Mr. Lehmkuhl's GATE Class: Poetry Playground

Welcome, poets!

A poem is writing that plays with the sounds, rhythm, and shape of words to create a feeling or a picture in your mind. Today you'll meet three very different kinds of poems.

👅

Tongue Twister

Silly sentences that are hard to say fast.

😂

Your mission

1.Learn each kind of poem and play its games.

2.Compare them: how are they alike and different?

3.Play Poem Detective.

4.Use the Picture Studio to write your own poems.

5.Send your Poetry Book to Google Docs.

Start with Tongue Twisters

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👅

Tongue Twisters

Say that five times fast!

A tongue twister is a phrase or sentence that's tricky to say, especially fast! It uses sounds that are almost the same, so your tongue gets tangled.

🔁 AlliterationMany words start with the same sound: "Peter Piper picked..."

🌀 Tricky sound switchesSounds that are almost the same, like s and sh: "she sells seashells."

📏 Any lengthOne line or many. There are no rules for syllables or rhymes.

🎤 Made to be said out loudActors and speech coaches use them to warm up their mouths!

Cartoon of a surprised girl whose tongue is tied in a knot, with a question mark and an exclamation point around her head. — Uh-oh! Tongue-tied!

One of the most famous, "Peter Piper," was printed in a children's book way back in 1813!

Alliteration hunt

Tap every word that starts with the repeating sound. Then say it 3 times fast and time yourself!

Quick quiz

Next: 😂 Limericks

😂

Limericks

Five lines, one silly story, and a bouncy beat.

A limerick is a short, funny poem that tells a silly story. They were made famous by Edward Lear, who published A Book of Nonsense in 1846.

5️⃣ Five linesNo more, no less.

🎵 AABBA rhymesLines 1, 2, and 5 rhyme with each other. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme with each other.

📏 Long, long, short, short, longLines 3 and 4 are shorter.

🥁 Bouncy beatda-da-DUM, da-da-DUM, like a galloping horse!

🤪 Funny endingThe last line is the punchline.

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, A Book of Nonsense (1846)

Cartoon of Edward Lear smiling at his desk with a quill and his Book of Nonsense from 1846. A sign says a limerick is a short, funny poem that tells a silly story. A man falls back in his chair, chewing on a shoe, while a dog, a parrot, and a penguin watch. A poem about a young man from Peru is written on the wall. — **🕵️ Rhyme detective:** The poem on the wall breaks a limerick rule! Look at the last word of every line. Do lines 3 and 4 have their own B rhyme? Can you rewrite lines 3 and 4 so the poem goes AABBA?

Find the rhyme scheme

Read this limerick. Mark each line A or B: lines that rhyme get the same letter. (The first line is always A.)

Unscramble the limerick

This limerick got mixed up! Use the arrows to put the lines back in order. Hint: follow the story and the AABBA rhymes.

Pick the punchline

Which last line finishes this limerick best? It needs to rhyme with lines 1 and 2 AND be funny.

A dragon who lived in Peru Would sneeze every time that it flew. With a HUFF and a PUFF, It set fire to its stuff, . . . ?

Quick quiz

Next: 🌸 Haiku

🌸

Haiku

A tiny poem that captures one moment in nature.

A haiku (say it: HI-koo) is a short poem that started in Japan hundreds of years ago. It paints a quick picture of a moment, usually in nature, like a snapshot in words.

3️⃣ Three linesShort and simple.

🔢 5-7-5 syllablesLine 1 has 5 syllables, line 2 has 7, and line 3 has 5.

🍂 Nature and seasonsMany haiku include a hint of the season.

🤫 Usually no rhymesHaiku focus on images, not rhymes.

The most famous haiku poet is Matsuo Bashō (1644 to 1694). His famous "frog" haiku, in Japanese, is: furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto. Word by word, it means: "old pond / a frog jumps in / the sound of water."

Morning desert sun a lizard warms on red rock shadows start to shrinkA haiku about the desert

Cartoon of a boy in a Japanese garden writing in a notebook beside a pond with koi fish, a red gate, and a snowy mountain. A big title says A Moment in Words. An open notebook shows a red leaf landing on the water with circles spreading out, and a short poem marked 5-7-5. Signs say haiku are short, focused, and about nature. — **🕵️ Syllable detective:** The poem in the notebook says it is 5-7-5. Clap each line and count the beats. Does it really match? What words could you add to fix it?

Clap the syllables

A syllable is a beat in a word. "Sun" has 1. "Lizard" has 2 (li-zard). Clap along to count each line!

Build a haiku (drag and drop)

Drag word tiles into the three lines (or tap a tile, then tap a line). Make each line match 5-7-5. The little number on each tile is its syllables. Tap a word in a line to send it back.

Quick quiz

Next: ⚖️ Compare

⚖️

Compare the Three

How are they alike? How are they different?

Cartoon titled Compare! with three panels. Tongue Twister: a boy with a tangled tongue tries to say she sells seashells by the seashore. Limerick: a five-line poem about a man from Peru marked A A B B A, with the man sneezing pears while riding a llama. Haiku: a cherry petal falls onto a still pond below a snowy mountain, with a three-line poem in a notebook. — **👀 Look closely:** The man from Peru is back, and this time his limerick really goes AABBA! **Bonus detective:** Clap the middle line of the haiku. Does it have 7 syllables?

	👅 Tongue Twister	😂 Limerick	🌸 Haiku
How many lines?	Any	5	3
Rhymes?	Sometimes	Yes: AABBA	Usually not
Syllable rules?	No	Bouncy beat	5-7-5
Mood	Silly, tricky	Funny	Calm, thoughtful
Came from	Everywhere! (folk sayings)	England (Edward Lear)	Japan (Bashō)
Main job	Play with SOUNDS	Tell a funny STORY	Paint a PICTURE of a moment