1. Happy Birthday William Shakespeare

2. Place your hands over your hearts. What sound does your heart make?

3. daDum, daDum, daDum • Shakespeare used the rhythm of the heartbeat in his poems and plays • Practice beating out this rhythm on their desks, and tell them that this rhythm is called iambic.

4. stand up and create a big circle around the desks

5. I am SamSam I am I am SamThatSam-I-am! That Sam-I-am! I do not like that Sam-I-am! Do you like greeneggs and ham? I do not like them, Sam-I-am. I do not like greeneggs and ham. Would you like them here or there?

6. Shakespeare's predominant meter was iambic. A unit of iambic meter, called an iambic foot, consists of a soft stress followed by a sharp one: da-DUM.

7. A good example of an everyday word that acts as an iambic foot is: toDAY

8. Shakespeare wrote most of his poetry in iambic pentameter, five units of iambic beat to a line: Shakespeare wrote most of his poetry in iambic pentameter, five units of iambic beat to a line:

9. “But SOFT, what LIGHT through YONderWINdow BREAKS.“ daDUMdaDUMdaDUMdaDUMda DUM

10. But a lot of the songs from his plays are written in iambic tetrameter, four units of iambic beat to a line:

11. You SPOTted SNAKES with DOUble TONGUE daDUMdaDUMdaDUMdaDUM

12. This meter is common in songs and in children's poetry. Dr. Seuss is a great example.

13. i DO not LIKE green EGGS and HAM i DO not LIKE them, SAM i AM