There’s something so sweet about 3rd grade poems. The kids are ready to tackle more complex themes and vocabulary, but the poetry is still so endearing and innocent. We’ve put together a list of engaging poems that will delight and spark a conversation among your 3rd grade students.
1. Daisies by Frank Dempster Sherman
“It is a lady, sweet and fair, who comes to gather daisies there.”
“The schools are now open but, this year, at mine, the teachers and students are meeting online.”
3. Little Rain by Elizabeth Madox Roberts
“When I was making myself a game, up in the garden, a little rain came.”
“I’d take it, spare it, give it, share it, lend it, spend it, too.”
5. To a Child by William Wordsworth
“Small service is true service while it lasts …”
“Bad dogs barking loud, big ghosts in a cloud / Life doesn’t frighten me at all.”
“On a bench, in Joe’s little shed, lying not too far apart, were his ax and his switchblade, having a quiet heart-to-heart.”
8. The Eagle by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“He clasps the crag with crooked hands …”
“See the pretty snowflakes, falling from the sky. / On the wall and housetops,
soft and thick they lie.”
10. The Dolly by Jeanette Cheal
“The dolly sat upon the shelf / in the toy maker’s shop all by herself.”
11. The Snowflake by Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
“It was a little snowflake …”
“Frosty is the morning / But the sun is bright …”
“I saw a ship a-sailing …”
“I know what I’d do.”
“Glad to see you, little bird / ’Twas your little chirp I heard …”
“But I’m not sure if it’s good. / It doesn’t have the things / my teacher says a poem should.”
“The spider wears a plain brown dress …”
“Wake up, little darling, the birdies are out …”
19. Trees by Joyce Kilmer
“I think that I shall never see / A poem lovely as a tree …”
“There is a little maiden— / Who is she? Do you know?”
“Which way does the wind blow? / And where does he go?”
“‘Come, little leaves,’ said the wind one day.”
23. Lullaby by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
“Sweet and low, sweet and low …”
24. March by Mary Mapes Dodge
“In the snowing and the blowing …”
25. The Rabbit by Elizabeth Madox Roberts
“When they said the time to hide was mine / I hid back under a thick grape vine.”
“I scrape a leg / Or skin a knee.”
“I STUDIED my tables over and over, and backward and forward, too …”
“Little children, never give / Pain to things that feel and live …”
29. Be Kind by Alice Joyce Davidson
“Just a little bit of kindness / Can go a long, long way …”
“No one throws a pencil / at the ceiling of the class.”
“Jellicle Cats come out tonight / Jellicle Cats come one come all.”
“Whose woods these are I think I know …”
33. Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson
“Your world is as big as you make it.”
“They went to sea in a Sieve, they did / In a sieve they went to sea …”
“It was time to go.”
“I’m making a pizza the size of the sun / a pizza that’s sure to weigh more than a ton …”
“Went for a ride in a flying shoe …”
38. My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson
“I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me …”
“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe …”
“There’s a new kid on the block / and boy, that kid is tough …”
41. The Tyger by William Blake
“Tyger Tyger, burning bright / In the forests of the night …”
“I’m going out to fetch the little calf / That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young …”
“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: / The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play …”
“Mother says they smell …”
“How doth the little crocodile / Improve his shining tail …”
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.”
“No one can tell me / Nobody knows / Where the wind comes from / Where the wind goes.”
48. The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson
“How do you like to go up in a swing / Up in the air so blue?”
49. Magic by Shel Silverstein
“Sandra’s seen a leprechaun …”
“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood / And sorry I could not travel both …”
51. Fog by Carl Sandburg
“The fog comes on little cat feet.”
“I never saw a Purple Cow / I never hope to see one.”
53. Sick by Shel Silverstein
“My mouth is wet, my throat is dry / I’m going blind in my right eye.”
“Said the Duck to the Kangaroo / ‘Good gracious! how you hop!’”
55. Dreams by Langston Hughes
“Hold fast to dreams …”
