Garden Poetry 3 – Limmericks - 4-H Africa Knowledge Center.

Lesson Recommendations
Disciplines:
Language Arts—French or English
CLASSROOM LESSON
Garden Poetry 3-Limmericks
Potential Objectives:
Understand the meaning of
syllables, limericks, and
rhyming
Practice writing poetry
Appreciate other cultures
Appreciate nature
Materials:
Chalkboard and chalk
and/or paper and pencil/pen
EXAMPLE of an 8, 8, 6, 6, 9 syllable
limerick by Edward Lear:
There was an Old Man with a flute.
A serpent ran into his boot,
But he played day and night,
Till the serpent took flight,
And avoided that man with a flute.
Proposed Activities:
1. Review various forms of poetry writing with the students.
2. Show England on a map, if possible, and introduce limerick poetry.
• A limerick is a poem with five lines. Edward Lear, an Englishman,
made them famous in the 1800s.
• The first, second and fifth lines rhyme with each other and have the
same number of syllables (usually 8 or 9). The third and fourth lines
rhyme with each other and have the same number of syllables
(usually 5 or 6).
• Explain that limericks often start with the line “There once was a...”
or “There was a...” and are often silly.
3. Introduce or review the concept of “rhyming.”
• Say several rhyming words aloud and asks students what they notice
about the words.
• Give a key word and have students try rhyming it. (sun, green, plant,
or other gardening words)
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Lesson Recommendations
4. Ask students to write their own limerick poem about the garden.
• Remind students to use descriptive language to make their poems
more vibrant. Use this as an opportunity to present or review some
grammar tips. For example, adjectives describe nouns; adverbs
describe a verb, an adjective, or another adverb and often end in “ly.”
• Have students find a semi-solitary place near the garden where they
can relax, observe, and write.
5. Have students share their limerick with groups of students or the entire
class.
Alternate Activities:
1. Have students recite or perform these limericks at an educational event.
2. Collect the students’ poems to make a book for the school library.
3. Have students translate these limericks into a different language.
4. Have students incorporate some words from another language into the
limericks.
Evaluation:
Poem creation.
Discussion and participation in the activity.
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