In addition to a teacher's having the enjoyment and appreciation of poetry as an educational objective for his/her students, there are numerous objectives that stress learners becoming proficient in hearing phonic elements, such as in rhyme in verse read and written. For example, a student teacher and a cooperating teacher in a second/third grade heterogeneously grouped classroom first read a self-composed couplet aloud to their students who then brainstormed for rhyming words. After that, students volunteered to write couplets themselves. Students enjoy working with rhyming words and do see the connection between reading and writing. After composing the couplets, students can progress to triplets and quatrains. A limerick can also be read aloud to students, and the teacher can then ask questions about limericks, alliteration, and onomatopeia. Students benefit from listening to and composing rhyming poetry and from word play. Phonics also stresses playing with sounds, phonemes, morphemes, and words. (NKA)