Poetry and the Five Elements of Reading
How does using poetry in your classroom build Vocabulary skills?
Lessons for Primary students
1. Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends - Rhyming Couplets (Sharon Hinsley)
Objective - Students will create ryhming couplets.
Summary - Rhyming Couplet. See “Sick” (Where the Sidewalk Ends, p. 58,CD Track 1). Write the poem on the board or overhead projector leaving off the last word of each line as shown below. Ask students to fill in the blanks with words that rhyme with the underlined words. Only the first few couplets of the poem are written below. Use the entire poem or just part of it as shown.
SICK
I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash, and purple _ _ _ _ ___ . (5 letters)
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry
I’m going blind in my right _ _ ___ . (3 letters)
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I’m sure that my left leg is _ _ _ _ ___ . (5 letters)
My nose is cold, my toes are numb,
I have a sliver in my _ _ _ _ ___ . (5 letters)
Explain that each group of two lines is a rhyming couplet. Point out
that the rhyme occurs in each of two successive lines.
Rhythm
Cadence and rhythm are integral to Shel Silverstein’s
poetry. To demonstrate this, have students clap out the poems
together, one clap per syllable. Then ask them to make marks on
paper and count out the syllables per line. Working with the same
poem, “Alice,” you can demonstrate how the rhyme pattern and
rhythm patterns correspond as shown below. The lines that rhyme
have the same rhythm pattern. Explain that words such as bottle
count as a one-syllable word in this poem.
ALICE (Where the Sidewalk Ends, p. 112)
Number of Syllables
She drank from a bottle called DRINK ME | 9
And up she grew so tall, 6
She ate from a plate called TASTE ME 8
And down she shrank so small. 6
And so she changed, while other folks 8
Never tried nothin’ at all. 6
Other examples of corresponding rhyme and rhythm patterns are:
“My Beard” (Where the Sidewalk Ends, p 163)
“Come Skating” (A Light in the Attic, p. 71)
“The Deadly Eye” (Falling Up, p. 37)
“A Closet Full of Shoes” (Falling Up, p. 118)
Implementation - Wonderful lesson. My students always enjoy Shel Silverstein.
2. Mouse Poetry (Michelle Hassler)
Objective
Summary
Implementation
3. Color Words Poetry Books (Christy Dameron)
Objectives Students will become familiar with the color words by reviewing them in their written poems.
Summary At the beginning of each day we read a poem with a given color word. The students illustrated a picture demonstrating their knowledge of that particular color word.
Implementation I did this at the beginning of the year. It was a big success. The children would choose to read their poems in their free time. At Open House they read their favorite poem to their parents.
4. " New Words" (Margaret Kolke)
Objective - Students will come up with replacement words synonyms, antonyms, or better discriptive words.
Summary - This can be done with any poem and for different types of vocabulary skills. Cover words with post it notes and have the students give their suggestions on what the missing word should be. Lead them to answers if you need to.
Implementation - This is one of our favorite activities. It can be serious or fun and gives practice espically in getting to children to think of new and different words. A study of antonyms acn also be good for a laugh.
5. Get Ready to Rhyme (Sharon H.)
Objective - The students will pick a word from the box to make each pair of lines in the poem rhyme. The first one is done for you.
Summary - Using words to complete a rhyming couplet (skyscraper, door, whale, sight, rhyme, goat, cat and icicle), students complete this poem by Eve Merriam.
Implementation
Catch a Little Rhyme
Once upon a time
I caught a little rhyme .
I set it on the floor
but it ran right out the __________ .
I chased it on my bicycle
but it melted to an __________ .
I scooped it up in my hat
but it turned into a __________ .
I caught it by the tail
but it stretched into a __________ .
I followed it in a boat
but it changed into a __________ .
When I fed it tin and paper
it became a tall __________ .
Then it grew into a kite
and flew far out of __________ .
by Eve Merriam
More! Make up a new pair of rhyming lines to add to the poem.
Write them on the back of this paper.
6. __Rhyme-time Memory __(Sarah S.)
Objective - Students will increase vocabulary by matching words that rhyme.
Summary - Students play a rhyme-time memory game.
Implementation -Students were read several rhyming poems. The students were provided with rhyming word (or picture) cards. They took turns playing a memory game with the cards. Each student tried to turn over two cards that rhymed (a match). If the students made a match they extended the activity by stating another word that rhymed with the match. List the rhyming words in groups of three.
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Lessons for Intermediate students
1. Idioms (Lacy Peterson)
Objective - Students will read a sentence that contains an idiom and try to use context clues to figure out the meaning of a word.
Summary - As a morning eye opener, I have displayed two idioms for the day that we've studied. They have been able to solve the figurative meaning of the idiom by using the vocabulary strategies that we also use with Open Court words. We discuss the meaning and the origin of where the idiom actually came from. (I use the Idiom book from Scholastic--great book!)
Implementation - The children love doing the idioms. I know it's not poetry, but it is figurative language, which poetry can incorporate. They have gotten really good at using the clues to figure out the meaning and I've noticed that they are also getting better at using context clues with our Open Court Vocabulary words that they wouldn't know otherwise. I think it helps them to feel more comfortable guessing the meaning of a word without feeling pressured to be right.
2. Synonyms and Antonyms (Angie McLeod)
Objective Develop students' understanding of synonyms and antonyms.
Summary Students pick a short song and rewrite it using as many synonyms and antonyms as possible.
For example: Twinkle, Twinkle, Litttle Star could be Glimmer, Shimmer, tiny star. Students share their songs.
Implementation This was a fun activity. The students even enjoyed singing their songs. Since they identified if an antonym or a synonym was changed in the song, they could better distinquish the two.
3. Lovely Limericks (Dara Fish)
Objective - Students will incorporate their knowledge of descriptive words
in the writing of limericks.
Summary - Introduce the concept of limerick and identify the characteristics
of a limerick (1st, 2nd, and 5th lines end in rhyming words, etc). Instruct
students to use adjectives to make their limericks more descriptive. Reinforce
with several examples of limericks, highlighting the previously discussed
characteristics. Provide a list of possible limerick beginnings, but encourage
students to develop their own if possible.
Implementation - I did this activity with sixth graders, and they were very
enthusiastic. The humorous nature of limericks was appealing to them. It
was helpful to have a list prepared of possible limerick beginnings. That
helped avoid the block that some students develop when they have difficulty
getting started.
4. Finding the Important Words Richard Green
Objective - Students will identify words with prefix, suffix and identify the root their attached . They will also identify rhyming words.
Summary - Choral read "Never Poke Your Uncle With A Fork" by Jack Prelutsky, with the class. After reading the poem aloud to/with students place the poem in the Poetry Center. Students will have a laminated copy of the same poem. Using a marker the students will circle each suffix, and put a box around each prefix, and underline the root of each word. Students will undrline all rhyming words twice.
Implementation - This is what happened when you implemented the lesson.
5. Animal Poetry
(Scott Mazur)
Objective - Students will demonstrate their use of end rhyme and format of a stanza while incorporating science vocabulary.
Summary - Using the book Beast feast: poems and paintings by Douglas Florian read a poem to the class. Show students the structure of the poems and discuss end rhyme using a document camera or overhead copy. Using animal research previously collected, ask students to construct their own poems that reflect the habits, habitat, diet, etc. of their animal. I required my students to have at minimum three stanzas with four lines each and use key vocabulary words from our science unit.
Implementation – Because we had discussed free-verse as well, many of my students wrote without rhyming yet they could still identify the end rhyme pattern. Some of my students wrote poems that contained more than four lines per stanza and or greater than three stanzas. They said they enjoyed being able to extend the process.
6. LiterCELLary Device (Scott Mazur)
Objective - Students will choose appropriate vocabulary when creating a poem about cells.
Summary - First use More sound words : munch, clack, thump, and other words that imitate the sounds around us by Hanson, Joan to illustrate the use of onomatopoeia. Then review simile and metaphor. Ask your students to create three metaphors and three similes to describe the parts of a cell. Using onomatopoeia, ask student to select a word that represents the cell part as a transition between each simile and metaphor.
Implementation - My students enjoyed writing the poems and were able to better understand the function of the cell parts by assiciating them with a sound.
7. Two Voice Poems (Scott Mazur)
Objective - Students will demonstrate their understanding of rhythm and rhyme.
Summary – Share the books Joyful Noise and I am Phoenix by Paul Fleischman. These are books that have multiple examples of two voice poems. Ask student to read one of the poems with you. Demonstrate how to read with rhythm and rhyme that demonstrate fluency and entertains. Once students have an opportunity to read with a partner, have students created their own two voice poems.
Implementation – Once students wrote their poems, I had them record them into a digital recorder to post on the web.
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