Character & Etiquette - FREE copywork - The Goops

Character & Etiquette -
"Goops Style"
(free copywork below)
For those of you who have not heard poetry about "The Goops" ~ you are missing out! :)
These DELIGHTFUL poems have been enjoyed by children and families since 1900. They are amusing little poems written by author/illustrator Gelett Burgess some 100 years ago that teach children how NOT to behave!

THE GOOP DIRECTORY
OF
Juvenile Offenders Famous for their Misdeeds and Serving as a Salutary Example for all Virtuous Children

with Pictures by
GELETT BURGESS
Author of "Goops," "The Lively City o' Ligg," etc.

Mr. Burgess' hilarious "Goops" poems go over everything from not eating your crust to playing with matches! I happened across "Table Manners" last year while looking for some poetry for my young children. It has been enjoyed over and over by my family since. We often laugh at the dinner table and call one another a "Goop" if a bad manner is observed! :) Much more fun than constantly scolding and nagging.

I have found that my children WANT to have better manners so as not to "BE A GOOP!" Of course, for direct disobedience- a joke is not the way to go. But for those thoughtless times when one of them (especially the five year old twins who seem to ALWAYS tell a story at the same time!) becomes so excited about thier part in the story being told that they slip and speak with food in their mouth or forget their fork ~ "The Goops" seem to work quite well! :)

I attempted to find a portrait of Mr. Burgess for our timeline but could not seem to locate one. I did find the "Self Portrait" above on the right and I think we will print this out and post it on our timeline for his year of birth (1866). It's interesting to note that the infamous ""Purple Cow: Reflections on a Mythic Beast Who's Quite Remarkable, at Least" poem was also written by Mr. Gelett Burgess. It first appeared in a magazine, "The Lark" on May 1, 1895. To the right please find a picture of that first issue if you'd like to also add this to your timeline. It turns out, Mr. Burgess primarily edited and wrote this periodical - under a pseudonym. The story of this can be found here as well as on other sites the web.
Although the children and I QUITE enjoyed "The Purple Cow" it appears Mr. Burgess was not fond of being known for writing it.

Upon being associated with this poem, he wrote "Confession: and a Portrait Too, Upon a Background that I Rue" in "The Lark", number 24 on April 1, 1897.

Ah, yes, I wrote the "Purple
Cow"—

I'm Sorry, now, I wrote it;

But I can tell you Anyhow

I'll Kill you if you Quote it!

Among other places, "Purple Cow" is listed in Favorite Poems of Childhood" compiled by Philip Smith. You can also find a copy directly from Dover Publishing here. "The Purple Cow" in audio can be found for FREE here. I also found a free coloring page of a cow here for those with much younger children who want to print it and let the children color her purple. :) I simply googled "cow coloring page" and MORE than I cared to imagine popped up :). There is also a "Purple Cow Craft" found here.

I realize this is quite "twaddly" for most but when reading and discussing poetry with an older child - these "twaddly" coloring pages have come in QUITE handy for my younger twins! As well as sometimes to help my VERY kinesthetic son to have something to keep his hands on while he listens. I simply prefer it to watching their knees bounce or chairs come off the floor and back down again :)

Now- on to the promised copywork...
"The Goops" found themselves into several books and Mr. Burgess provided us with a very gentle way of teaching manners (habits). Of course, these poems will never take the place of parents providing good foundations in habit and child training but they are a fun bit to add in with your poetry studies. Anything that assists with good character building is welcome here!

A Free copy of "The Goops Directory" can be found here on Project Gutenberg in the public domain.

A FREE copy of "More Goops and How Not to be Them" can be found here in printable format

These are great for supplements to character training and study, for a short "mini" unit on the poet himself, or a "Fun Friday" copywork! :) However you choose to add "The Goops" into your homeschool or child training - they are a true delight!

Today, we worked on the poem "Anabella Day- Obeying Slowly." We read the poem together, lauged a bit :) , and then they produced copywork of the poem. I compiled some copywork with a coloring page for this particular poem. There is a large page with the picture below resized so it can be colored and there are three sets of copywork. The first set would be for older students - the poem is listed above and there are two pages of penmanship paper where your child can copy the poem. The second set has the poem written out on the penmanship paper with two or three lines directly below each set for the child to use. The third set (and probably for your youngest student/child) allows the child to trace/write INSIDE of the letters to create the poem. I hope you enjoy these copywork pages as well as the little gems that are "The Goops" poetry!

FREE Copywork - Anabella Day - Obeying Slowly