Poem of the Week ~ Grade 3

All Things Live Together

by Lill Pluta

Rivers fill with raindrops.

Grassy meadows bloom.

Up above the mountaintops,

hawks and eagles zoom.

Porcupines, opossums,

skunks, raccoons, and bears,

foxes, beavers, owls, and elk,

badgers, snakes, and hares.

Creatures in the woodlands,

creatures in the sky,

creatures in the streams and fields,

creep and swim and fly.

    

First we looked up pictures of animals that we weren't familiar with.  Do you know that an elk looks like a reindeer?  Or that a badger looks like a cross between a skunk and a raccoon?  We think that a hare looks like a bunny with a little kangaroo mixed in?

Then we counted the syllables in each line.  We noticed a pattern. In every stanza, the first line has 6 syllables, the second line has 5 syllables, the third line has 7 syllables, and the last line has 5 syllables.  Do you think the poet did this on purpose?  We do.