a small yellow and blue bird
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Poetry,

Make up your mind, March!

Will March bring winter snow or spring sun?

By Beverly McLoughland
From the March/April Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify examples of personification in this descriptive rhyming poem about spring weather.

Featured Skill: Personification,
Common Core Standards
  • R.1, R.2, R.5, R.7, W.3, SL.1, SL.2, L.1
TEKS Standards
  • TEKS Grades 2-3:
    1b, 1c, 4a, 6c, 6f, 6i, 7c, 7g, 9b, 9f, 10c, 10d, 12a

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Personification

This poem describes March and April as if they were people. How do the months act like people in the poem?

Some days you come

With snowflakes falling,

Then you show up

With robins calling—


Spring or Winter?

Pick one—please!

Will my toes be warm

Or will they freeze?


Your buddy, April’s,

At the door,

And we know who

She’s rooting for.

THINK AND WRITE

Learn more about personification and write a poem with our Poetry Kit online!

“Make up your mind, march!” by Beverly Mcloughland.

Author controls all rights.

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Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras
More Poetry by Beverly McLoughland

Watch these short videos to enjoy two more poems by this issue’s poet. “Special Delivery” uses personification to talk about the sun, and “Danger! Chicks Hatching” celebrates another springtime indicator.

Watch This

Your students will love learning more about personification with this foot-tapping animated video from The Bazillions. Or if you prefer a shorter, non-musical-number approach, try this short video instead.

Read This

Share Signs That Spring Has Sprung from LiveScience and ask your students to add other signs of spring’s arrival to the list.

Listen to This

Hear what a robin sounds like with these recordings from Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology. 

More About the Article

Key Skills

Personification, rhyme, interpreting text, main idea, making inferences, expressing an opinion

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

1. PREPARING TO READ

Set a Purpose for Reading (10 minutes)

  • Begin by reading the Personification bubble with the class. Explain that the arrows point to two examples of personification in the poem. Ask students to look for other examples as they read.
  • Point out that “rooting for” in the last stanza means supporting. Ask students what they do when they root for a school team to win a game.
  • This is a rhyming poem. Ask students to look for examples of rhyming words in each stanza.
  • Ask students to look at the photograph. What is the bird standing on? Help students identify both the snow and the green leaves in the photo. During which season of the year do most birds appear?

2. READING AND DISCUSSING

  • Read the poem for the class, play our audio version, or use Text-to-Speech. As students listen, ask them to imagine what it’s like to play outside when March is very cold or very warm. Which type of weather do they prefer? Why?
  • Project or distribute the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions and discuss them as a class.  

Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions (15 minutes)

  • Which words rhyme in the first stanza? (rhyme) falling, calling
  • What kind of March weather does the poet describe in the first two lines? (interpreting text) The poet describes cold March weather with snow falling.
  • What kind of weather does the poet describe in the stanza’s last two lines? (interpreting text) The poet describes warm March weather with robins singing.
  • Which words rhyme in the second stanza? (rhyme) please, freeze
  • In the second stanza, what is March asked to do that a person usually does? (personification) March is asked to make a choice, to pick something.
  • What does the poet ask March to pick? (main idea) She wants March to pick the weather, either warm like spring or freezing cold like winter.
  • Which words rhyme in the third stanza? (rhyme) door, for
  • Why does the poet describe April as March’s buddy? (interpreting text) April is the month that follows March.
  • What kind of weather is April rooting for? (making inferences) April wants the March weather to be warm like spring, not cold like winter.
  • Do you think “Make up your mind, March!” is a good title for this poem? Explain. (expressing an opinion) Answers will vary. Students may think it’s a good title because it sums up what the poet is asking March to do in the poem: decide if it will be a warm or cold month.

3. SKILL BUILDING

  • Call on a volunteer to read the Think and Write box.
  • Distribute our Personification Skill Builder. Students can brainstorm ideas for their poems with partners, then read them aloud in small groups.

Text-to-Speech