+
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Using Poetry to Explore Change and Belonging

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Change, growth, and a sense of belonging are the focus of a unit that uses poetry to explore these themes and the distinguishing features of poetry as well. 
+
Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Sixth Grade Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Study some of the most prominent poets and works of poetry in history with a language arts poetry unit. From Virgil to Shakespeare to Dickinson to Angelou, the resources present biographies and examples of poetic elements to the sixth...
+
Lesson Plan
National Park Service

The Poet's Toolbox

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities on...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing, Critique, and Revising: Two-Voice Poems (Chapter 14: "Las Ucas/Grapes")

For Teachers 5th Standards
Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Word Association Poetry with Visual Thesaurus (or Not)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young poets get inspiration and guidance for making word association poems with the Visual Thesaurus. Your class could complete this project with nothing more than a pencil and paper as well. A nice one-off for a substitute during your...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students

For Teachers 6th - 9th
A series of well-written activities, these lessons prompt middle schoolers reading below grade level (at a second, third, or fourth grade level) to use poetry to practice basic reading skills. They rhyme, build words, make inferences,...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Creative Dramatics With the Teaching of Poetry

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Launch your poetry unit in a very dramatic way. Divide your class into groups, and give each group a different poem. After discussing the poem, each group member selects a stanza to study. The group then develops a skit that represents...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Gathering Evidence and Drafting a Two-Voice Poem (Chapter 13: "Los Duraznos/Peaches")

For Teachers 5th Standards
Begin class with a short comprehension quiz and review and then move into a new genre: two-voice poems. The activity provides information about this type of poetry as well as a video example made by eighth graders that you can show your...
+
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson Two: The Earth, Introductory Activities

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Determine what young pupils already know about earth science with a brainstorming activity. After class members work together to complete a KWL chart about the Earth, they craft an acrostic poem to demonstrate their understanding.
+
Activity
Curated OER

Express Yourself Pre Assessment Lesson 1 & 2

For Teachers 6th
Find out how much your class knows about literary elements with a quick pre-assessment. Pupils work first individually to identify the instances of personification, metaphor, simile, and more, and then with group members to determine the...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Looking Closely at Stanza 3—Identifying Rules to Live By Communicated in “If”

For Teachers 6th Standards
Just as Bud, from the novel Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, had rules to live by, so does the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, but how do the two relate? Pupils delve deep into the poem's third stanza, participate in a grand...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Scholastic

Ready to Research Owls

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Researching facts about owls can be a hoot for your class. Let them wisely collaborate on this writing project. The resource is the second part of three parts. It is best to use all three lessons in order. 
+
Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science

For Teachers 1st - 12th Standards
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
+
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Selecting Favorite Poems From Historical Poets

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Here is a poetry lesson that begins with a free-association activity focused on the word voice. Learners each sit alone for a moment and make sounds that express how they are currently feeling, and then turn to their partners to share...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Curated OER

Reading Poetry in the Middle Grades

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Bring the beauty of "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Robert Frost to middle school language arts. After learners read a copy of the poem, they follow an instructional sequence that focuses on sound, figurative language, and theme.
+
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Fourth Grade Rats: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Things sure change in year's time. Suds, from Fourth Grade Rats, went from a third grade angel to a fourth grade rat! Although he is not necessarily happy with his new self, he worries he will lose his popularity. Learners complete...
+
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

One Crazy Summer: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer describes three girls who go looking for their mother who ran out on them. Scholars complete a novel study guide with vocabulary exercises, character descriptions, and comprehension poems.
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Poems carved into the wooden walls of the Asian immigrant prisons on Angel Island provide upper elementary graders an opportunity to study not only the story behind the poems but to also focus on the figurative language employed by the...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Revisiting Big Metaphors and Themes: Revising and Beginning to Perform Two-Voice Poems

For Teachers 5th Standards
Now that your class has read all of Esperanza Rising, take the time to tackle big metaphors and themes. Pupils will participate in an activity called Chalk Talk, in which they circulate around the room in small groups and add comments to...
+
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Third Grade Angels: Novel Study

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
A million things to do, a ton of homework ... hyperbole sure does help get the point across! With the novel study for Jerry Spinelli's Third Grade Angels, scholars practice writing their own exaggerated sentences. Additionally, they...
+
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing Interview Questions

For Teachers 6th Standards
And now for the star witness! Scholars take a look at a model newspaper article and discuss the importance of eyewitness accounts. In groups of three, they take turns underlining text from eyewitnesses. They then regroup to talk about...
+
Study Guide
Reed Novel Studies

Walk Two Moons: Novel Study

For Teachers 4th - 7th Standards
Enjoy solving riddles? Perhaps Sal, a character in Walk Two Moons, is the only one capable of understanding a mysterious message left on her doorstep. On a road trip with her grandparent, Sal tries to make sense of the bizarre world...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Three Young Pilgrims

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders study the story of the voyage of the Mayflower told from the view point of the three Allerton siblings who were on board the ship. The book tells of their voyage across the Atlantic and their first year here on the North...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry in Song

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Have your music lovers examine song lyrics and identify the poetry elements or tools used by a lyricist. They review the song individually before working in groups to discuss what they discovered about the song's narrator or character...