Lunchbox Love Note - Teaching about poetry, Valentine's Day, and secret crushes...
Or not.
Written from the perspective of an elementary school-aged boy, this poem by Kenn Nesbitt expresses the excitement of young love and the disappointment of reality. The boy receives a sweet valentine in his lunchbox saying, "Will you be mine?" and begins to consider which of the girls in his class could be the crush. Is it Jo? Jennifer? A "secret friend?" The excitement is too much to bear! He opens the valentine and to his disappointment, it is signed "I love you - Mom."
Picture the face of Ralphie on A Christmas Story when he gets his bad grade for his "What I Want for Christmas" paper: mouth dropped, eyes wide. Poor kid. He must be one of those that only a mother can love.
Aside from the irony of it all, this would be a good piece to use in a classroom. Here are some ideas:
- Read alouds for students to develop prosody
- Literature circles - this is a poem with stanzas and rhymes, so students could easily take turns reading out loud
- To introduce an activity where the students could write a valentine to their mother or a family member
It is also a good piece to use for a lesson on poetry because it has some of the elements of poetry. For example, there are stanzas and each stanza rhymes. The first stanza reads "Inside my lunch / to my surprise / a perfect heart-shaped / love note lies." In addition, there are a couple examples of hyperbole; the boy says his "stomach is lurching in [his] throat." Clearly, if this were actually true he would be in pain and probably choking. It is quite the exaggeration. There is also emotional force in this poem: the anxious curiosity of a boy with a secret admirer and the heart-wrenching (yet humorous) moment he discovers the truth.
Circle, circle; dot, dot. Now I've got my cootie shot.
Here is a link to a youtube video of a girl reciting the poem if you would like to hear it:
