A NOUN names a person, place, thing, quality, quantity.
A PRONOUN takes a noun’s place: he, she, it, I, they, you, we.
There are eight real foolproof endings for a noun like “tion”, and “ment”.
The noun referred to by the pronoun’s called antecedent.
A VERB can show an action: swim, see, run, jump, go, skate, buzz.
A VERB of BEING, helps or links like am, are, is were, was.
An ADVERB describes a verb or an adjective, too.
Most end in “ly” and answer “how, when, where”, and “why” for you.
An ADJECTIVE describes a noun: red, three, strong, brave, kind, free.
For adjective tells “which one, what kind, how much, how many.”
Most PREPOSITIONS, are direction words: like, of, on, for, in to.
Under, around, up; down, over and through.
CONJUNCTIONS are connector words that join two things together.
Some are: while, nor, but, or, and, moreover, however.
INTERJECTIONS show strong feeling, interrupt like: gee! please, wow!
That makes eight parts of speech. Memorize them all now.
Ilyse Balsam Jarman
Neil Armstrong Middle School
Bensalem, Pennsylvania
Locker Poem
Grade: 8th
Objective: To recognize the elements of poetry by including one element in a free verse poem.
Directions: Students examine their lockers and its contents. From the observation, students take notes and develop a poem describing their lockers. Somewhere within the poem students must include a figure of speech. The poem is then written and illustrated on sheets of paper cut to fit the door of a locker.
Comments: This is a good activity to illustrate that a poem can be written about any subject. By attaching the poems to the lockers, it is a good way to display student work during an open house.
Sue Keller
Howar Junior High School
Centerville, Iowa
Bio-Poems
Grade: Third and up
Objective: To write a poem about yourself that has some structure to allow for the exploration of free verse.
Directions:
Line 1--Your name
Line 2--Four traits that describe you
Line 3--Brother/Sister of ______
Line 4--Likes (three things)
Line 5--Who feels...
Line 6--Who needs...
Line 7--Who gives...
Line 8--Who fears...
Line 9--Who would like to see...
Line 10--Lives in (City, State, Country)
Line 11--Your last name
Comments: We drafted our first copies and went through the revision and editing stages before we published the final copies in our anthologies. The students learned a lot about themselves and also how rhythm works in formatting a poem. We also sent copies to our out-of-state pen-pals.
Denise Berrebi
Woodburn School
Morgantown, West Virginia
Word Power Poetry
(Vocabulary Poetry)
Grade: Middle School and Above
Objective: Most teachers are well aware that memorizing definitions from provided word lists rarely enhances student vocabularies. As with most learning, vocabulary is strengthened through contextual use. Hence, the activity provided below is meant to strengthen student word awareness through the actual use of new words via the construction of creative writing: poetry!
Directions:
1. Instruct each student to select a vocabulary word that they are having trouble learning, understanding. The word may be selected from recent reading or from a word bank collected from student writing or reading—i.e., words students have misused or questioned.
2. Direct students to employ free verse form, incorporating the vocabulary word into an original poem—using the word in such a way that the reader of the poem will come to understand the definition. Students may use synonyms, antonyms, stories, examples, imagery, or clever rhymes to help present meaning.
3. Encourage the use of creative line arrangement, indentation and capitalization to enhance clarity and emphasis.
4. Emphasize the incorporation of figurative language devices to add color to their poems—e.g., similes, metaphors, alliteration, assonance, apostrophe, personification. Actually requiring the utilization of at least two of these stylistic devices will often greatly improve poetic quality. (Asking students to list the devices they used at the bottom of their poems will provide an additional learning/review activity.)
5. Have students finalize their poem by including a creative title.
6. Conduct a class exchange in which each student shares his/her poem with another student who tries to define the vocabulary word used in the poem.
Example:
Contingency
By Jason Nellis
Contingency knocks at the door.
What is its identity?
How well is it cloaked?
What will my reaction be?
Surely I am not sure.
There is a chance that there is no chance that it will be there.
Positively it is a mere possibility.
Possibly, the possibility is positively preposterous.
It may be expected, or maybe it should have been expected.
Maybe it should be unexpected, so then what will it be?
The odds are in favor of it being possible.
Will it happen?
Is it what I think it is?
There is a possibility,
Is it what I think it is?
It is there, right behind the door.
Perhaps it is an opportunity.
It is possible.
(Vocabulary word: contingency)
G. Sassenberg
Bonanza High School
Las Vegas, NV
Holiday Poetry Contest: Celebrate diversity
Grade: 4th
Directions:
Interview a family member about a holiday they recall celebrating as a child in their native country. Ask them to describe sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the holiday. Of course, all interesting details are welcome. Write up the interviews and compare holidays on a chart for their similarities and differences.
Next, look at different types of poetry forms, including haiku, cinquain, freestyle, and rhyming. Encourage each student to pick the form they feel most comfortable with and represent their holiday in poetry form. Encourage them to collaborate and brainstorm different formats. Finally, type up the results and display on "Our Stories" wall.
Comments: It is interesting to see how many people stand and read all the different poems. They are quite moving and something to be proud of.
Mrs. Delaney
Yonkers Public School
Yonkers, NY
The Modern Sonnet
Grade: 9-12
Objective: This poem writing experience, a modern twist on a traditional form poem, engages students in personal reflection and promotes imagistic, sensory poetry.
Directions: Begin by giving each student a manila folder and a pair of scissors. Make a stack of magazines available. Ask the students to cut out pictures that they find appealing and glue them to the folder. On the front, they should put pictures that have to do with the image they present to the world. On the inside two pages, they put pictures that indicate the way they feel about themselves, their hopes and fears, their secrets. On the back cover, they put pictures that represent the future. Generally, this takes a class period, especially if you leave time for students to talk about what they’ve done.
The next class period, have students write about their folders, directing them to write four relatively long lines based on the image or images on the front, four on the middle, and four on the back. They should "finish" the poem with a rhymed couplet that seems appropriate.
The students end up with a poem roughly equivalent to a sonnet. In comparing it to other modern sonnets, many decide to rearrange the three quatrains to at least suggest rhyme, but this is often unnecessary. Whether it adheres strictly to the form or not, the poems end up with strong images and honest reflection, and students profit from comparing their final result with both traditional Shakespearean sonnets and ones by contemporary poets like Seamus Heaney.
Nancy Swanson
Daniel High School
Central, SC
Pastoral Poetry
Grade level: 6-12
Objective: The student will examine his or her life in relation to poetry.
Directions: The student will list five things that keep them busy. The class
will discuss how life is busy. The teacher will explain that sometimes we need to slow down; even our vacations are often go, go and go. To slow down and sample life's simple pleasures is called PASTORAL. The teacher will explain that pastoral poems contain uncomplicated characters, are emotionally direct and pure and focus on slowing down in life. The student will list five things they like to do when life is slow and relaxing, i.e. Going to the pool. The student will write a poem using one or more of those five things.
Comments: This can be connected to Egyptians; they were the recognized first to write pastoral poems.
Crashing of the Waves
by
Richard Ehrlich
On the sand,
Isolated and solitary.
I know the path;
For it is mine alone.
The sun's rays elbow the mist,
which retreat into the silence.
Even crashing waves do nothing.
OR
A Lonely Tear
by
Richard Ehrlich
A lonely tear slips
Into a salty puddle
On the concrete floor.
Richard Ehrlich
Dreyfoos School of the Arts
West Palm Beach, FL
POET TREE
Grade: Any grade level (I’m a 3rd/4th grade teacher).
Objectives: Aesthetically, to promote poetry writing and appreciation in the young child; and concretely, to serve as a seasonal background to display students’ work.
Directions: The basic tree is created and covers the wall outside the classroom. Various themes for the poetry, written (and illustrated) include: Fall, written and glued to various "leaves;" Snow, mounted on blue shapes of snow crystals; Winter, mounted on sleds or skis or snowdrifts; Lion/Lamb, mounted on either animal shape; Spring, mounted on yellow or pink or pale paper; Summer Vacations, mounted on shapes of the states or places the students will visit.
Students read each other’s poems over and over and exclaim how good one is or which is their favorite, all while they wait (relatively) quietly to line up for lunch or dismissal. We read and wrote poetry all year.
Comments: One of the favorite poetry forms we used was the sense poem (snow looks like, smells like, tastes like, feels like, sounds like). We promoted good science observation skills all year, and the parallel to poetry was easy to advance.
Poetry books can be made available so that poems for one of the themes could be chosen by the students and illustrated to fit whatever mounting device is chosen. The more students are exposed to poetry, the more they realize they can write it, too. And they do, readily, at this age.
Judith K. Poffenbarger
Blessed Sacrament School
Omaha, NE
Poet Study
This activity is a poet study -- students read poetry anthologies written by one poet. It is completed after five to ten poetry workshops -- where students learn about what poets do when writing poetry, write poetry themselves, and read poetry. Students have been immersed in poetry and are ready to read poetry, apply what was learned, and discuss poets/poetry in literature circle groups. This lesson is purely for enjoyment and appreciation of poetry/poets.
Grade: This can be used at any grade level depending on the choices of poetry anthologies used. The poetry books listed are for young adults -- fifth to eighth graders.
Objective: Enrichment/Enjoyment/Appreciation. I complete a poetry workshop with the students each year -- teaching students what poets do while writing poetry. During this part of the poetry unit, a poet study will be completed so that students enjoy reading poetry and are enriched with literature. The students will read poems by the poets listed and discuss the poets in literature circles.
Directions: Poetry Workshop -- Poet Study
Two to Three day schedule
Poets:
Poetry for Young People - Emily Dickinson edited by Frances Schoomaker Bolin
Poetry for Young People - Robert Frost edited by Gary D. Schmidt
A Dreamkeeper by Langston Hughes; illustrated by Brian Pinkney
Everywhere Faces Everywhere: Poems by James Berry; illustrated by Reynold Ruffins
Ordinary Things: Poems from a Walk in Early Spring by Ralph Fletcher; illustrated by Walter Lyon Krudop
Joyful Noise by Paul Fleischman
Period 1 -- 75 minutes
Home Groups/Literature Circles -- decide on choice of poet that interest them (1st, 2nd, 3rd choices on paper without talking with others while looking at books); then the students are assigned to a home group that is reading an anthology by one poet according to students’ choices.
40-45 minutes
1. Students in home groups read the anthology of poetry -- suggestion is to read aloud poems; all students taking notes during any discussion of poems/poet using stickees that can be pasted on to the pages; use guide questions on chart for discussion.
30 minutes
2. Discussion of poems and poets in literature circles (home groups) using chart with guide discussion questions (below); taking notes on stickees:
*What poems did you like and why?
*What poems confused you and why?
*What words did the poet use that you thought were interesting?
*Did you notice any of the literary devices poets use such as alliteration, metaphor, etc.?
*If you had to tell another person about the poet, what would you say? Draft a list of things you would say and pick a poem that you would like to share with others.
5 minutes - reflection
3. Individual/Independent -- Have students reflect in literature response journals what they thought about the poet and his/her poems.
Period 2 -- 75 minutes
15 minutes
1. Meet with home group to get thoughts together so each can move into expert groups (which will include one person that read each poetry anthology) -- sharing things noticed about the poet and poems and a favorite poem.
45-60 minutes
2. Expert groups (each group now has one person that read each poet anthology) -- each person discusses poet and his/her poems and shares a favorite poem from the book.
5-10 minutes -- reflection
3. Have students reflect on the poet study -- did they like it and why; did they learn something about writing poems; give opinion about the past two days.
4. Share reflections -- volunteers -- teacher should read all and respond back.
Teresa M. Morretta
Jenkintown Elementary School
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
Grade: 5-7