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Thursday, 14 June 2018

Karen Edminsten is hosting the Poetry Friday round-up this week. Stop by her blog for poetry news, reviews, and original poems from around the kidlitosphere.

Hi, Poetry Friday friends. Welcome back to my series of posts from Northfield Elementary’s third grade poetry residency.

It’s day two of our fractured fairy tale poems. In the last post, I described the beginning of our workshop. Today’s I’m sharing the brainstorming worksheet I use for this lesson. The key to this poem is really digging into secondary character’s point of view. If the prince could tell his version of “Cinderella” — how might the story be different? How does he feel about the events of the fairy tale?

The third grade poets had a lot of fun thinking about which fairy tale characters were itching to tell their side of things. Much like a persona poem, this exercise taps into many children’s sense of empathy — understanding and resonating with someone else’s situation and emotions.

As you will see, the students really got into the voices of these characters!

Poet: Christopher

The Wrong Beans

One upon a time, in a far, far land
there was a wizard who was the fox
in most fairy tales.

He was a trickster.
He finds someone, someone special,
and pranks them with his plan.
“I’m the real villain everyone should fear.”

Then this, “Jack was in front of me
and I gave him the beans of death.

I walked home, proud
until I realized, I gave the boy
the wrong beans, the beans that the boy
would just plant.

Then, Jack got famous
for the mistake I made. I’m so mad!

I hate Jack! I hate him so much.
If I ever see him, I’ll curse him,
curse him better than I did before.”
***

Poet: Mouniksai 

Brick House

Ha! Those little pigs!
They thought they could stay safe just by building with twigs.

They built as fast as they do in Fortnite.
Then the straw house got destroyed during the night.

Then came the sticks.
Oh, those poor little pigs.

Then came me,
as strong as could be.

Because of my owner and I.

Those pigs came begging to let them in.
So, of course, we let them in.

The wolf came.
His breath also came.

It smelled
horrible and terrible.

I can see why those houses died, but I am stronger
because of my owner and I. And I’m boss.
***

Poet: Sophia 

I Never Liked Cinderella

I never liked Cinderella.
My dad wanted me to marry her, not me!
It was NOT my decision!
In my mind, I actually thought her stepsister
was quite pretty.
I didn’t get the glass slipper.
My dad pushed me to and down the stairs.
And I hurt myself even MORE
when I tripped over the glass shoe thingy.
I said I would arrest
whoever the shoe belonged to, but noooo!
The news got it all wrong!
I didn’t want to marry her!
But when my dad said he was proud
of what he thought was my decision
I didn’t want to let my father down.
***

Poet: Grayson 

One Fine Day 

One fine day
my first day on the job
I’m feeling stressed.

Someone was calling my name.
“Hunter! Hunter!

My grandma is
being eaten by a wolf.”

Okay. Um…
um… um.

I did not
bring my gun.

Ugh. This is
the worst day of my life!

Actually, do I ever bring
my fun? Never mind that!

I’d never had
someone eaten by

a wolf.

Let me run
back to the office!
***

Poet: William

Jack and the Beanstalk Poem
from Jack’s Mom’s Point of View

He gave someone our cow.
Planted beans in our yard.
I wonder how this day
could get any worse.
I wish I could ground him
and make him get rid
of that ugly beanstalk mess.
I won’t let him play
or have any fun.
I’ll make him do the dishes
and all of my chores.
***

Poet: Justin

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a mom
who sent her son out to sell a cow for money.
After a long time, she got mad.
“Fifty days later, Jack still isn’t back!” she screamed.
She was mad. She went out to find him.
Later, she found him in a fight with a giant.
“What the heck did he do?” she thought.
She screamed up the huge beanstalk,
“Jack, get down here!”
Then Jack came with a ton of gold.
“Okay, let’s go,” said Jack.
“We’re rich!” the mom screamed.
Jack was grounded for a month,
but they were rich.
***

Poet: Carter 

“The Story of Hansel and Gretel” by The Candy House

One day in the forest,
I was just sitting there
minding my own business.
And then out of nowhere,
two kids walked out of the forest
and their names were Hansel and Gretel.
They see me and I see them.
Then they ran up and started to eat me.
I was as in pain as a person dying
from getting his skin ripped off.
I was in pain so bad, I rang the doorbell.
And the witch that owned me
came out and told them to come in.
So they came in, but I did not know
what happened. But when Hansel
and Gretel came out, they were fat
and the which died in my cook burner.
***

Thanks to the Northfield teachers and families for permission to share the third graders’ poems online.

Posts in the “Poems from the Northfield Third Grade” 2018 series:
Poetry Friday List Poem Lesson
A Garden of Words: 3rd Grade List Poems
The Pool Is the Capital of My Summer: Odes to Place
Third Grade Odes from Northfield E.S.
Fractured Fairy Tale Poems
Poetry Friday: Once Upon a Time
A Gallery of Poems

14 responses to “Poetry Friday: Once Upon a Time”

  1. […] Posts in the “Poems from the Northfield Third Grade” 2018 series: Poetry Friday List Poem Lesson A Garden of Words: 3rd Grade List Poems The Pool Is the Capital of My Summer: Odes to Place Third Grade Odes from Northfield E.S. Fractured Fairy Tale Poems Poetry Friday: Once Upon a Time […]

  2. Kay Jernigan McGriff says:

    I love these! I saw the one by Cinderella’s prince on Twitter, too. It might by my favorite of them all, though I do sympathize with Jack’s poor mom.

  3. I began reading the poems before I knew they were from third graders. I thought they were fantastic BEFORE I knew. Now that I realize the age of the poems, I am amazing. I really enjoyed these, especially the one about hating Cinderella.

  4. Linda Baie says:

    They are marvelous, Laura. I love the unique approaches which I guess you emphasized, and each one also managed a great ending twist. That poor prince! Well done!

  5. Oh, my goodness….these poems are so fun. And, the best part? The voice! The kids have such an authentic take on these secondary characters. What a marvelous activity. I want to do this with some kids!

  6. With your purpose being tapping into “children’s sense of empathy — understanding and resonating with someone else’s situation and emotions”, I see that the 3rd graders responded so well. Each child took to this exercise with a sense of fun and a lot of enthusiasm. Their voices came out. I especially like Grayson’s point of view. From an educator’s point of view this is a stellar lesson with great end products, Laura.

  7. Linda says:

    These poems are fantastic. I especially enjoyed “I Never Liked Cinderella.” I can tell they have a lot of fun writing their poems.

  8. Brenda says:

    What an amazing worksheet that drew out such strong feelings. How simple yet unexpected. What an excellent teacher you are, and what wonderful poets are growing up in your sunlight.

  9. These are fantastic Laura, what fun you all must have had! Wonderful worksheet to begin with too. That last one from the cook burner perspective–marvelous, thanks!

  10. These are absolutely delightful, Laura! What a great group of young poets. I love your worksheet — simple but so effective!

  11. Mary Lee says:

    These are so much fun! You do marvelous work with these young poets, which results in marvelous poems that work!

  12. […] of My Summer: Odes to Place Third Grade Odes from Northfield E.S. Fractured Fairy Tale Poems Poetry Friday: Once Upon a Time A Gallery of […]

  13. […] of My Summer: Odes to Place Third Grade Odes from Northfield E.S. Fractured Fairy Tale Poems Poetry Friday: Once Upon a Time A Gallery of […]

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Laura Shovan

Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.

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