I'm not sure who Tom Swiftie is - or if he is even someone. In the spelling book I use with my 1st period class, the review section this week had proofreading exercises that said, "Read the Tom Swiftie puns below. Find the twenty misspelled review words and circle them."
Some of them are pretty funny. What was sad was that most of my kids didn't laugh - even after I "explained" them.
But I keep working on understanding humor - especially humor that is based on words.
A few for your chuckling pleasure: (I will go ahead and correct the misspelled words!!)
"Rejoice! Our team is going to the playoffs!" said Tom winsomely.
"Tigers attack fiercely, so we have to restrain them," Tom said cagily.
"I'll always be loyal to the Navy," said Tom fleetingly.
"We need more weight on the back of the boat!" said Tom sternly.
"No earthquake will ever destroy this city, " said Tom faultlessly.
"Merely seeing that piano makes me happy," said Tom grandly.
And a particular fave:
"I'm probably going to pitch for the softball team," said Tom underhandedly.
Some of them are pretty funny. What was sad was that most of my kids didn't laugh - even after I "explained" them.
But I keep working on understanding humor - especially humor that is based on words.
A few for your chuckling pleasure: (I will go ahead and correct the misspelled words!!)
"Rejoice! Our team is going to the playoffs!" said Tom winsomely.
"Tigers attack fiercely, so we have to restrain them," Tom said cagily.
"I'll always be loyal to the Navy," said Tom fleetingly.
"We need more weight on the back of the boat!" said Tom sternly.
"No earthquake will ever destroy this city, " said Tom faultlessly.
"Merely seeing that piano makes me happy," said Tom grandly.
And a particular fave:
"I'm probably going to pitch for the softball team," said Tom underhandedly.
8 comments:
I googled Tom Swiftie - and it's an interesting little history, best explained by the phrase, "I must go quickly," said Tom Swiftly.
They were first called "Tom Swiftlys" and they are a bit of poking fun at the use of language in the Tom Swift novels of yore.
I love them. It is too bad your students don't get them. Now I am wondering if my older kids would get them. Must have them read this post!
Word humor requires abstract thinking - and ld (learning disabled) kids have real struggles with abstraction - so years ago Harry suggested I expose them to humor, which I do.
I'm never sure if it helps because I don't focus on it or give them tests on it.
But they are getting better at recognizing figurative language in the books we read together.
This reminds me of the books by Fred Gwyne ... The King Who Reigned and A Chocolate Moose For Dinner. There is a third but I don't remember the name of it. My students were a little young in first grade to get the play n words but I always entertained myself and shared those books with them every year.
My personal favorite is the first one (winsome).
I think I like this Tom Swiftie.
it seems like boy's life mag used to have a bunch of these.
You could try the Parts and More Parts picture books. Sometimes a picture of the pun helps alot. My kids love these books.
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