Instructions

So April is National Poetry Month and even though we use poems in my classroom all year, I really make it a focus of our language arts unit in the spring. I was reading a list of poetry books to use with students and found this one by Neil Gaiman. 

Now I LOVE Neil Gaiman-I think he has such creative ideas when it comes to storytelling, so I had to check it out. This book is a list of instructions for life but it references fairy tales. I'm sure there is deep meaning in a lot of it if we were to analyze it, but I read to the kiddos with another thought in mind.

This is an example from the book.

So after I read them the story, I asked them to write instructions for life-what would you tell other kids the "rules" of life are--trust...., remember...., always...... I was floored by what some of them came up with.

Do not listen to Donald Trump.

Do listen to God.

Remember not to go to Antarctica.

Trust your mom and dad.

Remember your bravery.

Do not trust strangers.

Do not listen to the cats.

Forgive the dogs.

Do not forgive the snakes.

Just stick to your heart and do what you must do.

Now go young one.

Don't trust scary stuff.

Remember what you see on your journey.

Go to the woods and your quest starts.

Trust men.

Do not trust girls.

(I read this and looked at him, he said "well, it's my opinion". How can you argue with that! :)

I would trust the wolf.

I would not trust a camel.

I really trust the wolf.

Trust your family

Trust your big sister.

Trust your teacher.

Do not trust the zombies.

Do not trust strangers.

Trust someone you know.

Don't do mean stuff to people.

So there you have it-rules to live by from the perspective of Kinder students. Some good advice in here I think! :)