Engage your class in the elements of poetry with a series of lessons and activities. The plans cover simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and imagery. Learners come up their their own metaphors, identify poetic...

Discover alliteration found in picture books by Pamela Duncan Edwards. Then, dive into a read aloud of Alligators All Around by Maurice Sendak. This practice sets the stage for budding poets to create their own acrostic poem,...

Inspire scholars to do their part for planet Earth with a read-aloud of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, and variety of activities designed to boost the environmental activist in us all. Activities include writing poems about the Earth,...

“Hope is a tissue, wiping away your problems and fears.” Use a Definition Poem Web worksheet to model for your class how to craft a free verse poem based on an emotion. After brainstorming topics, groups use the sheet to make comparisons...

Use a Visual Thesaurus to compose word association poems. Discuss poetry and word association, create word maps, then practice creating poems based on playful word associations. A perfect way to celebrate "Poem in Your Pocket Day" (April...

Students conduct field research of a historical site in order to discover a more complete understanding of a time period. They choose one particular historical figure and write a short poem about the site from the historical person's...

"Everything we have seen and touched and heard and experienced has, in some way, made us who we are." Your young learners will use this resource to create lists of influences (people, animal, nature, places, etc.) in their lives and to...

The Buttonhook by Mary Jo Salter is the focus of a unit that explores the immigration experience to Ellis Island. First, scholars bring in an artifact that represents their heritage. A group-exercise allows them to share and discuss...

Practice sequencing events using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's narrative poem about the famous revolutionary hero. Learners read Revere's own account of the event, and compare/contrast the two texts using a t-chart. Finally, they imagine...

After listening to the story, The Best Part of Me, learners will identify a positive physical feature of themselves, and create a descriptive poem about their favorite feature. Photographs are taken, and a nice final draft of the poem is...

The writing of Haiku poems is the focus of this language arts lesson. In it, the basic elements of Haiku poetry are presented, and then a step-by-step set of instructions on how to create a Haiku poem along with an illustration is...

Scholars read four brief poems and analyze their word usage in order to identify the rhyme scheme. 

Metaphors open doors to descriptive language for your poets. They read the poem "What is the Sun" and record all the metaphors they find. Then, scholars change one of them to a simile. After answering two more comprehension...

Explore rhyming in this phonemic awareness and French lesson. Listen to the poem "J'Adore la Pizza" by Karen Kransky and identify rhyming words. Compare grapheme spelling patterns with like phonemes, and sort word cards according to...

In this writing learning exercise, students write lists of words that rhyme with the words throne, shrug, throat, and shred. They write sentences using the rhyming words and attempt to write a rhyming poem.

As a way to combine language arts and science, try this lesson on writing cloud poetry. Begin by showing a PowerPoint presentation and images of cloud types. Take meteorology masters outdoors to explore the sky using the provided "Cloud...

R-e-s-p-e-c-t, find out what it means to your class! After a grand conversation about what is, and how one can show respect, scholars take part in a plethora of activity choices such as role playing, a game of Simon Says, wood working,...

Are your pupils ready to move beyond a thesis statement by adding additional detail to their introductory paragraphs? Provide this handout to give your class some ideas for spiffing up their work. The page includes a sample paragraph...

Students identify and interpret the rhythm and form of the I Spy poem. They then integrate art, music, literature, technology, and writing with poetry. Students also write their own poem based on the picture they printed from the I Spy...

Young scholars explore concrete poetry. In this instructional activity about poetry, students read A Poke in the I, by Paul B. Janeczko, and are introduced to concrete poems. Young scholars read several different kinds of concrete poems...

In this writing worksheet, students explore and discover a variety of ways to help make writing more interesting and creative.

Fourth graders write poems that use local wildlife as their inspiration. After a class discussion which produces a list of wildlife that pupils have seen in their town, a review of three types of poetry ensues. They look at how...

Find out what's special about your pupils with a fun biopoem activity! As they fill out their name, words that describe them, what they love, and what they dream of, learners create an expressive poem about themselves.