Poetry and Reading

Poetry and Integrating Technology

Lessons for Primary students

1. Popcorn Poetry  (Jan, Roberta, Roberta)

Objective- Students will read the poem ''Why Does Popcorn Pop?",write random words about popcorn and then use those words to describe popcorn.

Summary- Students will have the opportunity to observe popped and unpopped popcorn and use their senses to describe the experience using WORD or KIDSPIRATION. Students will be able to add pictures and use different fonts when describing.

Implementation- Students brainstormed words with the teacher to describe the popcorn popping. Verbs and adjectives were generated by the class and listed on chart paper. The class was encouraged to use the five senses as they generated the words. The class read the poem chorally. Students took a copy of the poem and added it to the individual anthologies which they are creating. Students used the laptops Word Art to list the verbs and adjectives.

2. Pirate Wind  ( Roberta, Roberta)

Objective- Students will compare and contrast the pirate in the poem to the autumn wind

Summary- Students will add the poem Pirate Wind to the poetry anthology that they are creating. Students will become familiar with the poem after reading and discussing it in class with the teacher. Students will then use the Kidspiration Program to create a Venn Diagram comparing the wind to a pirate

Implemtation- Students were engaged in the lesson. They liked figuring out how the wind was like a pirate. The Venn Diagram was a good way to assess whether or not the students were able to compare the wind and the pirate. Students overall did a good job.

 Lessons for Intermediate students

1. Alan Katz Poetry (Samantha Bodiford, Erin Boroom, Jan Gove)

Objective - Students will use the computer station to enhance reading and writing skills by selecting a poem from a book and writing their own poem that mimics one that they have chosen.

Summary - Students will use the book by Alan Katz, Are You Quite Polite? at a computer center to read the poems about manners and make some of their own poems up. Students will share with the class if time permits. Poems will be entered into the computer as a Word document. Students may elect to use Paint software to create illustrations of their poems.

Implemenation-

2. Reflective Poetry Read (Scott Mazur)

Objective - Students will use the poems they constructed from research in science to monitor their own writing and poetry reading.

Summary - Student recorded their animal poetry in one of our recording studios (the closet) into a digital recorder. They then listen to the recording. After returning to their desk they wrote a one page reflective summary about their performance. They reflected on word choice, sentence structure, pace, pitch and inflection. After modifying their poem and/or practicing their poem, they rerecorded and listened to their poem again. Returning to their desk, they once again reflected on their performance.

Implementation - My students did a wonderful job of signing up to use one of the two studios in class. Once a student was done they would inform the next person they were ready to go.

3. Poetry Anthology (Heather Brower)

Objective - Students will create their own original poems from models demonstrated in class, and use varied media to present their finished work.

Summary -  We will cover seven types of poetry forms in class: haiku, window, cinquain, triangular triplet, bio poem, diamante, and five W's.  One typed will be modeled and taught each class period.  Students will take their rough drafts home and to the computer lab and create final drafts using a variety of media -  type them using different fonts and colors, add photos and graphics, etc.  All seven poems will be presented in booklet form when complete.

Implementation - Students did a fantastic job on this project.  I was impressed at their creativity.  Many students even chose a theme from the beginning of the project (ie. baseball, horses) that ran throughout all their poems.