St. Patrick’s Day Party!
Tuesday, March 17th

Hey Kids… You want to make sure that you make it to our meeting next week for a fun night of celebration!

CONTESTS: 1. Dress up in the most green, or most St. Patty’s decorated outfit you can pull together and win $15 Bible Dollars & a Prize.

2. Write a LIMERICK and earn $15 Bible Dollars. Win an additional Prize for . . .
The funniest
The goofiest
The serious(est)

A limerick is a 5 line poem, with a special rhythm and rhyming lines. The instructions for writing a limerick and a sample of one follows.

Good Luck and Have Fun writing your limerick and picking out your green outfit and accessories!

HOW TO WRITE A LIMERICK

To begin, a limerick is a funny little poem containing five lines. It has a very distinctive rhythm and rhyme pattern.

Rhyme Pattern: The last words of the first, second, and fifth lines all rhyme with each other. We’ll call those rhyming words “A,” however the words could be “ Peru,” “shoe,” and “true” as illustrated in the first poem below or “Tim,” “swim,” and “him” as illustrated in the second poem below. And the last words of the third and fourth lines rhyme with each other. We’ll call those rhyming words “B,” however the words could be “night” and “fright” in the first example or “dock” and “rock” in the second example.
Rhythm Pattern: The first, second, and fifth lines all have this rhythm pattern: da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (notice there are 3 DUMS or beats). Say, “There once was a fellow named Tim” out loud. Now say, “da DUM da da DUM da da DUM” out loud. Notice that both have the same rhythm. The third and fourth lines have a different rhythm pattern: da DUM da da DUM (notice there are 2 DUMS or beats). Say, “He fell off the dock” out loud. Now say “da DUM da da DUM” out loud. Notice that both have the same rhythm.

Here is a very famous limerick. Notice both the rhyme and rhythm patterns.
1. There was an old man from Peru, (A) da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS)
2. who dreamed he was eating his shoe. (A) da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS)
3. He awoke in the night (B)da DUM da da DUM (2 DUMS)
4. with a terrible fright, (B)da da DUM da da DUM (2 DUMS)
5. and found out that it was quite true. (A) da DUM da da DUM da da DUM (3 DUMS)

When you write a limerick, make sure that it has the same AABBA rhyme pattern. Make sure it also has the same 3 DUMS, 3 DUMS, 2 DUMS, 2 DUMS, 3 DUMS rhythm pattern, too. To be sure, recite the poem, substituting “da” for all unaccented or unstressed syllables and “DUM” for all accented or stressed syllables, as I have done above. If your poem doesn’t have a similar rhythm pattern, then you need to make some adjustments.

OK, now that you know what the rhythm and rhyme patterns of a limerick are, you’re ready to write one.