because the cat ate all of the shoes in australia

We were inspired by Ruth Krauss today. We read a few pages from I'll Be You and You Be Me, and then set out to write a poem as a group of eight. The children liked the poem written "by a tree for some bugs". After some discussion, they chose to write a poem by a cat, for some shoes.

someone wearing a shoe
then a cat eat the shoe
maybe trying to get it off?
the cat would bite the shoelaces
the cat eat the shoe
the cat eat the shoelaces
and he eats it all up
a person comes out
and throws the cat outside
because the cat ate all of the shoes in Australia
a boy says, "the end!"

This is my first attempt at writing poetry with children. When we write a story together, I sometimes give them a first line to lead in. I didn't do that today -- instead I wrote everything the children said and that was the poem. We have been reading loads of poems of all kinds - rhyming and non-rhyming - and the children seem interested. Do you use poetry in the classroom?

More sharing about Ruth Krauss to come next week!