Posts Tagged ‘writing’

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream Poem

Monday, May 20th, 2013

a-midsummer-nights-dreamMy 11-year-old son Stephen Evans wrote a poem to summarize A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare:

I will tell you a hilarious comedy,
The best I ever said.
Four lovers ran into the woods
And everyone ended up wed.

Theseus was the duke of Athens,
He would marry his love with grandeur.
Hermia’s father wanted her to marry
Demetrius, but she loved Lysander.

Theseus gave Hermia four days
To marry Demetrius or die.
Hermia begged her father with tears,
“Why must I marry Demetrius? Why?”

Lysander said to his love, Hermia,
“I have a plan to become your spouse.
To be free from Athenian law,
We’ll run away to my grandma’s house.”

The plan was set in motion,
But Hermia told her friend.
In turn, her friend told Demetrius,
Who wanted it to come to an end.

Demetrius followed Lysander and Hermia,
Trying to win Hermia’s love.
Helena ran after Demetrius,
But Demetrius gave her a shove.

The forest was inhabited by fairies,
And King Oberon ruled them all.
He noticed Helena’s rejected love
And decided to rectify the gall.

Oberon ordered Puck to put love juice
On the young Athenian’s eyes.
Puck mistook Lysander for Demetrius,
And Helena was scandalized.

Puck realized his mistake
And put love juice on Demetrius.
Both men ran after Helena,
But poor Hermia was treated like pus.

They all fell asleep in the forest;
Oberon made Lysander’s eyes okay.
Now everyone loved their true loves
And married the very next day.

Related product to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” poem: Romeo and Juliet Unit Study

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Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #2: Shape Books

Saturday, April 20th, 2013

creative-ways-to-use-cookie-cutters-2

This is the second idea in the blog series “Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters.” This time we are making a shape book. If you have younger kids, these shape books can encourage your young writers to write fun stories, descriptions, or summaries. For example, a child can draw (or cut out a small picture from a magazine) and describe a different flower on each page of her flower book.

Or your son could summarize the storybook, The Gingerbread Man. Each page can explain a part of the story where the gingerbread man kept telling each character that he couldn’t be caught. He is gobbled up by a fox at the end of the story, so the concluding shape book page can be funny, with cookie crumbs all over it and a fox licking his chops.

creative-ways-to-use-cookie-cutters-3Grab a card stock paper for your front and back covers, and using the cookie cutter as a stencil, use a pencil to trace around the inside of the cookie cutter. Do this to both pieces, and cut them out. Now use the card stock shape as a stencil, cutting a stack of 3-4 sheets of blank paper at a time, to make this process go faster. You can make the book as thick as you want, as long as the staples will go through it. Staple the book all the way through on the side or on the top. Two staples will make the book more sturdy than one staple, but I decided to staple the top of the gingerbread man with one staple through the top of the head, and it was fine.

Now give these cute books to your sweet, dear children. If you don’t have any children, give them away to a Sunday School class at church, for prizes. You can make a shape book of a lamb, and tell the story about how Christ came to earth to be our sacrificial lamb.

Stay tuned for “Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #3.” Hint: This next idea will come in handy at your next tea party.

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Posted in Fun Spring Activities | 2 Comments »

Macbeth Poem for Kids

Monday, April 8th, 2013

Macbeth-poem-for-kids

This Macbeth poem for kids was written by my 11-year-old son when he was given the assignment to write a summary of Macbeth. He decided to do the summary as a poem. My kids said that Macbeth was the worst story they ever read, and we talked about how ambition led Macbeth to take matters into his own hands. I’m doing a Bible study on the life of David, and we compared Macbeth to King David. Both men had predictions that they would be king. But David waited on God. He did not take matters into his own hands, even when he had the chance twice to kill Saul. David was a man of integrity, whereas Macbeth thought he had to keep killing people to cover up his previous murders. Macbeth even had his best friend Banquo killed, and after he won the crown, he couldn’t even enjoy it but was miserable. All sin ends in misery.

Macbeth – by Stephen Evans (age 11)

I’ll tell you a gruesome tragedy,
The worst you ever read.
Three witches caused Macbeth to act,
And everyone ends up dead.

Macbeth had won a victory
Against the thane of Cawdor.
Lady Macbeth contrived a plan
That was so full of gore.

Macbeth was to kill King Duncan
And take the crown for himself,
Framing the sleeping guards,
And sneaking away with stealth.

Banquo thought he was a friend,
But Macbeth had him killed.
Banquo’s ghost showed up at a feast;
With insanity Macbeth was filled.

Macbeth revisited the witches,
Who told him, “Beware Macduff
And watch out for Birnam Wood.”
Then they disappeared with a puff.

Macduff, Duncan’s son, and an army
Made camp in Birnam Wood.
When Macbeth looked over the battlements,
At once he understood.

The soldiers hidden by branches
Marched against Macbeth.
Macduff sank his sword into his foe,
And Macbeth fell down in death.

*Artwork above poem by Bryan Evans (age 12)
“Macbeth Sees Birnam Wood Advancing”

Related product: Romeo and Juliet Unit Study

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Homeschooling Reluctant Writers #9: Mysterious Picture

Friday, March 1st, 2013

Homeschooling Reluctant Writers
(A series of 10 fun writing assignments given by a pirate)

Aaaaarggh! This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, here to give you ideas for homeschooling reluctant writers.

homeschooling-reluctant-writers-14Writing Idea #9: Mysterious Picture

  •  Cut out pictures from magazines like National Geographic or any other magazine that might have a picture that gives you ideas on some story that might be behind it.
  • (Showing 1st picture) Here we have a picture of someone pulling something out of the water. What is it? What could it be? Has he been looking for it for years? Is it pirate treasure?
  • (Showing 2nd picture) And here we have people who haven’t seen each other for years. Why haven’t they seen each other for so long? Tell the story behind this picture.
  • (Showing 3rd picture) This woman is saying good-bye to someone. Who is she saying good-bye to? Is it her son? Why is he going away?
  • (Showing 4th picture) The people in this classroom are very upset. What are they upset about? How come? Are they going to cause a riot? What are they going to do next?
  • (Showing 5th picture) Why is this woman being pulled out of a car? Is there something wrong? Is she being kidnapped in that car? What’s going on here? What’s going to happen next? Is she going to fall?
  • (Showing 6th picture) And what’s this woman doing with a crocodile on her head? Did the crocodile just jump down on her head? Did she go hunting for it, and is she going to have it for dinner? She looks very brave. But what on earth is going to happen next?

So you see, any picture could have a story behind it that is interesting and exciting. You could even write a novel based on one picture.

This is Dread Pirate Susan Evans, signing off. Aaaaaarrrrggh!

Calling all homeschooled kids! I dare you to make a video response to this pirate video on YouTube:

  • Write a full one-page story based on a magazine picture.
  • Dress up as a pirate, and read your story into a video camera. Upload it to YouTube.
  • Go to the above video on YouTube, and press “video response.”
  • I am automatically notified when someone posts a video response. After watching it, I will embed it right here on this page!

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