FREE Resources Exploring the Couplet

Oh, couplet what are you? Meter and rhyme, that’s who!

Ahhh, the couplet. Couplet is a term in poetry. Poetry terms can be a little intimidating for some teachers and parents. It is a subject that is only touched upon in small doses, something many educators dread planning.

Teaching young children about poetry and sharing poetic terminology, and the rules of poetry, is a wonderful thing to share with your students. Why should we teach poetry in the early elementary classroom? I have compiled my top ten reasons:

1. Children LOVE Poetry.
2. Poetry broadens their scope of the world.
3. Poems are shorter readings.
4. Poetry can explore many topics.
5. Children love adding illustrations to poems (crosscutting).
6. Poetry can be explored in more than one single unit of study.
7. Kids love to make poetry journals.
8. The more kids read, the more they write.
9. Poetry can reinforce other topics.
10. Children feel a sense of success, as they re-read poems with increased fluency.

What is a Couplet?

According to PoetryFoundation.org, it is “A pair of successive rhyming lines, usually of the same length. A couplet is “closed” when the lines form a bounded grammatical unit like a sentence (see Dorothy Parker’s “Interview”: “The ladies men admire, I’ve heard, / Would shudder at a wicked word.”).” 

Let’s break this down.

The words associated with the couplet style of poetry:

COUPLET: a form of poetry where each two lines of a verse usually have the same meter and ending rhyme.

METER: syllabic pattern that gives poetry rhythm (the syllables or beats).

RHYME: Words that have the same sound. They might not have similar spellings, as in the words – moon, June.

The following FREE resources can help you lesson plan and teach your students about this simple form of poetry. Included are some online books, videos and some downloadable printables. Enjoy!

Online Books with Couplets

There are many books that can be used for teaching couplets. These are my picks as they are fun to read and kids of all ages love these books. These books are in no particular order.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

“A big happy frog, a plump purple cat, a handsome blue horse, and a soft yellow duck–all parade across the pages of this delightful book. Children will immediately respond to Eric Carle’s flat, boldly colored collages. Combined with Bill Martin’s singsong text, they create unforgettable images of these endearing animals.” – Excerpt Amazon

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food?

“Just like kids, dinosaurs have a difficult time learning to behave at the table. However, with a little help from Mom and Dad, these young dinosaurs eat all before them with smiles and goodwill.” – Excerpt Amazon

Green Eggs and Ham

““Do you like green eggs and ham?” asks Sam-I-am in this Beginner Book by Dr. Seuss. In a house or with a mouse? In a boat or with a goat? On a train or in a tree? Sam keeps asking persistently.” – Excerpt Amazon

Duck in the Truck

“Duck’s truck is stuck in the muck, but luckily help is at hand in the form of a frog. When Frog and Duck fail to release the truck they enlist the help of a sheep in a jeep, and then a goat in a boat, who finally sets the truck free.” – Excerpt Amazon

Llama, Llama Red Pajama

“Llama Llama’s tale of nighttime drama…Anna Dewdney’s infectious rhyming text and expressive artwork are available for the youngest of readers…” – Excerpt Amazon

Couplet Video Helpers

Here are some online video resources to help with your lesson planning.

The teacher of this classroom filmed her students finished coulets. Adding technology to the lessons is super important. Many kids love to be recorded and this is excellent motivation for student interest in finishing their couplets. Sharing these will give students what is expected of them should a couplet writing task occur.

The next video is a song about rhyming. It’s called “Rhyming is so eeeeaaassssyyy.” This fun video is one the kids will want to watch over and over to see if they can read and keep up with the words. It is excellent for differentiation as well.

This video is good for kids who need a little more stimulation to learn. It has a bit of a hip hop beat and over six million hits on YouTube.

Jack Hartmann has some excellent interactive videos like this one called “I Love to Rhyme.” In this song he challenges the viewers to come up with some rhyming words that are in the same rhyme scheme, as the words he sings.

Teach the Teacher

These next two videos are for teaching the teacher. How do we teach rhyme? There are so many ways and options, as educators we need to be flexible. I added these videos as tools for educators, to learn the process of writing poems that rhyme. I DO NOT recommend using this to teach early childhood learners. The video is only a guide for you and your teaching style. Early childhood needs to implement many more steps. Creating a couplet with your students would be fun. There are some mini-lessons included in the “October Activity Packet; Featuring Rhyme & Couplet.“

Couplet Nursery Rhymes & Songs

Children are familiar with nursery rhymes, and for this reason they are a wonderful resource to introduce children to couplets. Here are three recommendations:

I’m a Little Teapot

This Old Man

Check out the freebie at the bottom of this post. It is perfect for introducing couplets for your students.

Humpty Dumpty

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Next, is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If you are teaching couplets included in the Rhyme and Couplet packet is a simple couplet worksheet and pocket chart cards, too. This nursery rhyme is perfect for teaching couplets.

On Top of Spaghetti

And finally, a good fun classic camp song. On Top of Spaghetti. This one has a little humor, as so most of the Scratch Garden videos.

Printable Resources

The last few resources are from some of my peers at Teacher Pay Teacher. Even if you are not a traditional classroom teacher, any caregiver can download free and/or purchase these teachers created resources from the TpT website.

First, is from Struggling Learners Resource. It is an advanced sample of her Rhyme Time Packet. I like the freebies on TpT; if you like the sample there is always more!

Here is a freebie for your students to write their own couplets from Kristie Sachs.

The next freebie is from STEMHAX and is a sample to a larger packet focusing on couplets in the farmers’ market. See full video below.

“All About Moms” is fun for Mother’s Day. Rowdy in Room 300 did a nice job helping to make moms feel special.

If you like these free resources please consider following these teacher creators. They are always developing new and cool things, for you and I, to share with young learners. Below are a few paid resources on my TpT relating to the topic of couplets if you need more to extend your lessons.

October Activity Packet

Need something quick around Halloween? Check out this no-prep activity packet. Great for sub bins. too!

Farmers’ Market

Check out this Farmers’ Market couplet video featuring food items that might be found in a farmers market. There is a affordable reader/coloring book available for download available. The words are identical to the video. Kids can read along and practice for fluency.

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