Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom

Thanksgiving Magic

by Rowena Bastin Bennett

Thanksgiving Day I like to see
Our cook perform her witchery.
She turns a pumpkin into pie
As easily as you or I
Can wave a hand or wink an eye.
She takes leftover bread and muffin
And changes them to turkey stuffin’.
She changes cranberries to sauce
And meats to stews and stews to broths;
And when she mixes gingerbread
It turns into a man instead
With frosting collar ’round his throat
And raisin buttons down his coat.
Oh, some like magic made by wands,
And some read magic out of books,
And some like fairy spells and charms
But I like magic made by cooks

Discussion and Activities

• Students take turns reading the poem with appropriate rate, change in voice and expression.
• Younger students identify who, what, when, where and why in the poem.
• Students find the words that rhyme and identify the rhyming pattern.
  
• Identify the poetic style.
• Find examples, if present, of simile (a comparison that uses like or as), metaphor (an implied comparison), hyperbole (an exaggeration for effect) and personification (a description that represents a thing as a person.)
• Students draw pictures to illustrate the poem.