Baseball

Playing Catch

by Liana Mahoney

She tosses me the ball. I toss it back to Sis.

She throws it really high: “Let’s see you catch this!”

The sun is in my eyes! Where IS that ball now?            

I’ve got to spot the ball and catch it somehow.

I’m waiting and I’m waiting. My glove is waiting, too.

I’m looking up, not looking down. I trip on my left shoe.

I’m diving toward the ground. My arms are stretched out straight.

I open up my glove, but I’m afraid that I’m too late.

I can’t believe my eyes. I think I see the ball!

It’s nestled in my glove; I caught it after all!

I hear my sister cheering. She saw my super catch.

But Fido stole the ball from me. He thinks we’re playing fetch

My favorite time of the year had begun. Spring is here at last! Seeing that spring training has started up, I did this poem with my class last week. Many of my students love baseball so I thought it was a fun piece of writing to incorporate into the classroom.  This poem was very age appropriate for my class and was a simple task for them to read.  Many of the students caught on right away at the rhyming words at the end of the sentence.  After reading through the poem we had a class discussion about baseball and having a catch with a friends or family member.  Many of the students  made a self-connection to the poem.  The students found the end of the story to very humorous about the dog catching the ball.  I thought that this was a good teaching tool to use with the class to teach them how to create a rhyming poem.  By using this relatable poem many students were able to grasp the concept of the lesson.  I myself am a big baseball fan so I felt pretty intrigued throughout this mini lesson.  I felt that the kids were able to take a lot of out the lesson because it was such a relatable topic. The poem let many of the students think of a similar scenario that may have happened to him/her.  This was a great resource to use with the class because got many students in spirit of spring fever.    

Vocabulary:  

spring training - preseason training during the spring  
Baseball - a ball game played with a bat and ball
Incorporate - include
appropriate - right
rhyming words - a word agreeing with another word in sound
self-connection - relate to something
humorous - funny
scenario - a what if example
spring fever - feeling of excitement

Use the words above to fill in the sentences below.  

The Mets play in Florida for their ________________.  

When two teams versus each other with nine players on the field is called ____________.

After reading the book, The Vanishers, I made a ____________________ to the book.  

Before showing the movie to the class, I had to make sure it was ___________________ for their age.  

It’s important to ________________ healthy habits like excerise and dieting into one’s daily routine.  

Many baseball fan’s experience ___________________ in February through April.  

Many poets and artist will use __________________ in many of their works.  

The possible _____________ would be that we go to the movies if it rains.  

The poem was  ________________.  




Grammar Point: Rhyming Words

Rhyming Words are words that sound alike by having the same ending sound.  Rhyming words are helpful because they can be used to remember other words.  Ryhme helps people learn about language.  Rhyming deals with word families and putting them together.  You will begin to learn about the patterns, rhythms, and structure of language through these simple rythms.  If you take a look at the list below you will see that the words that rhyme have the same/similar endings.  

Example of Rhyming Words:

Cat   Hat                  Back   Pack                 at         bat              bell    yell          found    ground
See  Be                    Lack   Black                at         mat             well   sell          mound   round
Hip   Dip                   an       can                   at         rat               in       chin         fun        run
Bat   Mat                  an       man                   at        that              thin   begin        done    none


Matching Column:  

Match the pictures below so that the pictures words rhyme.  






Look at this Brain Pop Video.  It will help you understand more about Rhyming Words.  
Brain Pop - Rhyming Words Demo


If you wanted to make up a name for this poem what would you make it.  From the poem above list all of the rhyming words you found.  

Additional Help:
http://www.rhymezone.com/  : This site will help you if you are stuck on some rhyming words and will provide you with extra help.  This site provides examples of rhyming words by just typing in a word you want to rhyme with.