For the letter B, I bring you broadside ballads, which were kind of the breaking news of ‘once upon a time’ or the social media, so to say.

This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links, that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support. Please see the full disclosure for more information. I only recommend products I definitely would (or have already) use myself

🎶 Broadside Ballads Lesson Plan: “Singing the News!”

• Poetry Connection: Broadside Ballads
• Learning Connection: Music and Journalism – “News You Can Sing!” (and art too)
• Book Connections:
  • For examples to read
    • The Ballad of the Pirate Queens by Jane Yolen and illustrated by David Shannon (8 – 10 years, and up)
    • Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
  • For inspiration to write your own
    • Blackout by John Rocco (3 – 6 years, and up). A graphic novel for young readers. While not rhyming, provides an excellent narrative to use for this exercise. Also check out this video of a true blackout story from 1965 in NYC!
    • Breaking News: Bear Alert by David Biedrzycki (Author, Illustrator) 
    • The Bunyans by Audrey Wood and illustrated by David Shannon (4 – 8 years, and up). Again, not a lyrical or rhyming book but is great fodder for a broadside print!

(Can be adapted for any grade: Use sample broadsides/reference materials/song melodies/discussion activities/stories to tell/length of the poem/performing activities based on grade level)

🏆 Objective

This lesson combines music, poetry, and storytelling to explore how songs can deliver news, emotions, and stories. Students will dive into the history of musical journalism, creating their own broadside ballads using familiar melodies. Through writing, performing, and illustrating, they’ll develop rhythm, language, and presentation skills while making connections between past and present ways of sharing news.

📌 Materials

• Familiar song melodies: Nursery rhymes, popular songs
• Sample broadside ballads: printouts or digital displays of both traditional & modern examples
• Simple tabloid-style stories or funny headlines (e.g., “A Cat Saves a Town”)
• Paper & crayons/pencils for decorating their broadside

Step-by-Step Activities

Introduction

• Introduce the broadside ballad with an example (like the one pictured above, or this one about a flood in 1872)

Before newspapers were common, news spread through broadside ballads—catchy, rhyming songs printed on single sheets of cheap paper and sold in markets. These “pop songs of the past” turned everyday events, historical tales, advice, and gossip into singable stories. In this lesson, students will do the same—transforming news and more into music!

🎶 Hook – News That Sings!

• Play a familiar nursery rhyme, a folk or popular song (e.g., Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star/Yankee Doodle/Cotton Eye Joe!/or any tune of choice).
• Ask: What if we used this tune to tell our news story?

📰 Pick a Newsworthy Topic

Students choose a real or fictional event to turn into a song. Ideas:

• School Event: The Day the School Ran Out of Pizza!
• Fairy Tale Twist: Goldilocks Caught in Bear House!
• Silly Animal Report: The Great Squirrel Heist!

✍️ Write the Broadside Ballad

• Often follows a 4-line stanza pattern with a AABB or ABCB rhyme.
• Keep phrases short and rhythmic to match a tune.

🎭 Sing & Perform the News!

Students sing their creations to the class. Encourage clapping, stomping, or simple instruments (e.g., tambourines, shakers).
Option: Have small groups create musical news performances!

Wrap-Up/Extension Activities

• Discussion: Explore how modern headlines, viral songs, or memes act like today’s broadside ballads.
• Reflection: How does music bring stories to life?
• Fun Twist: Students vote on the most dramatic or most humorous news story!
• Ask: Could today’s social media trends be the broadside ballads of tomorrow?

Tips/Adaptations

• For older students, you can use additional resources and references to discuss and extend the lesson over a few days.
  • The Heyday of the Broadside Ballad
  • The 17th Century in 5 Broadside Ballads
  • Reference books, like this one
  • Learn about woodcut illustrations and their use in these sheets

Extra, Extra: The “B” Books(One Not) and More

So the books I mentioned earlier are all brilliant reads, beautiful, and well, brilliant, for lack of a better word. My one sentence review for each one:

• Breaking News: Bear Alert is a fun read that is sure to entertain everyone
• John Rocco’s Blackout is heartwarming and so very relatable.
• While Casey at the Bat is a ballad for the times!
• And The Bunyans – oh, I do love tall tales!
• Rudyard Kipling’s The Ballad of East and West is Kipling, so…
• Ballads of a Bookworm by Irving Browne (You can read it on the Internet Archive). Oh, how I am loving this one! And relatable though it was written eons ago.

Breaking News of a Blackout: Broadside Ballad Style

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt asks us to write a poem that directly addresses someone, that includes a made-up word, an odd/unusual simile, a statement of “fact,” and something that seems out of place in time (inspired by Anne Carson’s The Beat Goes On). More inspiration to be found at the Georgia O’ Keefe museum.

My Attempt

EXTRA! EXTRA! LIGHTS WENT BLACK!
(A Broadside Ballad of the Blackout!)
HEY, CITY FOLKS, HEAR THIS TALE—
of a night when lights went beyond pale,
with no faces lit by gleaming phones,
just startled gasps and many groans!

Are you still here? Listening to me?
Just checking! Just checking! You see!
So let me continue this true fable
Take a spot around your dining table,

Somewhere, a kid cried, “Come play with me!”
Mom waved him off: “Too busy, too busy!”
Dad was clicking, tapping, scrolling,
while his work emails kept on rolling.

BUT THEN—OH NO!—the power crashed!
The city blinked – then darkness flashed!
The fridge gave up, the fans stood still,
Blank screens said – ‘do what you will!’

Grandma dug out, from shelves so high,
a crankity-cruncher from days gone by.
A coffee mill, no longer new
And a moka pot to spin up a brew!

The neighbors spilled into the street,
fanning faces, shuffling feet.
Some played cards, some danced and swayed,
some even — (really!!) —talked and played!

So what did they all discover?
That night when they all lost power?

That the stars had always been there,
hiding right behind that electric glare.
Now they whooshed like fireflies bold,
spelling stories bright-new and old.

And from the corner, warm and bright,
came a pizza shop’s flickering light.
Their brick oven roared, its flames alive,
like a dragon dreaming aloud in its hive.

SO LISTEN UP, YOU TECH-BOUND LOT—
when the lights come back, don’t get caught!
Remember how the dark was fun,
when screens were off, and we were one!
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

NOTES FOR THE CURIOUS CROWD!

• Made-up word: Crankity-cruncher! (because “coffee mill” is well…!)
• Fact: The stars are there but then – light pollution steals our night sky 🙁
• Weird simile: that dragon 🙂
• Out of place/time: that coffee mill (which came right from Georgia O Keefe’s museum actually, or well, the idea for including that came from there)

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, hope you make use of this lesson plan at home or a classroom or simply to explore broadside ballads for yourself! Which of the books would you pick first, or have enjoyed? And do recommend your favorite ballads (broadside or otherwise)

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo.

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts