Objective:
The students will write a limerick.

Materials

• Links to the following sites: Giggle Poetry, Limerick Hotlist, Limericks for (and by) Children.

• Chart Paper or black board.

Procedure

1. Explain what a limerick is by using one of the aforementioned web sites.  Read some examples of limericks.

2. Ask the students to list some words which they associate with ladybugs.  For example - red, spots, wings, fly, insect, etc.  Record these on the chart paper or blackboard.  This will help the students start to think of ideas for their class limerick.

3. Working as a class, create a limerick with a ladybug as the subject.  The first line could be "There once was a ladybug."  As an integral part of writing the limerick, brainstorm words which rhyme with bug.  When the 3rd line of the poem is decided, brainstorm words which rhyme with the ending word.  This will help the students come up with the remaining lines.

4. Once the class limerick is complete, continue and write more ladybug limericks.  The students may then illustrate the limericks.  Older students may work individually or in pairs to write their own ladybug limericks.  Compile these into a class book.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Have a phonics lesson on the ee- sound since a ladybug is a beetle.

2. Have a lesson on compound words, using ladybug as a starting point.  Have ladybug shapes in which the students write the first part of a compound word on one wing and the second part on the other wing.

3. Read some nonfiction books about ladybugs and have the students each write a ladybug fact on a "spot".  These spots may be circles cut from black construction paper to be glued onto a large classroom ladybug.  The students will need to write their facts in white crayon or white colored pencil in order to show up on the black paper.  (This may be combined with a science lesson.)