Illustration of a girl holding a slice of pizza as a cat and dog run by
Marcos Calo
Poetry,

Shape Poems

Two heart-shaped and heartfelt odes to some favorite things

By Kenn Nesbitt
From the February 2022 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify how the shapes of two poems contribute to their meaning and the enjoyment of them.

Complexity Factors
  • Purpose & Levels of Meaning
    The two poems are odes, one to pets and the other to pizza. The poems express love and gratitude to their subjects.
  • Structure
    Both poems are shape poems, each arranged to look like a heart. The illustration reinforces the heart shapes. Each poem has eight lines and contains straightforward rhymes. Both poems are told in the first person. In “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You,” the speaker directly addresses the pizza.
  • Language
    The poems use simple language overall. “My Dog and Cat” includes some onomatopoeia (bow wow wow, meow, woof, and purr). “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You” includes the less commonly used word melty to describe the pizza’s cheese. The poem uses the idiom “begging on my knees” and ends with the phrase “Won’t you be my Valentine?”
  • Knowledge Demands
    No prior knowledge is required to understand and enjoy the poems. Parts of a pizza (crust, sauce, cheese) are referenced, as is being someone’s Valentine.
Featured Skill: Poetic Structures,
Other Key Skills: text features, vocabulary, visual literacy, theme, rhyme, interpreting text, main idea, key details, figurative language, summarizing
Standards
  • Common Core
    RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL.5, RL.7, RF.4, SL.1, SL.2, L.1
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3b, 3d, 4a, 6a, 6c, 6d, 6g, 6h, 7c, 7g, 8a, 8b, 9b, 10c, 10d
Content-Area Connections
  • Social and Emotional Learning
    social awareness (expressing gratitude)

Presentation View
See Student View
Think and Read

A SHAPE POEM is set up to look like something the poem is about. How does the shape of each poem help you understand its meaning?

My Dog and Cat

Bow wow wow.         Meow, meow.

My dog and cat are        friends somehow.

My dog says, “Woof!” My cat says, “Purr.”

They hug and lick each other’s fur.

I’m glad I have a dog and cat.

I love them both,

and that is

that.

Pizza, Pizza, I Love You

Pizza,                   Pizza,

I love you. And         I hope you love

me too. Crust and sauce and melty cheese

have me begging on my knees. You’re

my favorite. You’re so fine.

Won’t you be my

Valentine

?

BY KENN NESBITT. USED BY PERMISSION OF THE POET. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Audio ()
Activities (4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Audio ()
Activities (4) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras
From the Storyworks 3 Archives

Pair this poem with “A Circle of Sun,” another visual poem, from our May/June 2020 issue.

Watch This

Your students will love hearing poet Kenn Nesbitt read aloud another of his poems, “Lunchbox Love Note.”

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading and Critical-Thinking 

3. SEL Focus

4. Skill Building

5. Differentiate and Customize

Striving Leaders, Multilingual Learners, Advanced Readers, STEAM Connection

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading (5 minutes)

  • Read the titles of the poems along with the poet’s name and the illustrator’s name.
  • Read aloud the words “Shape Poems,” and ask students to guess what a shape poem is.
  • Direct students to the bubble labeled Think and Read. Read the first sentence and discuss whether students correctly guessed what a shape poem is.
  • Read the second sentence of the Think and Read, and instruct students to keep the prompt in mind as they read the poem.

Preview Text Features and Vocabulary (15 minutes)  

  • Go over any vocabulary terms that may be challenging for your students.
  • Invite students to describe the illustration and then predict what the poems are about based on the artwork.

2. Reading and Discussing the Poem

  • Read the poems to the class, play the audio version, or use Text-to-Speech.
  • Next, ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poems.
  • Discuss the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, assign all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck, which contains the questions as well as other activities from this lesson plan and a link to the poems.)

Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions (30 minutes)

  • What shape is formed by the words in the poems? How do the parts of the illustration that surround each poem help you see this shape? (poetic structures, visual literacy) The words in each poem form a heart shape. In the illustration, the tails of the dog and cat form the two halves of a heart that goes around the poem “My Dog and Cat.” The poem “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You” is surrounded by a drawing of a heart-shaped pizza. These parts of the illustration help you more easily see the shape of the poems.
  • What clue does the shape of “My Dog And Cat” and of “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You” give you about what the poems are about? (poetic structures, theme) The heart shapes of the poems give you a clue that these are poems about love.
  • Sometimes rhyming words come at the end of lines. Sometimes rhyming words appear in the same line. Which words rhyme in the poem “My Dog and Cat”? (rhyme) The words that rhyme are bow, wow, meow, and somehow; purr and fur; and cat and that.
  • What does the narrator of “My Dog and Cat” mean by the words “my dog and cat are friends somehow”? (interpreting text, main idea) The narrator means that although dogs and cats often don’t get along, the narrator’s pets are good friends.
  • How do the dog and cat show their feelings for each other? (key details) The dog and cat show their feelings for each other by hugging and licking each other’s fur.
  • Which words rhyme in “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You”? (rhyme) The words that rhyme are you and too; cheese and knees; and fine and Valentine.
  • Explain what the narrator means by the phrase “have me begging on my knees.” (interpreting text, figurative language) The narrator means that he or she really loves eating pizza. The phrase “have me begging on my knees” is a funny way to describe how the narrator feels about this delicious food.
  • How does the illustration connect both poems? (visual literacy, summarizing) The two poems are connected because the illustration shows a child happily eating pizza while a dog and cat watch. The pets look as if they would like to eat some of the pizza too.

3. SEL Focus

Practicing Gratitude

The narrator in these poems reminds us all to express gratitude for the things in life that bring us pleasure, even when those things are ordinary or part of our daily lives. Ask: What is something in your daily life for which you’d like to pause and take a moment to be thankful?

 

4. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Poetic Structures

Distribute or digitally assign our Poetic Structures Skill Builder and have students complete it in class or for homework.

Differentiate and Customize
For Striving Readers

After reading or listening to the poems, divide students into pairs and assign each pair one of the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions to work on together. Reconvene and have pairs share their answers with the group.

For Multilingual Learners

Animal sounds and holidays can be different in other languages and cultures. Ask your students how dogs bark and cats meow and purr in their first languages. The narrator of “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You” asks pizza to “be my Valentine,” but not everyone in the world celebrates Valentine’s Day.  Consequently, the phrase “be my Valentine” may be unfamiliar to some of your students. Explain that Valentine’s Day is a special day to tell people in your life that you love or like and appreciate them. Ask students to share how they would ask someone to be their friend in their first languages.

For Advanced Readers

Have students write a response from the perspective of the dog, cat, or pizza mentioned in the poems. How does the character feel about the narrator of “My Dog and Cat” and “Pizza, Pizza, I Love You”? Does the character return the narrator’s love, or might it want to express different feelings? Ask students to place their words into a shape that works well with their responses.

STEAM Connection

Ask students to think about something from their daily lives that they love or really appreciate, and have them create a Valentine’s Day card for the thing they chose. They can write something sincere or funny. Afterward, display the cards in the classroom.

Text-to-Speech