What A Day It Was At School by Jack Prelutsky

Bibliographic Citation: 

Prelutsky, Jack. 2006. WHAT A DAY IT WAS AT SCHOOL! New York, NY: Green Willow Books. ISBN: 9780060823351

Review: 

Young students will love this book. The poems are written just for kids and will be sure to make them laugh out loud. This book is full of poems all about school, and are all written by Jack Prelutsky. All of the experiences that he writes about are very familiar and will leave the older readers with feelings of nostalgia and something that younger readers can really relate to. The poems throughout the story share all of the embarrassing/silly things that go on in schools every day, which reinforces the title of the book What a Day it was at School!

All of the poems are silly and playful and will leave the reader in a lighter mood. The short  poems are easy to read and have a great rhyme to them. When you are reading the poems, you can’t help but read them quickly and with a lot of voice. The words within the poems create a strong mental image and would be a great book to use when teaching mental images to children.

The table of contents is creatively used with this book. It resembles a little boy’s journal from school, with each poem serving as a different topic in his journal.The illustrations are bright and charming. They went along great with the playful poems and are sure to make kids smile. 

Highlighted Poem

I Wish I’d Studied Harder

I wish I'd studied harrder

For our spellink test today. 

I'm sorrie that I ddin't, 

Now I'm feeling some dismaye.

I'd like to get a passing graid,

But don't beleeve I will-

I think I got Whyoming wrong,

And Chyna, and Brazill.

Though I don't want to make misteaks,

I made them awl the same.

It's no one else's fawlt but mine, 

I have to take the blaime.

I tried to spell Cunneddykit,

But really, I just gessed...

If I had stoodied harder

Then I mite have passed the this test. 

Activity

A great way to share this poem would be to start off asking students if they have ever had a time where they wished they would’ve made a different choice. I would allow the students to share those times with their classmates. After they share their thoughts, I would then read the poem to them and show the words on a document camera. 

After the reading, I would ask the students what they thought about the poem and why he wrote the poem. By listening to the student’s answers, I will make sure that they understand that the boy in the poem wishes he would’ve studied harder for the spelling test because he is not a strong speller and will get a bad grade. I will then challenge the students to write a poem about a time when they made a choice/decision and wish they would’ve made a different choice. For example: I wish I would’ve wiped my dogs paws off when he came inside, before he jumped on my bed and got paw prints all over it.