Plagiarizing Frogs

I loved my Freddy the Frog book. Mine had a button that made a "ribbit" sound when I pressed it. The sound never got warped like most button sounds on books do. It stayed "ribbity" forever. This love was an innocent love, until the fateful day in 3rd grade, when that love could have been destroyed forever by a single act.

I plagiarized Freddy the Frog. 

I had to write a poem for homework and it was due the next day. My teacher had never read my Freddy the Frog book. It seemed so simple. 

I never got in trouble for plagiarizing the book, I guess my teacher never noticed. 

I recently remembered this experience and it got me thinking about plagiarism and at what age children begin to understand it. Research has shown that children begin to understand that stealing ideas is bad at around age five to six. But, three to four year olds did not seem to display this (they did, however, understand that stealing property was bad).  I also found that teaching about plagiarism starts in third grade at the very earliest - so luckily I may not have been completely in the wrong. 

(Image from Wisconsin's Water Library)