But Thinking Is Good!

Recently I visited a school to work with fifth graders. As usual, we were doing stories, and that's great. But each morning I was asked to do a short exercise with homeroom groups, a different one each day. The school said, "DO whatever you want. It doesn't have to be fiction."

That sounded great to me. I decided one morning to have the kids write rhymed poetry because I wanted to show them how I find rhymes and how that leads to new ideas in the lines.

I'm afraid it was hard going. "Do you like to think of rhymes?" I asked.

"Nooo!" came the chorus.

"Why not?" I asked.

One boy shot the truth right back. "Because you have to think too hard."

Well, yes. You do have to think hard. I sorta, kinda think that's a good thing, so I'm very, very happy to see some rhymed poems on KidsWrite4Kids. Check out Caitlyn's "Knit 'n from the Heart" and Sterling's "Max." These are fun, clever poems.

You can also go back through my blog entries to see how I find rhymes.