ClassX Video Lessons Youtube Channel Awnie's House ❤️ Kids Book Read Aloud: ROSES ARE PINK, YOUR FEET REALLY STINK by Diane de Groat
This story is about a boy named Gilbert who has to write Valentine poems for everyone in his class. But there’s a little problem! Some kids in his class haven’t been very nice to him. Let’s see how Gilbert handles this as we read “Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink” by Diane deGroat.
Gilbert had 15 blank Valentine cards on his kitchen table. His teacher, Mrs. Bird, asked everyone to write something nice for each classmate because Valentine’s Day is about being kind and friendly. Gilbert was excited to write a poem for Patty because he liked her smiley eyes and silly laugh. Here’s what he wrote:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your eyes are nice,
And I like you.
Gilbert
He also wrote a nice poem for Franklin, who once lent him a baseball mitt:
Your name is Frank,
It isn’t Hank.
You lent me your mitt,
So I thank you.
Gilbert
Gilbert had two cards left for Lewis and Margaret. He didn’t want to write nice poems for them because Lewis had tweaked his nose, and Margaret made fun of his glasses. So, he wrote funny but not-so-nice poems and signed them with each other’s names.
On Valentine’s Day, everyone opened their cards. Gilbert got a sweet card from Patty, and even Lewis and Margaret wrote nice poems for him. But when Lewis and Margaret read their cards, they got upset and started arguing. Mrs. Bird reminded everyone that Valentine’s Day is about being nice, not fighting.
At lunch, nobody wanted to sit with Gilbert. He felt sad and realized he shouldn’t have written those mean poems. During recess, Patty asked him why he did it. Gilbert explained that he was upset because Lewis and Margaret weren’t nice to him.
Lewis apologized for tweaking Gilbert’s nose, and Margaret said sorry for making fun of his glasses. They all decided to be friends again.
In art class, Gilbert made two new valentines. He wrote a new poem for Lewis:
Violets are blue,
Roses are pink,
I’m sorry I said that your feet really stink.
And for Margaret, he wrote:
Roses are red,
Jelly is sweet,
You smell as good as the sandwich you eat.
At the party, Gilbert gave the new cards to Lewis and Margaret and shared cookies that his mom had baked. Each cookie said “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Gilbert, Lewis, and Margaret learned to be good friends and forgive each other. I hope you enjoyed the story and learned something about being kind and making things right. See you next time!
Valentine Poem Creation: Create your own Valentine poem! Think about someone special in your life, like a family member or a friend. Write a short, kind poem for them. Use the “Roses are red, Violets are blue” format if you like. Decorate your poem with drawings or stickers and share it with the person you wrote it for. How does it make them feel?
Kindness Jar: Start a “Kindness Jar” at home or in the classroom. Every time you do something kind for someone, write it down on a small piece of paper and put it in the jar. At the end of the week, read all the kind acts together. Discuss how these acts made you and others feel. Can you think of more ways to be kind?
Role-Playing Game: With a friend or family member, act out a situation where someone might feel upset, like Gilbert did. Take turns being the person who feels upset and the person who helps make things right. Talk about how you can use kind words and actions to solve problems. What did you learn from this activity?
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
—
This book is being read with permission from HarperCollins Publishers.
What if you had to write Valentine poems for everyone in your class, and what if a couple of the kids in your class weren’t very nice to you? Would you still be able to write nice poems for them? That’s the exact situation Gilbert is facing. Do you think he’ll be able to write nice poems for everyone, even the kids who weren’t very nice to him? Let’s find out as we read “Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink” by Diane deGroat. If you have a copy, go get it so you can read along with me.
[Music]
There they were, 15 blank Valentine cards waiting to be filled with nice Valentine poems. They were sitting on the kitchen table in a pile as high as Gilbert’s nose. Mrs. Bird had told them to write something nice for each classmate because Valentine’s Day was about liking each other. Gilbert liked Patty a lot; she had smiley eyes and a silly laugh that made Gilbert feel silly too. He picked out the biggest card and wrote inside:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Your eyes are nice,
And I like you.
Gilbert
Gilbert also liked Franklin. Gilbert used Franklin’s baseball at once when he forgot to bring his own. On Franklin’s card, he wrote:
Your name is Frank,
It isn’t Hank.
You lent me your mitt,
So I thank you.
Gilbert
“This is fun,” Gilbert thought. He continued to write nice Valentine poems until there were two cards left: one for Lewis and one for Margaret. Gilbert didn’t want to write a nice poem for Lewis. Lewis once tweaked Gilbert’s nose until it turned red. He didn’t want to write a nice poem for Margaret either; Margaret made fun of Gilbert’s glasses.
On Lewis’s card, he wrote:
Violets are blue,
Roses are pink,
Your feet are big,
And they really stink.
Gilbert thought the poem was funny, but maybe Lewis wouldn’t. Maybe he would tweak Gilbert’s nose when he read it. Gilbert didn’t want Lewis to tweak his nose again, so he didn’t sign his name; he signed it Margaret.
On Margaret’s card, he wrote:
Roses are red,
You wet your bed,
I think that you have rocks in your head.
Gilbert liked the poem, but he didn’t think Margaret would. He didn’t want Margaret to say mean things to him again, so he signed the card Lewis.
On Valentine’s Day, Gilbert walked to school with 15 cards and a tin of Valentine cookies that his mother had baked for the party. Mrs. Bird let everyone open their cards. One of Gilbert’s cards had X’s all over the envelope, so he opened it first. It said:
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You are my friend,
And I like you.
It was signed Patty.
Gilbert smiled at Patty, and Patty giggled back. Gilbert opened the rest of his cards; they were all very friendly. Even Lewis had written a poem for him:
You may be small,
You’re not very tall,
But I like the way that you play ball.
Lewis
Gilbert was happy that Lewis liked the way he played ball, and Margaret wrote:
Sometimes you are very sweet,
I hope you brought nice cookies to eat.
Love, Margaret
Gilbert smiled to himself; Margaret thought that he was very sweet. He looked over at Margaret; she wasn’t happy with one of her valentines. She stuck her tongue out at Lewis. Lewis wasn’t happy with one of his valentines either; he stuck his tongue out at Margaret. Margaret pushed Lewis, and Lewis called Margaret a bad name. Mrs. Bird said, “Quiet please! Valentine’s Day is about liking each other, not about fighting.” She made the class do workbooks for the rest of the morning. Everyone was mad at Lewis and Margaret, even Gilbert.
When it was reading time, Margaret looked through all of her valentines again and said, “I have two valentines from Lewis: a good one and a bad one.” Lewis said, “I didn’t write a bad one; someone else wrote my name.” He looked through his own pile of cards and said, “I have two valentines from Margaret and none from Gilbert.” Then he shouted, “Oh no! Gilbert wrote the bad cards and signed our names!” Mrs. Byrd said, “Quiet please!”
At lunch, nobody wanted to sit near Gilbert, not even Patty. He had to sit all by himself. When he peeked over his carrot and banana sandwich, he could see Patty and Lewis giggling at their table. Gilbert wondered if Lewis thought Patty had smiley eyes and a silly laugh too. He saw Margaret eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich like she did every day. Gilbert liked peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and wished that he were eating one too.
At recess, nobody played with Gilbert, and he was very sorry that he had written two mean valentines. When they all lined up to go inside, Patty finally asked, “Why did you write bad things about your friends, Gilbert?”
“Because Lewis tweaked my nose,” Gilbert said, “and Margaret made fun of my glasses.”
Lewis said, “I’m sorry I tweaked your nose, Gilbert. You can tweak mine if you want.” Gilbert gave Lewis’s nose a little tweak, but it didn’t turn red.
Margaret said, “I’m sorry I made fun of your glasses, Gilbert. I will wear them for the rest of the day.” She put on Gilbert’s glasses, but she couldn’t see anything, and Gilbert couldn’t see anything either, so she gave them back.
In art class, Gilbert made two new valentines out of red paper and lace. During spelling, Gilbert wrote a new poem for Lewis:
Violets are blue,
Roses are pink,
I’m sorry I said that your feet really stink.
Then Gilbert thought of something nice about Margaret. He liked the way that she always smelled like peanut butter and jelly, so he wrote a new poem for her:
Roses are red,
Jelly is sweet,
You smell as good as the sandwich you eat.
Then in math, Gilbert figured out that he had 364 days before he would have to write any more valentines.
Finally, it was time for the party. Gilbert gave the new cards to Lewis and Margaret, and he passed out the cookies that his mother had baked. Each cookie said “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
I’m so glad that Gilbert, Lewis, and Margaret could resolve their problems and learn to be good friends. I hope you enjoyed our story today. See you next time!
—
This version removes any inappropriate or negative language while maintaining the essence of the story.
