THE ROMANCE
Said the pelican to the elephant,
I think we should marry, I do.
Cause theres no name that rhymes with me,
And no one else rhymes with you.
Said the elephant to the pelican,
Theres sense to what youve said,
For rhymings as good a reason as any
For any two to wed.
And so the elephant wed the pelican,
And they dined upon lemons and limes,
And now they have a baby pelicant,
And everybody rhymes.
AprilisNationalPoetryMonth
CELEBRATE WITH THE POEMS OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN
2003
Poetry Word Search
The words below are used to describe some of the basic elements of poetry.
poem: Writing that is imaginative and condensed by using words chosen for
their sound and meaning, with phrases that may have a certain pattern
made with rhythm and rhyme.
limerick: A humorous poem that is five lines long. Usually the first, second, and last
lines have the same rhyme. The third and fourth lines rhyme with each other.
rhyme: Words at the end of a line of a poem that sound alike, such as:
There once was a fellow named Jack
Who jumped up and down in a sack.
rhythm: A pattern created with long and short, and weak and strong sounds.
meter: A rhythmic pattern in a poem.
verse: A line of a poem, or a group of lines within a long poem.
couplet: Two lines of a poem together, with the same rhythm and same rhyme at the end.
stanza: A part of a poem with similar rhythm and rhyme that will repeat later in
the poem.
sonnet: A 14-line poem that begins with eight lines and is followed by six lines.
poet: A writer of poemsyou!
Can you find these words below? Circle them with your pencil.
POEM
LIMERICK
RHYME
RHYTHM
METER
VERSE
COUPLET
STANZA
SONNET
POET
Celebra te Na tional Po etry Month with Shel Silverstein 1
Word Finder
How many words can you make from the letters in the following sentence?
CELEBRATE NATIONAL POETRY MONTH WITH SHEL SILVERSTEIN.
Complete the Rhyme
Complete the rhyme and know your states. Heres a poem called Flag. Lets see if
you can fill in the blanks with words that rhyme with the underlined words. After
youve tried as hard as you can, look at page 24 of Where the Sidewalk Ends to see
how Shel rhymed the lines.
FLAG
One star is for Alaska . . .
One star is for __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ . . . (8 letters)
One star is for North Dakota . . .
One star is for __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ . . . (9 letters)
There are lots of other stars,
But I forgot which ones they __ __ __ . (3 letters)
2 Celebra te
Na tional Po etry Month with Shel Silverstein
Sounds Like . . .
Homophones are words that sound alike but are different in meaning and spelling.
Here are some examples:
Little Hoarse
Anteater
Wild Boar
(Falling Up, p. 29)
hoarse
(A Light in the Attic, p. 61)
anteater
(Where the Sidewalk Ends, p. 68) shore
horse
aunt eater
sure
Can you think of any more? Can you use them in a sentence?
Homonyms are words that are usually spelled the same but have different meanings.
Here are some examples:
Turkey? (Falling Up, p. 34) drumstick (turkey leg) drumstick (music)
Safe? (Falling Up, p. 25) safe (to cross the street) safe (falling from building)
Overdues (A Light in the Attic, p. 65) fine (something you pay) fine (feeling)
Traffic Light (Where the Sidewalk Ends, p. 121) light (brightness) light (weight)
Can you think of any more? Can you use them in a sentence?
Celebra te Na tional Po etry Month with Shel Silverstein 3
Rhyme Practice
How many words can you find that rhyme with . . . ?
eye
black
glue
will
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Write a phrase with these rhyming words.
Example: eye: I spy a fly in the sky.
eye ____________________________________________________________________________
black __________________________________________________________________________
glue ____________________________________________________________________________
will ____________________________________________________________________________
4 Celebra te
Na tional Po etry Month with Shel Silverstein
Personal Poetry Puzzle
The words below are from the poem One Inch Tall (Where the Sidewalk Ends, p. 55).
1. Using scissors, cut along the dotted lines to separate all the words below. Choose as
many words as you like to create your own poem.
2. Arrange them on a piece of paper to compose the lines of your poem. Try different
combinations until you find the most interesting ones, for example, phrases that
make you laugh the most or phrases that rhyme the best.
3. Tape or glue in place.
4. Compare your poem with your friends poems. See how they used the same words in
different ways.
5. After you have completed your poem, read Shels poem to see how he used the words.
if
ride
you
worm
pool
teardrop
pool
were
school
to
the
only
today
old
make
was
treat
my
sweet
these
sunny
blue
magic
cold
me
his
hello
our
here
the
love
dance
you
some
from
eat
so
rain
mine
carry
said
took
green
this
drank
boat
delicious
beans
balloon
look
sour
yellow
ed
her
funny
true
they
near
does
try
are
sound
have
whisper
before
go
sleep
soon
friend
in
tonight
dream
moon
right
Celebra te Na tional Po etry Month with Shel Silverstein 5
Cuttin Kate
by Shel Silverstein
A poem can be the beginning of many other ways to express yourself. A poem could
become a song, a dance, or even a play. Choose friends to play all the roles. Everyone
sits in a big circle in the order of appearance in the poem. As the narrator reads the
lines, Cuttin Kate goes around the circle and acts out what happens to the characters
as they stand up one at a time. After Cuttin Kate has gone all the way around, she
stands in the center of the circle. First the kitty stands up and circles around Cuttin
Kate then returns to his or her seat, then the best friend, and so on, till everyone has
had their turn. At the end, everyone stands up, joins hands, circles around Cuttin
Kate and shouts, You just wait until we catch you, Cuttin Kate! You can use the scissors cut-out at the end of the Cuttin Kate booklet or just pretend.
NARRATOR: Cuttin Kate she took her scissors,
Cut off the kitty cats long white whiskers,
Cut off her mommas beautiful hair,
Cut out the seat of her dads underwear,
Cut the tomatoes off the farmers vine,
Cut her grandpas fishin line,
Cut the string on her cousins kite,
Cut the cord off the coal miners light,
Cut the sails off the captains boat,
She cut a hole in her best friends coat,
Cut her grandmas washin line,
Even cut down the no cutting sign,
Cut down all the gardeners roses,
Cut off all her dollies noses.
ALL: You just wait until we catch you, Cuttin Kate!
NARRATOR: And they come a-chasin her, mad as sin.
The kitty cat chased her coverin his chin.
Her best friend chased her with a needle and thread.
Her momma chased her with a baldy head.
Her daddy chased her in his raggedy drawers.
The captain chased her shaking an oar.
The sign painter chased her with his whitewash can.
Her grandpa chased her with a fish in his hand.
Her cousin chased her with his kite in tatters.
The farmer chased her throwin tomaters.
The gardener chased her swingin his hoe.
The coal miner chased her flingin lumps of coal.
Her grandma chased her wavin wet clothes.
Her dollies chased her beggin for a nose.
And when they finally caught her,
What do you suppose they did to her?
Well, I wont say, but her name was . . . Cuttin Kate.
6 Celebra te
Na tional Po etry Month with Shel Silverstein
Write a poem within the shape of the camel. You might write about where the camel lives,
what it eats, or any special characteristics it has.
