Wonders: Helicopters and Orinthopter Poems

Does the genre poetry always have to rhyme?

• yes

• no

Why are the lines of the poem, "The Inventor Thinks Up Helicopters" so unusual? Choose all that apply.

• The poet didn't speak English as her first language.

• The lines are choppy like the motion of the helicopter blades and contribute to the rhythm.

• They visually represent the flight of a helicopter, flitting about like a bug.

• The lines needed to fit on the picture of the helicopter.

Do you think this is really how helicopters were invented?

• Yes, because the poem gives facts about the invention of helicopters.

• Yes, because the author is the one who invented helicopters.

• No, because a helicopter is not enough like a bug for someone to think up a helicopter like this.

• No, because the poem focuses on imagery and uses the words, "Why not?" at the beginning and end.

What emotion do you think that the poet is trying to express?

• whimsy (fanciful; unrestrained imagination) and wonder

• anger

• sadness

• happiness

What do you think that the line "It could land in a pasture the size of a dot" means?

• The helicopter shrinks as it lands.

• The helicopter can only land in round places.

• The pasture looks like a dot from up above in the sky, looking down from the helicopter.

• The helicopter is very easy to steer and to land in difficult areas, unlike a plane, which needs a certain amount of runway.

How many times does the poet compare the Ornithopter to a bird?

• 7

• 5

• 3

• 1

Why does the poet say that the flight of the Ornithopter would be a wild goose chase?

• There wasn't much chance of it working.

• There were geese for the Ornithopter to chase.

• The Ornithopter looked like a goose.

• The Ornithopter was flapping its wings like a goose.

Why would the Ornithopter need an engine as light as a feather?

• The Ornithopter pilot thinks that it invented a bird and so it needs feathers to blend in with the other birds.

• Birds are lightweight, so they can lift themselves by flapping their wings. Engines are usually heavy.

• The Ornithopter needs feathers to fly.

• The poet is wrong.

How can we tell that this is about a real event?

• The Mongolfier Brothers are real people.

• The poem mentions Benjamin Franklin, who is a real person.

• There is a date and a place listed under the title.

• Hot Air balloons are real.

How are the poems alike? Choose all that apply.

• They are all about flying inventions.

• They all use rhymes.

• They are all historical accounts.

• They are all light-hearted poems meant to entertain the reader.

• They are all by the same poet.