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.”
2. Online Is Fine by Kenn Nesbitt
“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.”
4. If Love Were Mine by Annette Wynne
“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 …”
6. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou
“Bad dogs barking loud, big ghosts in a cloud / Life doesn’t frighten me at all.”
7. The Blade and the Ax by Abimbola T. Alabi
“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 …”
9. Falling Snow by Anonymous
“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 …”
12. Coasting Down the Hill by Anonymous
“Frosty is the morning / But the sun is bright …”
13. A Pleasant Ship by Emilie Poulsson
“I saw a ship a-sailing …”
14. If I Were a Sunbeam by Alice Cary
“I know what I’d do.”
15. The Sparrow by Anonymous
“Glad to see you, little bird / ’Twas your little chirp I heard …”
16. Today I Wrote This Poem by Kenn Nesbitt
“But I’m not sure if it’s good. / It doesn’t have the things / my teacher says a poem should.”
17. Pretty Is That Pretty Does by Alice Cary
“The spider wears a plain brown dress …”
18. Birdie’s Morning Song by George Cooper
“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 …”
20. Cheerfulness by Marian Douglas
“There is a little maiden— / Who is she? Do you know?”
21. Which Way Does the Wind Blow? by Lucy Aikin
“Which way does the wind blow? / And where does he go?”
22. The Wind and the Leaves by George Cooper
“‘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.”
26. Every Time I Climb a Tree by David McCord
“I scrape a leg / Or skin a knee.”
27. A Mortifying Mistake by Anna Marie Pratt
“I STUDIED my tables over and over, and backward and forward, too …”
28. Kindness to Animals from The Book of Virtues
“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 …”
30. When the Teacher Isn’t Looking by Kenn Nesbitt
“No one throws a pencil / at the ceiling of the class.”
31. The Song of the Jellicles by T.S. Eliot
“Jellicle Cats come out tonight / Jellicle Cats come one come all.”
32. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
“Whose woods these are I think I know …”
33. Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson
“Your world is as big as you make it.”
34. The Jumblies by Edward Lear
“They went to sea in a Sieve, they did / In a sieve they went to sea …”
35. Something Told the Wild Geese by Rachel Field
“It was time to go.”
36. A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky
“I’m making a pizza the size of the sun / a pizza that’s sure to weigh more than a ton …”
37. Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too by Shel Silverstein
“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 …”
39. Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe …”
40. The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky
“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 …”
42. The Pasture by Robert Frost
“I’m going out to fetch the little calf / That’s standing by the mother. It’s so young …”
43. Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
“The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day: / The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play …”
44. Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog by Judith Viorst
“Mother says they smell …”
45. The Crocodile by Lewis Carroll
“How doth the little crocodile / Improve his shining tail …”
46. For Want of a Nail – Traditional
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.”
47. Wind on the Hill by A.A. Milne
“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 …”
50. The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
“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.”
52. The Purple Cow by Gelett Burgess
“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.”
54. The Duck and the Kangaroo by Edward Lear
“Said the Duck to the Kangaroo / ‘Good gracious! how you hop!’”
55. Dreams by Langston Hughes
“Hold fast to dreams …”
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