Grade: All
Objective: Write to entertain; write to enter contests; write to publish.
Directions: Word poems are simple for
students and need no teacher guidance after the first poem. Students write their word poems on large lined file cards. Students must start the poem on one side of the card and make the sentence end at the other side of the card. Several sentences make a poem. Students illustrate on the back of the card.
A sample three lines of a word poem would be:
Rockets must land safely on Earth.
Rockets sometimes come in handy.
Rockets sent astronauts into space.
Comments: I teach fourth, fifth, and sixth grade language arts. About the fourth week of school I spend a day teaching every student how to write a Word Poem. Each grade has a drawer in which to keep his/her poem. Whenever any student finishes his/her language assignment, he/she goes to the drawer to finish a poem or start another one. If he/she comes and asks me what to do, I assign another language activity. This frees my time to work with students who need my help. Guess what? The next time he/she remembers to not ask, “What do I do next?” My students enter numerous poetry contests each year, and we are always published in a book. Each student does his/her poem on the computer, and at the end of school we illustrate the poems and publish a grade level book.
Shirley Spear
Wink/Loving Independent School District
Wink, Texas
The Wings of Maple Seeds
Grade: 6th-12th
Objective: The student will be able to write a poem using the maple seed as a metaphor or using other objects as metaphors for the maple seed.
Directions: After studying the purpose of
similes and metaphors and having looked at examples of poetry writing using similes and metaphors, I bring dried maple seeds to class. The students are told to have out paper and pencils on their desks. Telling them to watch carefully, I throw a handful of seeds into the air. Delighted gasps fill the room as the seeds turn into twirling vehicles spinning through the atmosphere. Then each student is given a maple seed to examine and with which to
experiment. Together we brainstorm for a few minutes about what they look like as they twirl to the ground. Then each is asked to write a list of all the objects and actions of which their seed reminds them. From this list either one or two metaphors are used as a basis for a poem or some choose to create a list poem.
Comments: One year one of my students created a poem about her grandmother who was ill at the time - she took it to the hospital to read to her just before she died. The next week at her grandmother’s funeral, she read the poem as a celebration of the person her grandmother was and will always be in her memories of her. She had given her angel wings.
Sandy Bakke
Walnut Valley Christian Academy
Little Rock, Arkansas
Poetic Opposites
Grade: 5th and up
Objective: To explore life’s opposites, then to write poetry incorporating opposites in some way (e.g. love/hate; up/down; sad/happy; life/death; young/old; day/night; black/white; hot/cold; yes/no; male/female; etc.)
Directions: A. Introduce the idea of using opposites in poetry by reading examples of such or by mentioning the poetry form of diamante (the diamond-shaped poem of 8 lines that begins with one idea and ends with its opposite).
B. Discuss how life is full of opposites, then brainstorm and list examples. Choose a pair, then brainstorm possible images, ideas, or words for each word of the pair or the pair itself. After you’ve generated some possibilities, devise lines for a poem that will demonstrate the opposites chosen.
C. Have student-poets now choose a pair, then brainstorm ideas, images, words, phrases for each word of the pair, or the pair itself. Ask them to then compose a poem (one that does not have to follow a form rhyme scheme, or rhythm pattern) utilizing opposites in some way with the ideas and images they’ve gathered.
| Hello. | The day one is born. | |
| The day one dies. | Goodbye | |
| Hello. | “Welcome to kindergarten!” | |
| “Congrats, graduate!” | Goodbye | |
| Hello. | One’s first date. | |
| The last heartbreak. | Goodbye | |
| Hello. | As we say, “I do.” | |
| One’s children are born. | ||
| After divorce court. | ||
| One’s parents have passed. | Goodbye |
Comments: Student-poets may work alone or in pairs to write. If working with another, they may brainstorm ideas together, or split the pair and each takes one, coming together later to put their ideas together into one poem.
Brenda Shahpari
Lincoln Middle School
Catasauqua, Pennsylvania
Food for Thought
Grade: 5th
Objective: The objective of this project is to foster creative poetry writing in the classroom while addressing the issue of hunger.
Directions: The name of our class project was “Food for Thought.” It gave students the opportunity to write creative poems and share them within our community. 1) Our class toured the local foodbank. We helped at the foodbank by packing some food boxes for the needy. It gave us a good idea of how many people in our local area are in need of food. 2) We had a local poet, Frank Valentino, come to our classroom and give us a poetry workshop. He got us going with our poetry writing and stimulated our creative writing appetites. 3) Once we finished our poetry workshop we began our individual poems. We wrote, revised and read our poems in our classroom. At the same time, we began a fifth grade food drive within our school. 4) Our poems were ready! We attended a poetry reading at the local library. We brought all our food donations from the school to the library reading. We read all our poems (which also gave us practice with our public speaking skills) to the audience. We presented our food donations to the foodbank. 5) We had another phase of our project. We went back to our classroom and wrote more poems. Then, we began planning our 5th grade luncheon called “Empty Bowl Luncheon.” We ran a benefit pasta luncheon for the Spring Lake Foodbank. The class made posters and invitations depicting the issue of hunger and inviting friends and family to the benefit pasta luncheon. We also invited local senior citizens from a nearby retirement center. The idea of our luncheon was not only to raise money for the foodbank, but to make the local community aware that people face empty bowls every day at mealtime. We also made a huge ceramic bowl in art class. Every student contributed to some portion of the making of the bowl. We raffled the bowl at the luncheon. While our guests enjoyed their lunch, the class read their poetry to them.
Joanne DeVito
Ocean Township Elementary School
Oakhurst, New Jersey
“Quick Draw” Poetry
Grade: 10th-12th
Objective: Creative writing plus review of word functions.
Directions: Pairs of students draw 12 words (adverbs, nouns, verbs), then formulate the words into a poem, adding “a, an, the” or repeating when needed.
Example:
ask songs
clearly love
hope pray
strength pain
hate need
bring forever
A prayer brings hope
Hope brings strength
Strength brings love
Love brings songs
Love brings pain
Love asks forever
Love clearly needs a prayer.
Comments: Students love to create something new!
Joyce Hollis
Lake Havasu High School
Lake Havasu, Arizona
Color Poetry
Grade: 6th-12th
Objective: To discover unique traits for a color and make use of imagery, personification, simile, alliteration, and metaphor.
Directions: 1) Discuss favorite colors. Then have students pick a particular color to describe further. 2) Using a brainstorming method such as cluster or listing, have students make a list of details they associate with their color. They may include object or items that associate with their colors such as orange sunset or blue sky. 3) Have the students brainstorm details that relate to other senses besides sight including what the color sounds like, tastes like, smells like and feels like. This will encourage students to create similes. 4) To explore personification, have students brainstorm how the color would walk, talk, behave, etc. In addition, they could brainstorm adjectives that fit their color’s personality such as regal, saintly, friendly, clever, etc. 5) Show students some examples of color poetry such as “Silver” by Walter de la Mare. Review poetic devices such as metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration, and imagery. Encourage students to use some of these devices. I ask my students to use at least four. I show the students examples of color poems written by previous students. 6) Have students write the poem. I ask them to write at least 14-16 lines at first. 7) The next day we share our poems and look at some of the descriptions used and the poetic devices they chose. Working with a partner, students look for their best lines and look for ways to develop ideas in some of the lines. They revise and edit their poems and make a final copy. Many illustrate their poems.
Comments: I encourage my students to enter writing contests in order to have an additional audience for their writing.
Elizabeth Bailey
Edmond Memorial High School
Edmond, Oklahoma
Sounds of Nature
Grade: 5th-6th
Objective: Students observe the outside sounds of nature and record them in writing. They will also learn the uses of onomatopoeia.
Directions: Students will need to have written at least five sounds. Sit quietly in a wooded area, back yard, school grounds, etc. When writing the poem, give the sound, give its name and a vivid description.
Example:
My Afternoon in the Back Yard
Whirrrrrrrr---
Goes the brisk chilly March winds
As it whips around the corners
Of the old farm house.
Tumblinggggg---
As the tumble weeds
Just roll on by
The old farm house.
Scratching---
The oak tree’s bough
Scrubs against the
Tin roof of the old, brown, farm house.
Zoommmming
As the jet flies high
Over in the sky
Above the old farm house.
Twinkling---
As the sunlight meanders
Through the branches of the oak trees
That hangs over the old farm house.
Snoring---
While sitting under
Branches of the oak tree
Feeling the warm sun rays
Listening as the jets pass above
At the old brown farm house.
Winifred Holland
Sonoraville East Middle School
Calhoun, Georgia
Recognizing Poetry in Popular Music
Grade: 7th-8th
Objective: To appreciate and recognize poetry and poetic language in popular music. To see a use for poetry in modern life.
Directions: Each student or pair of students chooses an appropriate song. (No sexual content or violence.) They copy down the words and make enough copies for each student in the class. Then, each student, or pair of students gives a presentation to the class. They identify the similes, metaphors, alliteration, figurative language or written word that appeals to the 5 senses. They interpret the song and reveal what they feel is the theme or purpose for writing the song. They identify if the song entertains, informs or reveals hidden information.
Christine A. Fitzgerald
St Anthony School
Tigard, Oregon
Poetry Through the Eyes of Novelists
Grade: 7th-12th
Objective: After reading various novels throughout the school year, in April (my school’s 4th marking period) I give students a photocopied packet of poetry - minus the author’s names and titles, if they reveal the topic or nature of the poem. The packet includes poems from authors whose novels we’ve read, topics about which we’ve read and time periods which have been studied - in English, as well as Social Studies. The students’ task is to identify the topic in the poem, link it to an author who writes in that style or of that theme and/or guess the time period to which it refers or was written. Learning is applied in a number of ways. Students must analyze the poem by comparison and contrast, summary and inference. Some students might like the opportunity to construct a poem of their own in the vein of another author.
Jill P. Clark
Plymouth Whitemarsh High School
Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania
Using Stanzas Instead of Paragraphs
Grade: 5th-6th
Objective: Students will identify that a stanza, like a paragraph, has one main idea.
Directions: Students will summarize a major event in their lives using poetry instead of conventional sentences and paragraphs. On the overhead, display examples. Using the examples, discuss how the stanza is like a paragraph and that you create a new stanza each time you change ideas.
Example:
My Favorite Christmas Present
It was a huge package
Of green, red, and blue,
What lay inside
I hadn’t a clue
I tore off the ribbons
And ripped open the tape
Then sat in amazement
My mouth agape
For there in the box
Was a wonder to behold
It was a valuable gift
But not silver or gold
As I pulled it out
To my surprise
It spoke to me
Then blinked its eyes
I hugged it to me
Then thanked Mom and Dad
For the prettiest doll
I have ever had
Comments: This activity could be used to describe their experience at the fall festival (describing each ride or game played in individual stanzas), opening presents on Christmas morning (using separate stanzas to describe each present or specific present opened), recapturing the events of the summer or special events of the year (using separate stanzas to describe each place visited on a summer vacation), etc.
Jeanette Skelly
Freeport Elementary School
Freeport, Florida
A Square Foot of Poetry
Grade: 7
Objective: Students will learn to use descriptive words and phrases to describe ordinary objects.
Directions: Each student locates an area in the school and measures a square foot of it (desk, floor, wall, window, etc.) and writes a descriptive paragraph to share with the class.
Comments: Since they are forced to consider descriptive words, students learn to develop their descriptive vocabularies, enhancing their poetic talents.
Jeanine Johnson
Kanab Middle School
Kanab, Utah
Dictionary Poetry
Grade: 9-12
Objective: To get students to look at words as the raw material for poetry.
Directions: In groups of four, each student takes a turn opening the dictionary. The first word he/she sees is written down. Students must complete a four stanza poem in which each word is used.
Shelly Proffit
Mother of Mercy High School
Cincinnati, Ohio
Poetree
Grade: Any
Objective: To encourage the writing of poetry.
Directions: Place a multi-branched dead limb in a pot of sand, mud, or gravel. Have students write poems on paper cut into the shapes of large leaves; tape or glue the leaves to the tree. Keep the tree in a prominent place in the room for visitors to see.
Charlotte Orlando
Atonement Lutheran School
Metairie, Louisiana
R A I N !
Grade: 3rd - 5th
Objective: Students will write poems that reveal what they see, hear, feel, smell, and their emotional response to RAIN.
Directions: 1) On a day when it’s raining take the class outside to stand under an overhang so that they can be with the rain and even experience feeling it by stepping out from under the overhang area. Ask the students to stand quietly so that they may use all their senses to take in the rain experience. 2) Upon returning to class ask students to write poems about what they just noticed. Students may use any of the poetry forms that have already been practiced in class or introduce a new form of poetry. (Examples: Haiku, Acrostic, Diamante, free form, or whatever form you choose.) 3) Have students write different forms of poetry and as many poems as they like. 4) Have students self-edit and proofread their papers before asking for a peer check (proofreading by another student). 5) Before you collect the poems, allow some time for students to share their poems with other students at their table area. Also, spend some time having students share what they have written to the whole class.
Comments: 1) Some students may like to write their poems with the voice of mother earth receiving the rain (dirt, lake, stream), the clouds that give off the rain or objects and people who are hit by the rain. 2) Student poems with their illustrations can be photocopied and made into a R A I N book so that each student receives a copy.
Sharon D. Edwins
Katz Elementary School
Las Vegas, Nevada
My Pet
Grade: 6th
Objective: To express emotions in poetic form through the inspiration of family pets.
Directions: Students will bring a photo from home of themselves with their pet. They will write a free verse poem inserting adjectives and adverbs to describe their pet and how they feel about it. Attach pet picture to the poem and display it on a bulletin board.
Comments: First make students aware of different emotions by displaying on overhead transparency of the different types of emotions, other than happy or sad. Students can also write three other words in a word cluster or web for each emotion displayed using a thesaurus. To get students started - use the brainstorming technique writing a list of special qualities their pet has that makes them love them so. Now students are ready to write their pet poems.
Deborah Nevarez
Mesquite Elementary School
Mesquite, New Mexico
A Recipe for Poetry
Grade: 8th
Objective: An appreciation and understanding of poetry
Directions: The teacher dictates a poem and discusses imagery, ideas within the poem.
Once the students have shared their thoughts, encourage them to find specific examples of the different ingredients of poetry: action, statement, detail, imagery, and metaphor/simile.
Once the students have discussed a number of poems and have a thorough understanding of the ingredients, have them create their own masterpieces using at least four of the five senses: sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell.
Comments: The kids do a wonderful job and are eager to share their poems. The students become aware of the different kinds of moods, as in a recipe, different kinds of ingredients. Poetry is the art of language!
Credit: This activity is credited to a local author/poet, Baron Wormser. He did this activity with my students, and it was very successful.
Rachel Blake
Madison Junior High School
Madison, Maine