Limerick Plan - Poetry Genre

Outcomes

Background information

Limerick Genre Pattern -

Can be thought of as:

da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM
da da DUM da da DUM
da DUM da da DUM da da DUM

Frameworks to assist student learning

Limerick Sample
There was a young girl by the sea.
Who performed a remarkable curtsy;
She twirled round and round,
Till she spun underground.
Which distressed everyone who could see.

Framework - a
There once was a __________ from___________.
Who was __________ and (past tense verb) ____________________.
When __________________________________.
He or she replied ____________________________________.
That ____________ from ___________________.

Framework - b
I once met a _______________ from ____________.
Everyday s/he ________________ and _______________.
But whenever s/he _______________.
The ___________________________ _____________.
That ________________________ from _______________.

Focus Questions
What is poetry?
What is a limerick?
What do you notice about this poem?
What words can you think of that describe places?
How many words can you think of that rhyme with those places?
How could you create a Limerick or poem about a place?

Vocabulary - depends on Limerick or what might want to include

Evaluation criteria - you’re on your own

Instructional Procedure

  1. Read aloud - a few Limericks as a hook. Could use selections - online source such as - Poetry-online.org or selections in Isaac Asimov’s Limericks for Children.
  2. Give or have students find a written limerick and have them determine what they think the rules of Limerick writing are.
  3. Assistance may be offered for some students by providing all or parts of a framework to assist their writing.
  4. Optional steps - --
  5. Have students brainstorm and write two or three places they have or would like to live or visit.
  6. Have them choose 2 places from their list that have rhymes or they may want to select additional places.
  7. Continue by having them “brainstorm” rhyming words for their locations and write them underneath the place names. Encourage listing words that provide colorful descriptions or that describe a particular aspect of that place. May want to make a rhyming word wall or add them to current word wall or journal...
  8. End of optional ---
  9. Students can use what they discovered about the pattern of a Limerick to create their own Limerick. Pattern - usually 5 lines, with a rhythm of two short or unaccepted followed by one long or accented syllables (anapestic), where lines 1,2 and 5 rhyme, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme, and usually written in the past tense.
  10. Ask students to create their own limericks.
  11. Students brainstorm ideas alone or in pairs or small groups for their own limerick.
  12. Have students use their limerick to create a multimedia presentation with a written and oral form of their limerick that they read, record, and illustrate as a digital multimedia photo story gallery.

    Dr. Robert Sweetland's Notes ©