At the Museum

Learning intention:

I am learning to analyse structure and stylistic features of texts so that I can experiment with creating literary texts.

 

Success criteria:

• I can identify the rhyming scheme of a poem.
• I can identify the rhythm of a poem.
• I can create my own poem using the same rhyme and rhythm.

 

Essential knowledge:

More information about style can be found in the English Textual Concepts video Style.

 

After reading the poem as a class, have a general discussion about students’ thoughts and feelings about the text. Encourage students to think about both the content and structure of the poem. Answers might include its short and snappy nature, that it rhymes and that it’s about the past.

 

Display the following nursery rhyme on the board:

Hey diddle diddle

The cat and the fiddle

The cow jumped over the moon

The little dog laughed to see such fun

And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Have students identify the rhyming words at the end of each line (answers: diddle/fiddle, moon/spoon). Explain that when we study rhyming schemes, we assign each rhyme a letter. Demonstrate by writing the assigned letter next to each line. Answer is below.

Hey diddle diddle (A)

The cat and the fiddle (A)

The cow jumped over the moon (B)

The little dog laughed to see such fun (C)

And the dish ran away with the spoon. (B)

Explain that moon and spoon have the same letter because they rhyme, while fun is the only one with the letter C because it doesn’t rhyme with any other line ending.

 

Give another example of a nursery rhyme for students to practise identifying a rhyming scheme, such as Mary, Mary Quite Contrary (ABCB – not including internal rhymes) or The Incy Wincy Spider (ABACBB). Note: The rhyming scheme will change depending on how you structure the lines.

 

Display At the Museum on the board and instruct students to identify the rhyming scheme (AABBCCDC). Then go through the poem again, having students identify how many syllables there are in each line (3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 3). Information about syllables can be found on the NSW Department of Education webpage Phonological Awareness.

 

Explain that students are to write their own poem with the same rhyming scheme and syllable count as At the Museum, but about libraries instead. Spend some time as a class brainstorming words they could use when writing about libraries. Sample answers include fantasy, authors, pages, binding, librarians, shelves, words, sentences, imagination, borrow. Once they’ve accumulated a large vocabulary list, students can find words that rhyme in their list or use a rhyming dictionary to assist them.

 

A sample rhyme is below.

            Pages, books

 Shelves and nooks

 Themes, words

Minds are stirred

All is free

Get the key

Libraries unlock

Fantasy.