Grade Level: 7th
Focus Trait: Sentence Fluency
Mentor Text: Science Verses
Author: Jon Scieszka
Illustrator:Lane Smith
ISBN: 0670910570
Mentor Text Summary: This collection of poems about science begins with a boy sitting in science class listening to his teacher talk about the “poetry of science.” The next day the boy starts hearing everything as a science poem. Ten parodies of well-known poems follow. The last page lists the famous poems that provided the basis for the parodies. This is an exciting book that can serve as an excellent springboard for teaching both science and language arts.
About the Illustrator:
“In high school I had a great art teacher, Mr. Baughman, who saw some potential in my work. Up until then I hadn't given a career in art much thought. And college was not a top priority in my family. In fact, of all my relatives and immediate family only one or two ever even thought about college. Mr. Baughman personally drove me to Pasadena, an hour and a half away, and introduced me to the school recruiters. If not for him I'd still be painting Christmas windows or doing caricatures at an amusement park.”
Lesson:
- Read Scieszka's Science Verse as a read-aloud over several days with the students.
- Share the songs from the book that your students will already know are impersonations of other songs they've heard, such as the "It's Raining, It's Pouring" and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Ask the students, "How does the author make sure his new song sounds so much like the original song?" Discuss with the students how keeping the same rhythm and syllables allows the author to write a parody of any song.
- Share the definition of parody.
parody: (noun) -- A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. |
- Complete this worksheet as a group on the ELMO or overhead projector, so that students understand how parodies are formed and take shape. http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/poetry_prompts/Poetry_Pic_Books/Science_Verse_package.pdf
- Have the students run with the parody idea in their writing notebooks. Have students complete the left-hand side of the notebook page by choosing the opening lines from famous poems; then, give them a week to make parodies of each line they wrote down. Once the students have finished the parodies, have them share their "parody launches" with others. Have them brainstorm which "parody launch" should be developed into a full parody.
- Talk about the importance of polishing the rhythm of their parody poems, or challenge them to spruce up their drafts’ word choices with better words that have the same syllable count.
Below is a suggestion for how to partition off a page in the writers’ notebook, or an example of a graphic organizer for the students to use for brainstorming.
Setting up the Writer's Notebook page:
Parody Launches |
Definition of Parody:
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Opening line of a famous poem: | My parody of the line at left: |
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Opening line of a famous poem: | My parody of the line at left: |
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Opening line of a familiar song: | My parody of the song at left: |
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Opening line of a familiar song: | My parody of the song at left: |
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- Once students have had a chance to play with parody, tell the students they are going to work in small groups to create a parody of the world-famous poem written by Clement Clarke Moore, “The Night Before Christmas”. Their group poems will be called "The Day of Thanksgiving."
Ohio Academic Content Standards for the Lesson:
Standard: Writing Process
Benchmark: C. Clarify ideas for writing assignments by using graphic organizers or other organizers.
Indicator: 5. Use organizational strategies to plan writing.
Useful Websites:
TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. 
“In high school I had a great art teacher, Mr. Baughman, who saw some potential in my work. Up until then I hadn't given a career in art much thought. And college was not a top priority in my family. In fact, of all my relatives and immediate family only one or two ever even thought about college. Mr. Baughman personally drove me to Pasadena, an hour and a half away, and introduced me to the school recruiters. If not for him I'd still be painting Christmas windows or doing caricatures at an amusement park.”
Grade Level: 8th 
