English Prescribed Poems
Pre School What do you suppose? or The play park or Petshop or Chapstick
What do you suppose? by Helen Moore
What do you suppose?
A bee sat on my nose!
What do you think?
He gave me a wink
And said: “I beg your pardon
I thought YOU were the garden!”
Petshop by Susan du Preez
The fish in the bowl
The parrot in the cage
The dog and the cat
Look happy and fat
The play park
The jungle gym is lots of fun
The skateboard has no hooter
We go quickly down the slide
Where can we go and hide?
Chapstick by Kenn Nesbitt
My brother said “ Give me the chapstick
my lips are chapped as can be”
He snatched up my gluestick and used it.
He still isn’t taking to me.
Grade 1 Shopping or Shaking at my desk
Shopping by Susan du Preez
I always push the trolley
When we go to the shop
My mommy buys a lot of food
That makes me feel so good
Tomatoes and potatoes
The basket is full
Is your money enough
To pay for all the stuff?
Shaking at my desk by Denise Rodgers
The story that I am writing
Is as scary as can be,
I am shaking at my desk
Because it is even scaring me.
I am scared to see
What happens to the monster
Is he coming after me?
Grade 2 I brought my grandma’s teeth to school or I called my teacher Mommy
If you should meet a crocodile
If you should meet a crocodile
Don’t take a stick and poke him;
Ignore the welcome in his smile,
Be careful not to stroke him.
For as he sleeps upon the Nile,
He gets thinner and thinner;
And whenever you meet a crocodile,
He’s ready for his dinner.
I called my teacher Mommy by Cally Dagos
I called my teacher Mommy
What a silly thing I have said!
I called my teacher Mommy
I have fluff in my head!
I called my teacher Mommy
Now my face is apple red
Grade 3 I brought my grandma’s teeth to school or April Fool
I brought my grandma’s teeth to school
If you have to dry the dishes
(such an awful and boaring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
(instead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor
Maybe they won’t tell you
To dry the dishes any more
April Fool by Myra Livingston
The maple syrup’s full of ants.
A mouse is creeping on the shelf.
Is that a spider on your back?
I ate a whole pie by myself.
The kitchen sink just overflowed.
A flash flood washed away the school.
I threw your blanket in the trash.
I never lie…… I ……. APRIL FOOL!
Grade 4 All my great excuses or Mother is a detective
All my great excuses by Kenn Nessbitt
I started on my homework,
But my pen ran out of ink…
My hamster ate my homework…
My computer is on the blink…
I tripped and dropped my homework
In the soup my mom was cooking…
My brother flushed it down the toilet
When I wasn’t looking
My mother ran my homework
Through the washer and the dryer
An airplane crashed into our house…
My homework caught on fire…
Tornadoes blew my notes away…
Volcanoes rocked our town…
My books were taken hostage
By an evil killer clown…
Some aliens abducted me…
I had a shark attack..
A pirate swiped my homework
And refused to give it back
I worked on these excuses
So darned long my teacher said:
“ I think you will find it easier
To do your homework instead”
Mother is a detective
Our mother is a detective,
She is great at finders of clues,
She found the mud and grass on our shoes,
When we were told not to go in the park –
Because it would be getting dark
But come straight home.
She found the jam on our thumbs,
And in our beds the tiniest crumbs
From the cakes we said we had not eaten.
When we blamed the cat for breaking the fruit bowl
Because we did not want any fuss…..
She knew it was us.
She knew it was us.
Grade 5 The pencil and the eraser were in a horrid fight or The silliest teacher in school
The pencil and the eraser were in a horrid fight (Unknown)
The pencil and eraser
Were in a horrid fight,
It went on through the day
And well into the night
The pencil wrote a poem
About erasers that can’t write,
The eraser erased the poem,
And he did it with delight.
The pencil wrote a sign,
Keep erasers out of sight,
The eraser erased the sign,
And he did it out of spite.
The pencil wrote a note,
“You are just a parasite”
The eraser erased the note,
Not a word was left in sight.
The pencil and eraser
Fought all through the night,
And when the morning came,
They had disappeared from sight.
The silliest teacher in school by Darrel Sardelli
Our teacher gave detention
to the fountains in the hall.
She handed extra homework
to the artwork on the wall.
We saw her point a finger
at a banner and a sign.
She said their bad behavior
was completely out of line.
The principal approached her
and said, “What is all this fuss?
I heard you tried to punish
all the tires on a bus.
“You’ve made the teachers angry
by disrupting all their classes,
so if you want to keep this job,
you have to wear your glasse
Grade 6 My sister’s room or I fell in love with my smart phone
My sister’s room by Denise Rodgers
I have plans for my sister’s room
Which I’ve renamed the den of doom,
While she is gone for three days (three!)
With plans to have more fun than me.
There’s ice cream for her pillowcase
(Nice and sticky for her face).
Rubber spiders for her sheets,
(A nice and soothing bed-time treat.)
I’ll read her journal — glue it shut,
And tell my mom it’s filled with smut.
I’ll stuff her shoes with pistachios,
Her posters I’ll mustachio.
Give me time, I’ll think of more.
What’s that? My sister locked her door!?!
I’m so angry I could bust.
I fell in love with my smart phone by Kenn Nesbitt
I think I’m in love with my smartphone.
I’ve never felt this way before.
I used to be lonely without it.
I don’t feel alone anymore.
My phone is my constant companion.
It loves to just hang out and play.
As long as I plug it in nightly,
it charms and delights me all day.
It likes to play music and movies.
It never says no to a game.
It answers my questions so sweetly.
Without it, life isn’t the same.
I hope you don’t misunderstand me
or think that I’m some kind of freak,
but I fell in love with my smartphone,
O we’re getting married next week
Grade 7 Under my bed or Be proud of who you are
Under my bed by Kenn Nessbitt
There’s something underneath my bed.
It’s kind of hard to see.
But, every time I look, I think
it’s looking back at me.
It’s dark and somewhat fuzzy like
an old and moldy peach.
I can’t tell if it’s moving but
it stays beyond my reach.
It might be made of dust balls or
a pile of stinky socks,
or maybe dirty underwear
and missing Lego blocks.
It could be where my crayons went
and where my games keep going,
since, every time I look at it,
it seems as if it’s growing.
It grew a little yesterday.
It grew the day before.
I looked again today and saw
it grew a little more.
I’m starting to get worried since
I don’t know what it is.
I showed it to my brother, but
he swears it isn’t his.
I hope it goes away soon, since,
if things do not improve,
I’ll have to go tell mom and dad
it’s time for us to move.
Be proud of who you are
I come with no wrapping of pretty pink bows.
I am who I am, from my head to my toes.
I tend to get loud when speaking my mind.
Even a little crazy some of the time.
I’m not perfect but I don’t care to be.
You can be you and I can be me.
I try to stay strong when pain knocks me down.
And the times that I cry are when no one’s around.
To error is human or so that’s what they say.
Well, tell me who’s perfect anyway.
Grade 8 Why God made teachers or Messy Room
When God created teachers,
He gave us special friends
To help us understand His world
And truly comprehend
The beauty and the wonder
Of everything we see,
And become a better person
With each discovery.
When God created teachers,
He gave us special guides
To show us ways in which to grow
So we can all decide
How to live and how to do
What’s right instead of wrong,
To lead us so that we can lead
And learn how to be strong.
Why God created teachers,
In His wisdom and His grace,
Was to help us learn to make our world
A better, wiser place.
Messy Room by Shel Silverstein
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater’s been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should beAshamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or —
Huh? You say it’s mine? Oh, dear, I knew it looked familiar!
Grade 9 Expectations or The diet
Expectations by Jeremy Richard Piercy
I sit on the doorstep of my childhood.
I have rung the bell of my conscience
Twice now, but there is no reply.
I am waiting to see an image
Of my failures and disbeliefs – and here is one now.
The slow drizzle of my memories is gone now;
I have lost time and friendship – they have
Disappeared into the past with the other things
A master sees me waiting and watches disdainfully –
He thinks he knows me,
But he does not know how wrong he is.
The diet by Jacqueline Emery
I’ve just stood on the scales.
What a dreadful fright.
I really thought my jeans had shrunk again!
What I didn’t realize
was – they’re getting far too tight;
NO chips and crisps and cakes for me – that’s plain!
I’ll try to lose a stone –
That’s well within my reach,
before the summer comes and clothes get less!
bikinis don’t look good
if you’re bulging on the beach –
And I doubt if I can do up my best dress!
So that’s my new idea –
Nothing will change my mind,
not anything you DO or EAT or SAY!
Some chocolates – just for me!
Oh, thank you – that’s so kind.
A diet? Well – perhaps another day!
Grade 10 A Message to the moon or The hardest part
A Message to the moon by Millicent L. Pettit
You`re not as dead as you look.
They`re after you.
They`ll strike oil on you.
They`ll build refineries on your eyes to your forehead
And run freeways from your eyes to your mouth.
They`ll fill your pores with scrap iron
And your nostrils with smog.
Your chin will break out in a rash of billboards
And your cheeks will be pockmarked with trailer camps.
Try to look deader. Forgot to wax.
Keep on waning. Get off your orbit.
Eclipse!
Don`t just sit there mooning.
The hardest part of work by Evan James Griffin
The hardest part of work,
is to pretend you’re working hard.
You can only stack so many papers,
or shuffle so many business cards.
In one tab you’ll have your email.
And the other you’ll have your shows.
And you can switch between them so quickly
Your boss hardly knows.
Hulu shows the Office,
Youtube has dancing Dogs.
Amazon sells lots of books,
on Ebay you bought some Pogs.
But once you’re tired of Facebook,
and you,ve written too many Tweets,
you’ll stroll down to the breakroom,
and help youself to treats.
And if there is a co-worker,
with semi-engaging news
You’ll only stop and gossip,
for at least an hour or two.
Other times you’ll play ping pong,
your favourite company perk.
It’s amazing what you get done,
when you come to work.
Grade 11 Slow dance or The world before goodbye
Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever last touch, let a friendship die,
‘cause you never had time to call and say hi?
You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.
When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.
Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.
The world before goodbye
What is springtime after all?
Only the other side of fall.
Oh if I could have
I’d have made you a sunny sky –
Hello’s the word before good-bye.
Sometimes it rains, sometimes it shines
Yet the things I want are seldom mine
How much of summer can we hold
Before we turn and find we’re old?
The things our mirrors tell us are all lies
Hello’s the word before good-bye.
Sometimes it’s dark, sometimes it’s fair
Yet when I go home at night nobody’s there.
Perhaps the next wind that blows in
Will bring you back to me again.
Till then remembering just makes me want to cry.
Hello’s the word before good-bye.
Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win
Yet I can’t forget what might have been.
Garde 12 Serenade by Phillippa N Barlow or Why Me?
Serenade by Phillippa N Barlow
Sing me a serenade,
a serenade about you.
Through your music talk to me,
let me understand you more.
Tell me about your pain,
about your sorrow.
Tell me about your pain,
about your sorrow.
Tell me about your happiness
and let me follow.
Let me see you as you are,
not as the world thinks you are.
I do not want to understand
what you show the world.
I want to know that real you,
that you in your song,
that innermost you that
you share with your song.
I want to understand you,
to understand your song.
Please, sing me the serenade,
the serenade of your life,
and maybe someday it might mingle,
might mingle with mine,
that our serenades together
might become as one
Why Me?
If you have to ask Why Me?
When you’re feeling really blue,
When the world has turned against you
And you don’t know what to do,
When it pours colossal raindrops
And the road’s a winding mess,
And you’re feeling more confused
Than you ever could express,
When the saddened sun won’t shine,
When the stars will not align,
When you’d rather be
Inside your bed,
The covers pulled
Above your head,
When life is something
That you dread
And you have to ask Why Me?
Then when the world seems right and true
When rain has left a gentle dew,
When you feel happy being you,
Please ask yourself Why Me? Then, too
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