Poetry4kids
Evoking the Senses in a Poem
Budding poets choose a topic for a sensory-filled poem. Authors describe that topic using detailed language based on the five senses. Then, switch the senses to create a fanciful poem intended to add a touch of fun to the objective.
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 6 Close Reading
Look back at the third chapter of The Cay with your class. Pupils will conduct a close reading, taking a second look at a chunk of text and responding to a series of text-dependent questions. Wrap up with an analytical writing prompt...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Curated OER
Poetry Passport
Passport photos are notoriously unflattering but here's an activity that encourages youngsters to create a poetic picture of themselves using each category on the passport as a prompt for a poem.
Great Schools
Different Types of Writing
What type of writing is this? Learners read a brief introduction to various types of text: instructions, explanations, poems, folk tales, novels, informative, and arguments. The introduction doesn't explain these, so consider going over...
Curated OER
Number Writing Poems
Students read the short poem for each number to help them with number formation. In this numbers lesson plan, students follow directions of the poems.
Denver Art Museum
Putting Images into Words
Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...
Curated OER
Creating Life Maps (Elementary, Reading/Writing)
Students create a personal life timeline to better explain how a historical timeline is effective in studying history. They also write a poem about themselves.
Curated OER
Language Arts: What Makes an Individual
Third graders listen to the teacher read "The Sneetches" prior to creating charts about their individual characteristics. After numerous examples of individuality, they compile them on chart paper. As an extension, 3rd graders write...
Curated OER
Thanksgving Poem
First graders read a Thanksgiving poem to build reading comprehension skills. They develop the skill of using context clues while explaining the meaning of each line of the poem. The assessment is done as the teacher listens to poems...
Curated OER
Up Close and Personal with Black Bayou Lake
Students get up close and personal with Black Bayou Lake. Visiting web sites and taking virtual tours, they write multi-paragraph essays using descriptive words and literary devices.
Curated OER
Rain
First graders practice oral and silent reading using beginning comprehension and decoding strategies. In this guided reading lesson, 1st graders take a picture walk and make plot predictions prior to reading the book Rain by Robert...
Curated OER
Responding Syllables: Reading and Music
Shell Silverstein’s “Sick” provides an opportunity for kids to demonstrate their understanding of syllables and phonemes. The class creates a list of descriptive words used in the poem that have more than one syllable, and brainstorm how...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 11: Setting
Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...
Manchester University
Alliteration
Kids create cool clauses selecting a single starting sound. Ah, alliteration.
Curated OER
Imagine That! Analyzing Imagery
Poems by O. Henry, Marion Dane Bauer, Monty Roberts, and Langston Hughes provide the text for a study of symbolism, hyperbole, and imagery. Employing the “think-pair-share” strategy learners generate definitions of these terms and locate...
Curated OER
Capitalization
In this grammar learning exercise, students proofread, edit, and correct all the capitalization mistakes found in ten sentences. Students share their findings with their classmates.
Curated OER
Animal Riddles
Students write animal riddles. They write three or more sentences describing a selected animal, and draw a picture to go with their descriptive sentences. Students then create a three slide slideshow using Kid Pix 3 computer software.
Curated OER
Snow Similies
Students listen to poems to explain how poets use words to paint pictures. They use hands-on materials to practice using similies and figurative language to write a poem about snow.
Curated OER
Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Dramatic Monologue
High schoolers read and analyze the poem, "My Last Duchess," by Robert Browning. They examine the use of dramatic monologue as a poetic device, and write a character profile of the Duke.
Curated OER
Journeys
Students write a story using their journey to school as the setting. In groups, they discuss their experiences and browse through books to get ideas for their story. They practice using a thesaurus to find new verbs or adjectives they...
Curated OER
Knowing Ourselves And Others Through Poetry
Students become familiar with word usage and synonyms.