After some revisions and editing, I type the poems for my students onto a single piece of paper. Then I give them a second sheet of paper to illustrate their poem. Finally, we mount the pages and combine everything into one entertaining class book! Here are some completed poems:
Another benefit to this project is your students can really go wild with the subject of their poem. Most students will start with pets like dogs, cats, or fish. Some students branch a little further out and write about wolves, cobras, or dolphins. But, I should warn you that your most creative students will come up with some out-of-the-box ideas like fuzzies, germs, and even molecules!
I’ve honestly tried looking to see where this idea came from since I’ve been using it longer than most blogs and Pinterest have existed. The closest reference I can find online is a book called “What Cows Do When No One is Looking” by Bruce Thompson, but I cannot find this book in print.
However, I found (and now own) this book:
“What do all those animals on the farm do when no one is looking?
They dip-dive and swirl
in fountains of spray.
But when no-one’s looking . . .

What a cute idea- you mention a template- do you have one to share?
Hi Gail,
I don’t have a formal template to share, but all of our poems followed this basic pattern:
Do you know what _____ do when no one is looking?
People think that _______ just ________ all day.
But, when no one is looking…
Then my kids wrote 10 different things that their animal (or object) of choice would do, one per line. I made sure they switched up their sentence beginnings from time to time.
But, when anyone is looking…
______ just (repeat of the second line).
I hope this helps! Please let me know if I can answer any more questions.
Storie