Article
Art by Barbara Bongini
Poetry,

Someone Tell the Moon

A charming poem about seeing the moon during the daytime

By Eric Ode
From the February 2023 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify examples of personification in this rhyming poem about the moon.

Complexity Factors
  • Levels of Meaning
    “Someone Tell the Moon” tells the story of a young child wondering why the moon is present during the daytime.
  • Structure
    The poem consists of three stanzas of four lines each. Its rhyme scheme is ABCB.
  • Language
    The poem uses simple language and straightforward rhymes.
  • Knowledge Demands
    No prior knowledge is needed.
Featured Skill: Personification,
Other Key Skills: text features, summarizing, interpreting text, rhyme, visual literacy
Standards
  • Common Core
    R.4, RL.1, RL.2, RL.3, RL.4, RL.5, RL.7, SL.1, L.1
  • TEKS Grade 3
    1a, 1c, 3b, 4, 6a, 6c, 6f, 6g, 7c, 7d, 9b, 10c, 10d

Presentation View
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Personification

This poem describes the moon as if it were a person. As you read, think about how the poet makes the moon seem human. 

Someone Tell the Moon

Someone tell the moon

that she has stayed up much too late.

It’s morning, and the sun is up.

It’s nearly half past eight.


She followed me to school today.

She knew I wouldn’t mind.

But now I have to go inside

and leave the moon behind.


I’m sure she should be sound asleep.

She’s wide awake instead.

Someone tell the moon

that it is time to go to bed.

Reprinted by permission of THE POET. All Rights Reserved.

Audio ()
Activities (3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Audio ()
Activities (3) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Can't Miss Teaching Extras

After reading a moon-themed poem, have your students check out a sun-themed one! Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s graphic poem “A Circle of Sun” is sure to be a hit with your students!

 

Continue exploring personification with some of our other poetry: “New Year’s Eve,” “Make up your mind, March!,” “Titanic Remembers April 16, 1912,” and “September.”

This issue’s infographic “Hello, Moon!” (and its accompanying video “What You Need to Know About the Moon”) makes a great pairing with the poem.

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Table of Contents

1. Preparing to Read

2. Close Reading

3. Skill Building

1. Preparing to Read

Set a Purpose for Reading

  • Read the title of the poem along with the poet’s name. Ask students to describe the illustration and predict what the poem will be about. Review the predictions after reading the poem.
  • Ask your students if they’ve ever seen the moon during the day. Did that feel surprising? Why or why not?
  • Pair the poem with this issue’s infographic, “Hello, Moon!,” and its accompanying video, “What You Need to Know About the Moon.” You can use these resources to build background knowledge, including why the moon is sometimes visible during daytime.
  • Explain the term personification to your students (describing something nonhuman as if it were a person). Then read aloud the Think and Read prompt and instruct students to keep this prompt in mind as they read the poem.

Preview Text Features and Vocabulary

  • Go over any vocabulary terms that may be challenging for your students.

2. Reading and Discussing the Poem

  • Read the poem to the class, play the audio version, or use text-to-speech.

  • Next, ask students to take turns reading aloud each line in the poem.

  • Discuss the Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions. (Alternatively, assign all or part of the Learning Journey Slide Deck.)

Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions

  • Read the first stanza. What does the speaker in the poem want someone to tell the moon? (summarizing) The speaker in the poem wants someone to tell the moon that she’s stayed up too late. It’s 8:30 in the morning, and the sun is in the sky.
  • Why do you think the speaker in the poem is surprised to see the moon during the day? (inference) I think the speaker in the poem is surprised to see the moon during the day because she is used to seeing the moon at night instead.
  • Which words rhyme in the poem? (rhyme) The rhyming words are late and eight, mind and behind, and instead and bed.
  • How does the poet make the moon seem like a person? (personification) The poet makes the moon seem like a person by writing that the moon “has stayed up much too late” and that the moon is following the speaker in the poem, the way a person might. Also, the poet uses “she” instead of “it” when talking about the moon.
  • How does the illustration show what the poet describes in the poem? (visual literacy, personification) In the illustration, the moon has followed the speaker in the poem to school. The speaker and other students wave goodbye to the moon before they enter school. In the sky, the sun is shining and smiling at the moon. Both the sun and the moon have human faces.

3. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Personification

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

Text-to-Speech