If you don't like bugs, you might not see the point in Jenny taking out time to save it. On the other hand, if you do like bugs, you might want to praise Jenny for saving it.

 

Perhaps you want to talk about the bugs body parts. Or the fact its colors blended, or camouflaged with the sidewalk.

Maybe you think it was lucky that Jenny had good eyes and was able to see it before she crushed it while jumping or slashing her rope.

 

Just concentrate on writing whatever you think about the story. This is a creative process. Everyone who writes a poem will have something different to say.  So, let your poem represent, that is, be about your thoughts and your feelings.

Step 3 - After you figure out what you want to say, start writing anything that comes to mind in the form of a poem.

Try to think of rhyming words as you write so you can place them at the ends of your lines.

 

An important thing to remember is not to worry about mistakes when you begin a poem. Save corrections for after you get your thoughts down. 

 

For the purpose of this lesson, try to write at least four lines for each verse. Two verses, or eight lines, will be better for you older kids.

Step 4 - Once your verse or verses are complete, read them over to see if they make sense.

Fix the parts you think can sound better if you say them a different way.

Look back at the story to see if there is something you wanted to talk about, but you forgot. Add it some place in the poem if you can.

Correct mistakes in spelling and grammar if you have any.

Step 5 - Now it's time to write or type your poem again. This time, make it nice and neat. If you were using paper and pencil or pen, you might want to type your poem now so that you can send it to me for a critique. And kids, if you're not familiar with a computer keyboard, you might want to ask an older person to type for you. But if you do your own typing, you will begin to learn about the keyboard, and learning about a keyboard is something you should do anyway. Besides, you'll be more proud if you do it yourself. And your caregiver can have a cup of tea or something while you learn.

 

TIPS - If you think of rhymes that may be useful in your poem before you can use them, write them on the top or on the side of your paper. I like to do that because (1) sometimes the spare rhyming words give me ideas, and (2) sometimes when I think of spare rhymes and decide to use them at some point, I forget what they were. Writing them somewhere on the paper keeps me in touch with them.

 

While you're rewriting your poem, new ideas may pop into your head. If these new ideas go well with your poem, will improve it, go ahead and make the changes. It's common practice for established authors to write their poems over and over again. This is a natural part of the creative process. Your work will improve only when you go through this process. So, keep in mind, rewriting is a good thing!

A few words about ADJECTIVES.

An adjective is a word that describes something. It tells about size, or color, or shape or anything that explains how a thing looks, or feels, or smells, etc.

Do... find adjectives in the story and in the picture. Feel free to use these adjectives in your poem.

Don't... settle for using the supplied adjectives without adding your own. For example, the story tells you the grasshopper is brown.
The picture shows you the grasshopper is brown. The story tells you the grasshopper was long and that it has long antennae. The
picture shows you these things also. However, the story does not talk about the grasshopper's feet, or its legs, or its head. That doesn't
mean you cannot write about those body parts in your poem. If you want to describe the grasshopper's feet as little, or his head as
round, or whatever, feel free to do so. This rule includes describing what you read in the Theme-Story. Writing about the story and the
picture using adjectives, especially when I don't point them out to you, shows what a good observer you are. In order to be a good
writer, you must be a good observer. Teach yourself to see, hear, feel, taste and touch things in a way that lets you to notice what
others may miss. Noticing things around you, observing things, helps you discuss them in your writing.

  Check out these rhyming tricks:

(1) Try to think of rhyming words to go with some of your adjectives. You can rhyme the grass color, green, with words like mean,
lean, and keen.

(2) Using synonyms may help find rhymes for words that are hard to rhyme or that don't have good rhymes for your poem. For
example, you may think of words like mashing, or bashing to rhyme with slashing. But using a synonym for slashing like pounding will
give you more choices of words to rhyme. You could say rounding or mounding.

(3) Another trick is to remove the suffix, in this case, ing, from the root words. That leaves you with slash to rhyme with words like
dash, or mash, or gash, for examples. And using the synonym pound instead of pounding will enable you to rhyme with words like
hound, sound, and ground.

(4) Inference - When you infer something, you use available information to figure out things that are not obvious. It's kind of like guessing. You can use this tactic about the grasshopper in the story by inferring it was flying before it landed on the sidewalk. Inferring the grasshopper was flying will lead you to a list of rhymes like crying, lying, and tieing. Removing the suffix ing from flying will lead you to a list of rhymes with the root word fly: high, sky, and dry to name a few. This means inferring things can be a good way to find rhymes.

Free Critique Information - In Lesson 2, Silly Mommy will give more tips for making rhymes and explain how to make your poem have rhythm. For now, give your Grasshopper Poem a title, if you haven't already done so, and send your typed Grasshopper Poem to: ThemeStoryCritique@MyStoriesAndPoems.com if you would like a Free Critique {Silly Mommy will critique the first ten Theme-Story 1 poems for free! Poems must abide by instructions on the Critiques Page to qualify for Free Critiques.}

 

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