Little Jumping Joan
Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Small talk: a book of short poems. Harcourt Brace: New York. 1995
Read a familiar Mother Goose poem to students.
Ask students what they know about Mother Goose.
Have students tell you the names of Mother Goose poems they are familiar with.
Ask students what they think of Mother Goose in the poetic sense- "Do they think of Mother Goose rythmes as poetry?"
As the students what they think of poetry in general- "Do they like poetry"? "Have they ever had to memorize or write poetry"?
Explain that some poems are very short and then read the following lesser known, very short poem by Mother Goose.
By Mother Goose
Here am I, Little Jumping Joan.
When nobody's with me
I'm always alone.
Ask the students if any of them have ever heard this very short Mother Goose poem.
Write the poem on large paper for the students to look at.
Read the poem again.
Talk about the structure of the poem- the number of words, sentences etc.
Discuss the poems meaning of the poem.
Have the students read the poem with you.
Have the students create their own three sentence poems about themselves.
Let them create illustrations for their poems and share them with the class if they like.
