Thursday is St. Patrick’s Day. To get your students in the Irish spirit, we’ve created a fun little song about writing limericks featuring Nick from the Imagine Learning English software. Nick’s song makes a perfect lesson plan to teach your students about writing limericks (the lyrics are below for your reference).
Watch the video on YouTube here.
And to get you in the Irish spirit, we’d like to have you participate in a limerick contest! Write your own limerick in the comments section below. The writer of our favorite limerick will receive a $20 gift card to Target! We’ll accept submissions through end-of-day Friday, March 18th. Special consideration will be given to limericks with an educational flavor.
Good luck (o’ the Irish) to everyone!
LIMERICK SONG LYRICS
Hello! How are you? I’m Nick.
Here to teach you a fun little trick.
To have a good time
when writing a rhyme
try writing your own limerick!
There are limericks of all different kinds.
So how do you write one that shines?
You’ll see that it’s cool
if you follow the rule:
a limerick is made of five lines.
So listen close to this song.
Lines one, two and five are all long.
And in poems of this sort
make lines three and four short
and I promise you’ll never go wrong.
You need to be sure and contrive
to rhyme lines one, two, and five
Then do it once more
with lines three and four
and your limerick surely will thrive!
So let these pointers take hold
And if you’ll write as you were told
at the rainbow’s end
you’ll find there my friend
your own limerick pot ‘o gold!
This is AWESOME, Carter!
What a fantastic way to teach this type of poem! Limericks were always my favorite thing to write when I was in junior high. I’ll have to try to locate some of my first ones and see how I did. I think they were about animals…
Here’s my attempt:
Juan went on Imagine Learning,
To read like his peers he was yearning.
With practice and time
Working daily on-line,
An “A” on his tests he’s now earning!
I want to wear green it is true
Who wants a pinch? Not me- do you?
But Spanish’s my game
And its not the same
So I’ll glad leave shamrocks,boo hoo!
Of course I could change all the script
from negro to verde encrypt
The kids will not care
Nor complain will they dare
As long as their learning’s not nipped.
So from Spain go north to Irlanda
For wees named enano/enana
Pots of golds called oro
There’s surely not mucho
But the dream lives on-adelantando!
We leprechauns come from a faraway land.
We travel alone or in a big band.
You all go to school,
Oh, boy that is cool!
You’re learning to read and now can understand.
We leprechauns are tricky, smart and mysterious.
Be careful, be respectful, or you’ll make us furious.
The gold that you’re earning
Comes from Imagine Learning!
So go ahead and play, listen and be curious.
Now listen to your teachers in everything they say.
Or we’ll come into your classroom and cause much disarray.
If you like this song
Please sing along!
Clap your hands, move your feet, and say Hurray!
St. Patrick’s Day is a green day with lucky gold
we learn about leprechauns and shamrocks
it is a history day with legends from old
with irish traditions and songs
we loook for leprechaun footprints as we were told!
Everyone knows it’s Saint Patrick’s Day
We shall have fun, celebrate and play
The 17th of March
Let’s go to church
And for the patron of Ireland let’s pray
National festival, celebrations, dressing in green
No matter if you’re an adult, child or teen
It’s not a shock
To wear a shamrock
And everyone obeys the Lenten cuisine
Let’s cherish the culture and cherish a wish
Prepare for this holiday a delicious dish
St. Patrick, Patty, Paddy
Come Mummy and Daddy
Smile and say hello to all the Irish!
Oh yes, today is the day
when Leprechauns come out and play,
They might do a trick
It could be you they pick
To you and your friends they may say:
“Ay, Imagine Learning is fun!
We sure do like it a ton!
but come follow me
we will flee with glee
To the end of the rainbow we’ll run!”
All of our friends were there!
Like Pete and Amanda the bear
We’ll share all the gold
Stories will be told
Laughter will be heard everywhere!
But Imagine Island we missed,
We had words to learn, a whole list!
Put our gold in a sack
magic sent us back
But then we all raised our fists!
Let me describe the scene
Those leprechauns, they’re so mean
We found rocks in our sack
They took all the gold back
And I got pinched cause they changed all my green!
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The Jimmer will always shoot the rock.
The fans in the crowd,
Were always quite loud,
Until the big Davies squawked.
EDIT
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The Jimmer will always shoot the (sham)rock.
The fans in the crowd,
Were always quite loud,
Until the big Davies squawked.
There once was a teacher from Chicago,
To the Imagine Learning Web site she did go,
Taught her class to write rhyme,
It hardly took any time
Because the directions were easy to follow.
The students thought that the lesson was so good,
They asked if over Spring Break they should
Try writing another one,
Because it was so much fun.
The teacher said she would be pleased if they would.
One week later she read each new limerick.
She could tell students had learned a nice trick
From Imagine Learning’s new tool.
Now they think they are cool.
For fun learning, this site is their number one pick!
Fractions are really not hard to do,
You’d know what to do when I’m through.
You’d be able to add,
So don’t look so sad,
As you apply what it is you already knew.
Denominators must be the same to add or subtract,
But not multiply or divide, that’s a fact!
Once the denominators are the same,
Adding or subtracting isn’t so lame,
But only the numerator gets changed to be exact.
The same applies to fractions when you compare,
For your piece of pie you want it to be fair,
Would you choose one fourth or one third?
So change it to twelfths to be sure,
Unless a smaller portion for you, if you really, really don’t care.
Multiplying and dividing fractions give it a try,
It will become very easy to you by and by.
Denominators don’t need to change.
Nor numerators, that isn’t so strange.
Reciprocate the second number to divide and then just multiply.
Children are eager to learn
Wisdom and knowledge they earn
Reading and math
The glimmering path
to one-dollar filet-O-fish
Lack of Green Blues
I really need something green to wear,
I’m staying home so they all don’t stare.
I am in a complete panic
I’d wear green static
I just need green, maybe dye my hair?
My Mom told me not to spill my food
But I did, boy am I in a bad mood
Cereal ruined my shirt
I’ll just throw it in dirt
Today I’ll get pinched; it’s not even rude.
I have ONE green shirt with a collar
Oh I am so mad, I could just holler
I don’t want a pinch
Wearing green should be a cinch
I’d wear baby clothes if I was smaller
Then on top of my “Imagine Learning” DVD…
Was a note addressed specifically to me
“Surprise: Look on your bed
A green hat for your head!”
Now I’ll go to school for the world to see!
[...] [...]
[...] How to write a limerick [...]
[...] Need inspiration? Check out last year’s entries. [...]
Do you have the piano/keyboard written music available for The Limerick Song? I would love to accompany the song on the piano.
There once was a duck named Muck
who loved to drive his truck
he had a great crash
his truck looked like mash
The poor duck had very bad luck.