Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Poetry
Hook kids into a study on poetry elements by asking them to bring in the lyrics to their favorite song. Discuss the elements in one or two songs (preferably that demonstrate rhyme, figurative language, or a repeating phrase). Groups do...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Pre Assessment Lesson 1 & 2
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...
Curated OER
Poetic Elements Are Fun!
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...
Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Poetry
Here is a terrific lesson on poetry! Learners bring in the lyrics to their favorite song. A class discussion ensues regarding what makes a song "catchy." After analyzing the alliteration of the poems, learners read the poem "This...
K20 LEARN
(Not Quite) Breaking All The Rules: Poetry And Grammar
FANBOYS will enjoy breaking grammar rules, but they will have to use coordinating conjunctions, gerunds, compound sentences, compound-complex sentences, and even predicates as they craft poems like Shel Silverstein.
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
War and Poetry
A band of brothers or the Devil's agents? Nobel warriors freeing the oppressed or mercenaries working for the military/industrial complex? Groups examine poems from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II to determine the poets'...
Trinity University
I Didn’t Know that was Poetry
Poetry or prose? That is the question facing middle schoolers as they begin a month-long poetry unit by examining the characteristics that differentiate poetry and prose writing. Pupils learn about poetic devices and different types of...
Scholastic
Lesson Two: The Earth, Introductory Activities
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.
National Endowment for the Humanities
“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading of the two...
K20 LEARN
Comparing/Contrasting Characters Through Two-Voice Poems: Characterization
Two babies, two fathers, two experiences, two worlds. Partners craft two-voice poems to capture the points of view of two men with very different lives who have just become fathers.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Unit 5: Realms of Gold - Vol. 2 Poetry and Short Stories Teacher Guide
Seventh graders have a golden opportunity to learn how to read poems and short stories with a unit that introduces them to the techniques writers use to craft their works. They examine poems by William Carlos Williams and Edgar Allen Poe...
EngageNY
Gathering Evidence and Drafting a Two-Voice Poem (Chapter 13: "Los Duraznos/Peaches")
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...
Curated OER
"Your Son, Your Only One" - The Sacrifice of Isaac as a Motif in Holocaust Poetry
Class groups examine a series of poems that use Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac as a motif in Holocaust poetry. Included are questions, notes to the teacher, and bibliographical information on each poem. The activities could be...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "The Tradition" by Jericho Brown
To begin this lesson, class members examine Antonius Hockelmann's painting "Tree Flowers II," record elements of the painting that they notice, and share their observations with a partner. Next, pupils do a close reading of Jericho...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: “Thanksgiving” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Victor Laredo's painting "On the Beach" and Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem "Thanksgiving" allow young scholars to use their noticing skills. Class members identify elements of the painting the artist uses to create the feeling of his work....
Academy of American Poets
Women in Poetry
Imagine linking poetry to technology! Thirty-three lessons comprise a 6-week "Women in Poetry" unit for high schoolers. Class members research women poets, learn how to respond electronically to discussions, write their poems, create web...
Curated OER
Latino Literature: Poetry
Under construction, this lesson focuses on Canto Familia, a collection of poetry about Gary Soto's experiences growing up in California's Imperial Valley. Representative of the experiences of many Latinos, the poems also address themes...
Curated OER
Creating a Found Poem
Teach your English learners about theme through this found poem project. Class members read two versions of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi": the original version and a synopsis. After learning about themes and connecting theme to their...
Curated OER
Dancing through Poetry
Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...
Curated OER
Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together. They examine the...
VH1
Lesson 3: Behind the Movie Chicago
In small groups and then as a class, young musicians compare and contrast two pieces from the musical film Chicago. They pair up to look at the elements that make each piece similar and define the elements or arrangements that make them...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a instructional activity that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as...
Curated OER
Making Objects Human
Explore poetry, personification, and multiple languages with a poetry reading and writing lesson. After the teacher reads the poem to the class, a discussion about personification follows. The class then writes a collaborative poem...
Prestwick House
Rhyme and Repetition in Poe's "Annabel Lee"
Many and many a year ago Edgar Allan Poe crafted the chilling tale of "Annabel Lee." The poem is the perfect vehicle to introduce Poe's concept of unity of effect, the idea that every element in a poem or story should help to develop a...