Week 5

It's Week 5 in our weekly sharing of poems on Poetry Friday and the theme is "More Pets."
For a taste of The Poetry Friday Anthology, here's an excerpt from the poem for Grade 5.


Good Dog! Bad Dog!
   by Jeannine Atkins

Good dog never wakes us up.
Yip! Bad dog jumps on the bed.
Good dog shakes for a biscuit.
Bad dog snitches jam and bread.

...


[For the rest of the poem, check out p. 231 in the book.]



TAKE 5
1. To kick off this poem, show images of the two masks of drama—comedy and tragedy. Then read this poem aloud using a light and happy voice for lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12 and a frustrated voice for lines 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.

2. Next, display the words of the poem and divide the students into two groups—one to say the words Good dog as they occur in the poem and one to say the words Bad dog. You read the rest of the poem, including the conclusion of lines beginning Good dog or Bad dog.

3. Invite students to share their own favorite pet stories.

4. Poets give their poems shape and meaning in many ways. Talk with students about each stanza and what it adds to the poem. Consider the poet’s use of rhyme (bed/bread; chair/care) and how the rhyme depends on the final syllable in one case (heart/apart).

5. Follow up with more dog poems like “Spotty’s Tongue” by Betsy Franco (3rd Grade, Week 5) or “My Dog Jack Thinks Up His Valentine” by Patricia Hubbell (2nd Grade, Week 21) or selections from Betsy Franco’s book, A Dazzling Display of Dogs.

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