Poem memorization

Another day of school under our belt, except for Gym & Swim at 1pm, karate at 4:30. We have an hour and a half in between G&S and karate, so we're going to celebrate a good day by going to the corn maze at the farm that's right next to the Y.

I realized today that the girls, especially Madison, are astonishingly good at poem memorization. Last week, Madison heard Ella working on memorizing a poem, The Caterpillar, by Christina Rossetti, from the grammar book we're using. She wanted to memorize, too. We did it two days, Wed and Thurs, two weeks ago. This morning, Madison absolutely remembered the poem she'd worked on, The Goops, without any intervening work on it.

The Goops they lick their fingers,
The Goops they lick their knifes,
They spill their broth on the tablecloth,
Oh, they lead disgusting lives.

The Goops they talk while eating,
And loud and fast they chew.
And that is why I'm glad that I
Am not a Goop - are you?

Ella, with just two minutes of work to remember, could remember her poem,

The Caterpillar

Brown and furry,
Caterpillar in a hurry.
Take your walk
To the shady leaf or stalk.

May no toad spy you,
May the little birds pass buy you.
Spin and die,
To live again a butterfly.

Madison also knew that poem, just having listened to Ella do it almost two weeks ago. One wishes she could apply the same method to remembering how things are spelled.