More Links to Lessons . . . |
Fourth graders respond well to the challenge involved in the following exercise, as will Fifth and Sixth graders. It will take a bit of preparation on your part, but it will be well worth it. I call these "Crazy Title" poems, but they are actually a study in adjective/noun combinations. Draw up a list of adjectives and a list of nouns. Print them on separate slips of paper, one color for adjectives, another color for nouns. (I printed them all on white paper one year and, to my great dismay, the FIFTH graders with whom I was working could not tell which were which!) Place the adjectives in one container and the nouns in another container. Have the students come up one at a time and pull one word from each container. These two words will form the title of their poem , for instance, "Giggling Shoelaces" or "Angry Beanie Babies." Most of the kids can't wait to start writing; however, I did run into quite a few who claimed they couldn't work with their words and wanted to turn them back in for different ones. The best way to handle this (and I've tried several) is to state right at the beginning and anyone who absolutely cannot work with their words after trying will be allowed ONE time to exchange one or both words. Then stick to it or you'll have students coming back up time and again saying they can't work with the words they have. The kids need to understand that this is a fun exercise but it's also an exercise that will stretch them and make them think outside of their usual parameters. It's not supposed to be easy! If you want to link to my adjective/noun lists, go right ahead. For grades 5 and 6 you may want to change some of the word choices. Here are several examples to read to the class, if you need them: Whistling Islands When islands whistle they blow many waves to the shore. When they whistle a tune they make many more. When two islands are next to each other they waves get really high, but some islands are just too shy. When islands whistle you can hear them around the universe and surely they don't need to rehearse. Jon Sacha, 5th grade Slippery Lies I'm a big slippery lie. No one can catch me. No one I know but guess what? I can catch you in a big black hole. Bye, bye friends you're grounded now. Kati Banche, 5th grade |
Teaching Poetry with Fourth Graders |
Fourth graders respond well to the challenge involved in the following exercise, as will Fifth and Sixth graders. It will take a bit of preparation on your part, but it will be well worth it. I call these "Crazy Title" poems, but they are actually a study in adjective/noun combinations. Draw up a list of adjectives and a list of nouns. Print them on separate slips of paper, one color for adjectives, another color for nouns. (I printed them all on white paper one year and, to my great dismay, the FIFTH graders with whom I was working could not tell which were which!) Place the adjectives in one container and the nouns in another container. Have the students come up one at a time and pull one word from each container. These two words will form the title of their poem , for instance, "Giggling Shoelaces" or "Angry Beanie Babies." Most of the kids can't wait to start writing; however, I did run into quite a few who claimed they couldn't work with their words and wanted to turn them back in for different ones. The best way to handle this (and I've tried several) is to state right at the beginning and anyone who absolutely cannot work with their words after trying will be allowed ONE time to exchange one or both words. Then stick to it or you'll have students coming back up time and again saying they can't work with the words they have. The kids need to understand that this is a fun exercise but it's also an exercise that will stretch them and make them think outside of their usual parameters. It's not supposed to be easy! If you want to link to my adjective/noun lists, go right ahead. For grades 5 and 6 you may want to change some of the word choices. Here are several examples to read to the class, if you need them: Whistling Islands When islands whistle they blow many waves to the shore. When they whistle a tune they make many more. When two islands are next to each other they waves get really high, but some islands are just too shy. When islands whistle you can hear them around the universe and surely they don't need to rehearse. Jon Sacha, 5th grade Slippery Lies I'm a big slippery lie. No one can catch me. No one I know but guess what? I can catch you in a big black hole. Bye, bye friends you're grounded now. Kati Banche, 5th grade |
More Links to Lessons . . . |
