1. Ballads
Mr. Laurich

2. Quick Write
Do you have a poem or nursery rhyme from your childhood that you remember? Why do you think young children enjoy nursery rhymes?

3. A Ballad IS: A short narrative poem It must tell some sort of story
Usually arranged into 4 line stanzas
The rhyme scheme is usually ABA or ABCB
The subject matter varies from lost love to supernatural happenings or recent events
Ballads use local speech patterns and dialog
Most closely related to music lyrics

4. Knowledge Check! How is a ballad usually arranged?
What are ballads closely related to?
What are 2 common rhyme schemes used in ballads?
True/False: Ballads use local speech patterns and dialog

5. Identify The Rhyme Scheme
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
We Real Cool
By: Gwendolyn Brooks
John as he slept
Cried out in grief,
Turned and wept
On the golden leaf:
FROM: PETER AND JOHN
BY: ELINOR WYLIE

6. Now It’s Your Turn!
I want you to write two ballads. They can be about a recent event in your life or completely made up. It can be something silly or something serious. It needs to be at least 2 stanzas (8 lines) long. Use either the ABA, AABB or ABCB rhyme schemes. Start this assignment after you have finished with “The Tale of Custard The Dragon” and turn it in at the end of the unit. If you do more than two you can get extra credit.

7. TOTD
What similarities and differences did you see between ‘Custard The Dragon’ and other children’s literature such as ‘Cat in the Hat’ or Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See’?