Alpaca
Poetry is not one of my strengths. Attending to meter and rhyme scare me to death. But because I want kids to be open minded and willing to try anything and make mistakes, I gave it a shot. It took me quite awhile to write this and went through many revisions along the way. I thought about rhyme, humor and the necessary vocabulary to inform about this peculiar animal. You will notice that I gave myself permission to use a made-up word due to lack of imagination for something else that rhymed. That’s OKAY!! Miss Collins’ 5th Graders and I did some brainstorming after learning about alpacas in response to, Beast Feast, by Douglas Florian, and this is what I shared.
Alpaca
From high in the Andes Mountains of South America,
This unique looking animal bears a shaggy two-tone fura.
There are 3 types of the animal: the suri, shorn, and huacaya.
Infants go by the name of cria,
And are not found to be snacking at a pizzeria.
The diet of plants and grass can be quite a galleria,
Be careful to avoid the deadly azalea.
The orgling cry of the male will not be confused with the Ave Maria.
