Rewriting Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes are well-known examples of poems that tell little tales. Like any tale, a nursery rhyme usually has an ending.
Encourage your students to go wacky! Tell them to think of a nursery rhyme they know well or find one in a book. First have them write the rhyme in its usual way, then think of a way to rewrite it. Have them keep the rhythm and rhyme scheme but add new twists and turns and a new ending. They could add extra verses, too.
Here's a nursery rhyme in its usual form:
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play
To see the lamb at school.
Here's a new version of that rhyme with a few twists and a different ending:
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
But Mary had a wild idea,
She'd dye the wool Day-Glo!
She got a pack of lime green dye
And mixed it in a pool,
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb so cool!
Students can make a two-sided display for their revised rhyme. Fold a sheet of paper in half. Cut out a shape along the fold so that when you open it, you see two mirror-image shapes. Make them big enough fit the poems. Write the "real" version on one side of the shape and your version on the other. Post the shape on a bulletin board so that readers can compare the Before and After versions.
