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7th grade · English Language Arts · Unit 7 of 13

Poetry Lab

Rhyme, stanzas and speakers

What your child practices

Reading short original poems to find rhyme schemes, count stanzas, identify the speaker, recognize forms like haiku, limerick and free verse, and interpret figurative language and theme.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: Reading 8 · poetic forms, stanzas and speakers

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Label lines that rhyme with the same letter to find the rhyme scheme: AABB, ABAB.
  2. A stanza is a group of lines. The speaker is the voice in the poem.
  3. Haiku has 3 lines (5, 7, 5 syllables). A limerick is a funny 5-line poem (AABBA). Free verse has no set rhyme or rhythm.

Example: Lines 1 and 2 rhyme, and lines 3 and 4 rhyme. What is the rhyme scheme? Lines 1 and 2 get A. Lines 3 and 4 get B. Answer: AABB

Poetry Lab in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 7 of 13 in 7th grade English Language Arts, after Word Mix-Ups and before Punctuation Power.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which senses does the poem mainly appeal to?

    Saturday Market

    The baker stacks her golden bread,

    The farmer weighs a pear,

    A fiddle's music twirls and spins

    Like ribbons through the air.

    • Sight and hearing
    • Touch and taste
    • Smell and touch
    • Taste and smell

  2. Question 2

    What is the rhyme scheme of this poem?

    Saturday Market

    The baker stacks her golden bread,

    The farmer weighs a pear,

    A fiddle's music twirls and spins

    Like ribbons through the air.

    • ABAB
    • ABCB
    • AABB
    • ABBA

  3. Question 3

    What is the setting of this poem?

    Saturday Market

    The baker stacks her golden bread,

    The farmer weighs a pear,

    A fiddle's music twirls and spins

    Like ribbons through the air.

    • A snowy forest
    • A quiet library
    • A busy market
    • A school gym

  4. Question 4

    Which two lines rhyme with each other?

    Pete

    There once was a puppy named Pete

    Who snatched every sock off your feet.

    He'd tiptoe and creep

    While you were asleep,

    Then nap on the pile, looking sweet.

    • Lines 1 and 4
    • Lines 3 and 4
    • Lines 2 and 4
    • Lines 1 and 3

  5. Question 5

    What form of poem is this?

    Pete

    There once was a puppy named Pete

    Who snatched every sock off your feet.

    He'd tiptoe and creep

    While you were asleep,

    Then nap on the pile, looking sweet.

    • Free verse
    • Haiku
    • Sonnet
    • Limerick

  6. Question 6

    Which word best describes the tone of this poem?

    Pete

    There once was a puppy named Pete

    Who snatched every sock off your feet.

    He'd tiptoe and creep

    While you were asleep,

    Then nap on the pile, looking sweet.

    • Serious
    • Humorous
    • Gloomy
    • Furious

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