Poetry

Write a poem about an object or animal that you like. It can be free verse or have rhyme scheme.

Your poem must include three of the following:

• Metaphor
• Simile
• Repetition
• Onomatopoeia
• Personification
• Alliteration

• For this lesson have students use what they have learned about the structures of poetry to write their own poems about an object or animal that is special to them.
• This lesson should take about 3 days. A suggested plan is below:
  • Day One:
    • Make a packet of kid poems for each student to show that poems can be creative, anyone can write them, and they can be about any topic. 
    • Read over a kid poem as a class.
    • Turn and Talk: You are going to read the rest of the poems that other kids wrote. As you read, I want you to think about two questions: Do all poems have to be about the same topic? What makes a good poem?"
    • Class discussion:
      • What did you like from the poems you read?
      • What resonates with you?
      • Which topics do you like?
      • Which elements did you find? How did they affect the poems?
    • Begin poetry writing time. Circulate and encourage students with guidance below:
      • Poems can be about anything.
      • Poems can be long, short, silly, or serious.
      • Choose your words carefully.
      • Reread as you go along to be sure your poem looks and sounds the way you want it to.
      • If you finish early, start another poem.
    • Pick 4 really strong parts from 4 poems. Tell your students what to notice about them and have the students read them.
    • Class discussion: What was easy about writing poetry? What was hard? What was unexpected?
    • Turn and Talk: Share poems with partners and then give compliments to partners' poems.
    • Class discussion: Share poems with the whole group and then give compliments to the whole group.
  • Day Two:
    • Pick 2-3 poems from yesterday that have one or more poetic structures.
    • Read the poems aloud.
    • Class discussion: Discuss the structure and how the structure enhances the poem. Have the class try to come up with a central message of the poems, and ask the poet if they are correct.
    • Have more poetry writing time. Circulate to help students struggling to identify a subject to write about or struggling to use poetic structures.
    • Class discussion: Share 1-2 poems with exemplar poetic structures. Have the class identify the structures and explain what they might mean. Have the poet explain their thinking in incorporating those structures.
    • If there is extra time, have students share poems in small groups and all together.
  • Day Three:
    • Have students pick their favorite poem. 
    • Students should either record or perform their poem in front of the class.