As fat cat begs for any drop

Of creamy new cow juice.”

(Greenberg 17)

Stuart Davis: Premier, 1957 by X.J.Kennedy

Works Cited

Horning, Kathleen. From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Book’s. New

York: HarperCollins, 1997. Print.

Gordon, Ruth. Pierced By A Ray Of Sun. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. Print.

Greenberg, Jan. Heart to Heart. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001. Print.

Kennedy, X.J. The Phantom Ice Cream Man. David McPhail ill. New York, Atheneum, 1979.

Print.

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