Objective:
The students will compare two poems and work collaboratively to write a poem.

Materials

• Copies of two of any of the following poems: Little Boy Blue, Little Bo Peep, Baa Baa Black Sheep and Mary Had a Little Lamb.  Use the following web sites to print copies EnchantedLearning or Nursery Rhymes, or write the poems on chart paper or the blackboard.

• Sheep Poetry Worksheet

Procedure

1. Pass out copies of the 2 chosen poems, or have the poems posted on the chalkboard or chart paper.  For older students comparisons may be made between 3 or 4 poems.

2. Have the students read the poems to themselves or aloud.  

3. Discuss how the poems are alike - i.e. they are both about sheep, they both have rhyming words, etc. 

4. Discuss how the poems are different - i.e. one is about a boy and one is about a girl, in one the lamb is following the child in the other the sheep are straying away from the child, etc.

5. Have the students identify the rhyming words in each poem.  Underline these words on the poems.

6. Pass out the Sheep Poetry Worksheet.  Work as a class or break the students into groups to write a poem about sheep.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Read any version of The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  The following links may be helpful - PBSKids.Org or StoryArts, .  Have the students think of other fables that teach a lesson (i.e. The Tortoise and the Hare).

2. Have a phonics lesson on silent letters, using the b in lamb as an example.

3. Groups of sheep are called flocks.  Brainstorm other words that signify collections/groups of things.  Ruth Heller's A Cache of Jewels is an excellent book to use in this lesson.