Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 4: Listen, My Children - Poems for Fourth Graders
Over three weeks, fourth graders explore the world of poetry. They listen to authors such as Shel Silverstein and Maya Angelou, complete word work activities, and practice spelling skills. Budding poets take pen to paper with daily...
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Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students
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,...
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Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems
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...
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Poetry for the Elementary Classroom
Use Shel Silverstein's poem "Batty" to introduce poetry to young readers. This lesson is not formatted well, but the plan does suggest learners memorize a poem, recite the poem individually, and then recite the poem as a class. Poetry...
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Poetry in Song
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...
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Poetry in Depth
Scholars use technology to explore poetry and its related elements, such as theme, figures of speech, and other literary devices. They complete four poetry projects including a poem analysis with a concept web, an interactive poem...
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Playing Vocabulary Basketball
Learners view a slide show featuring famous athletes and educational institutions that have played a part in the history of basketball. They participate in a game in which a basketball is tossed from person to person as facts and...
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I Spy Poetry
Explore the components of rhythm and form through a reading of Jean Marzollo's I Spy books. After discussing Marzollo’s format, the class agrees upon a theme for a class book and topics that fit with that theme. Pupils write a poem,...
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Poetry Writing
Students read various examples of poetry and create a poetry portfolio. In this poetry writing activity, students work at their own pace to complete a poetry portfolio with examples of the different poetic forms demonstrated. Students...
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Reading, Writing, Reciting Exciting Poetry!
Students complete a poetry analysis unit. In this poetry analysis lesson, students study poetry by reading, reciting, and analyzing poems and their poets. Students study poetic devices, write their own poems, and complete hands-on...
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Poetry of Abraham Lincoln
Fourth graders analyze Abraham Lincoln's poems "The Bear Hunt" and "My Childhood's Home" for word choice and deeper inquiry into the vocabulary he uses to convey emotion. They identify rhyming words and patterns in these poems. ...
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Poetry and Nature
Young scholars observe an object in nature and record them. In groups, they create a group poem about the same object. They create their own poem based on another object using other their senses to help them. They share their poems with...
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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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Bio-Poems and U.S. History
Students explore U.S. History by writing poems. In this United States leader biography lesson plan, students identify elements needed to create a good poem, and write a Bio-Poem about themselves. Students utilize the same form to write a...
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Understanding and Appreciating Poetry: Afro-Americans and Their Poetry
Sixth graders are introduced to poems written by African-American authors. As a class, they read excerpts of poems from different time periods and discuss how and if anything has changed over time with discrimination and equal rights...
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African American Poetry: Songs of Protest and Pride
Students are introduced to various time periods in history in which African Americans wrote songs and poetry to cope. In groups, they travel between different stations to listen or read poems and music from the Civil War period, Civil...
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Literature: Yoshiko Uchida Unit
Sixth graders read the books, The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography by Yoshiko Uchida and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki about Japanese Americans during World War II. They hold discussions, take quizzes, and write essays about the...
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The Important Poem
Students are read numerous examples of strong poetry. Individually, they brainstorm a list of interests or attributes about themselves and choose the most important one. They write a poem using the attribute and shares the poem with the...
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Barn Owls and Owl Pellet Dissection
Students explore birds of prey and food chains. In this ecosystems and birds of prey cross curriculum science and literacy lesson plan, students brainstorm characteristics of birds after viewing photographs. Students view a video and...
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Harriet Tubman Integrated Unit
Young scholars organize facts about Harriet Tubman. In this writing lesson plan, students research Harriet Tubman, sort facts about her into two categories, and use the information they have found to write about her life in complete...
K12 Reader
Geometric Shape Names
Combine math and language arts in the same lesson with a reading passage about number prefixes in geometric shapes. After reading several short paragraphs about the different prefixes used in shape names, kids answer five comprehension...
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Cesar Chavez Biopoem
Learners demonstrate their learning about Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union by writing a biopoem. They word process the poem.
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Lesson Three: Go Free or Die
Fourth graders look for sensory details and figurative language. In this reading strategy lesson, 4th graders read the story Go Free or Die by J. Ferris and complete a chart with figurative language. They use a word wall in the class to...
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Similes and Metaphors
Use the Civil War and important figures from that period to help your class write poetry. You'll need to create a list of similes and metaphors, but you could also consider having your learners create this the day prior. They will use...