Shape Poems Lesson Plans

Students develop their range of words in writing. In this lesson about word choice, students read a book, Rain Drop, Plop!, by Wendy Cheyette Lewison and use it to aid them in increasing their use of descriptive words. Students think about raindrops and build their own list of words to describe raindrops. Students write a poem about raindrops on a raindrop-shaped piece of blue construction paper.

Students write weather shape poems and sing weather related songs. In this creative writing lesson, students read the book, It's Raining, It's Pouring and list weather words they heard in the story. Students use the writing process to write a "shape" poem and use descriptive words to describe a type of weather.

Students write a poem. For this writing lesson, students learn about Gwendolyn Brooks, a famous poet. Students discuss shape poetry and how it is written. Students choose an object from nature and write their own shape poem.

Learners define home and understand that home is not the same to everyone. In this homes lesson, students participate individually and in groups to create a classroom definition of home. Learners discuss the events in the story the Shape of Home to develop reading strategies to understand the vocabulary and text.

Students write a winter "shape poem," draw the outline of an object that complements the poem and copy the poem inside the outline in a pattern.

Students identify shapes. They plan what shapes they may find around their school. Using a digital camera, students take pictures of hidden shapes around the school. Students identify shapes within a shape.

Fourth graders create their own stories, poems, and songs using the elements of the literature they have read and appropriate vocabulary. They utilize worksheets imbedded in this plan, which guide their rough and final drafts.

Students discover different types of poetry. In this poetry lesson, students read haikus, narrative, nonsense, shape, and rhyming poetry. They find the meaning of the poetry and analyze the linguistic devices used by the author. 

Reading through a range of different types of poems, learners identify the types of poems, recording distinguishing details of each. They complete multiple readings for fluency and comprehension, then watch the video link from BBC to further explore poetry. In an included worksheet, they find examples of similes, metaphors, alliteration, and rhyming. Students play "rhyme tennis," in which a child states a word and his/her partner generates a rhyming word. 

Students explore Navajo legends. In this legend lesson, students read the legend of the Spider Woman. Students read the legend and answer questions. Students watch videos about weaving and note the shapes in the weaving. Students create and perform an interpretive dance.