University of New Mexico
ESL - Thematic Unit Plan
Learners read a variety of poetry books together in small groups. They examine Haiku poetry and share their favorites. They write their own Haiku either individually in a pair. They read and discuss limericks and work on writing their own.
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Horatio's Drive
Students assess the literary quality and elements of Jackson's journey to write a ballad about his automobile adventure.
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Sam Samurai
Students study the history and culture of 17th century Japan by examining samurai. They review the format of haiku poetry and examine renga poetry. They examine Kamishibai, the Japanese storytelling form and apply it five facts they...
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Haiku
Fourth graders create a haiku. They use a digial camera and file management techniques to save work. They also use a photo editor to manipulate the pictures. Finally, they create a PowerPoint presentation of their Haiku.
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Show Don't Tell
Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.
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"Here's much to do with hate, but more with love": The Prologue in Romeo and Juliet
Students participate in a guide close reading of the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet. They write a prologue sonnet to another piece of literature they have read.
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Do You Haiku? We Do!
Third graders try their hands at writing Haiku, a form of Japanese poetry. Haiku is usually 17 syllables in three-line form. This engaging lesson has many excellent worksheets and website imbedded in the plan. They share their finished...
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Desert Cinquains
Students use the cinquain structure and correct parts of speech to write a poem with a desert theme.
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A Journey To Japan Through Poetry
Third graders gain an appreciation for writing, analyzing, reading and listening to poetry, viewing poems as a motivation for studying Japanese culture and tradition. They study and create their own haiku and tanka poems with illustrations.
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Shakespeare Analysis
Eighth graders focus on the Shakespearian sonnet as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative...
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Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet
Students experience and enjoy the sounds of poetry. They erform sound experiments with sonnets and closely read and analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare. Students write an analysis of how sound affects meaning in a sonnet chosen from the...
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Edward Lear, Limericks, and Nonsense: There Once Was...
Students recognize poetic devices including rhyme, syllabification, and meter. They identify the characteristics of a nonsense poem and of a limerick. They write their own limericks.
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Other Poetic Types
Rather than a lesson, this resource is a list of poetic forms and young poets are encouraged to try their hand at composing poems of various types.
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Do You Haiku?
After examining several Haiku and noting characteristics of the form, class members create five of their own poems. Use this resource for extra practice or review.
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Poetry as a Fine Art
Sixth graders use a visit to the National Gallery of Art to inspire descriptive writing. They choose works of art and write descriptive word lists, paragraphs and Haiku.
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Animal Cinquain
In this poem-writing instructional activity, 5th graders read the format for a cinquain poem and answer 5 questions about an animal of their choice. The questions guide students to write their own cinquain poem.
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The English Sonnet: Michael Drayton
Learners discover literature by conducting a free writing experiment. In this sonnet lesson, students read the sonnet "The Parting" and compare it to modern-day songs about breaking up. Learners listen to pop music in class and...
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The Name Game
In this grammar worksheet, students write acrostic poems using the first 5 letters of their first and last names and provide adverbs and propositions for each letter. Then they write sentences for each word.
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A Family Apart
Students create an abc book, acrostic poem, diary, caricature, haiku, and more for the story A Family Apart. In this A Family Apart lesson plan, students also have vocabulary words to use.
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Forest Poetry
Students explore nature by participating in a poetry writing activity. In this forest investigation lesson, students identify images and feelings they experienced while they were in a forest on a class trip. Students identify poetry...
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Close Reading of a Sonnet
Students practice reading sonnets line by line to find the message of the sonnet. For this sonnet lesson, students read a sonnet one line at a time as the teacher projects it for the entire class. As each line is shown,...
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Poetry III--Haiku Writing
Young scholars create and solve haiku riddles. In this haiku writing lesson, students work in groups to match a haiku to an illustration. Young scholars write haiku and assess themselves and their peers.
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Hats acrostic poem
In this poetry worksheet, students write an acrostic poem about hats by beginning each line with a letter in the word "Hats."