Acrostic Poems Lesson Plans
Acrostic poetry is a fun and simple form of poetry for your students to explore.
By Greg Harrison
My 13-year-old daughter is a big fan of acrostic poetry. She says, "Acrostic poems make you think really hard about word choice, and they allow you to be creative at the same time. It's a form of poetry that is accessible to everyone." I couldn't agree more. I've heard lots of moans and groans from my students over the years when I announce, "Class, we're going to write our first poem of the year." Quite often, students feel that they aren't able to write poetry, or that it's boring. Acrostic poetry doesn't require words to rhyme, and, unlike other forms of poetry, there aren't a lot of parameters, such as a syllable count, or a specific pattern that must be adhered to. So, it's an easy way to get the "poetry ball" rolling in your class.
Book of Poetry
If there's one thing that students and their parents enjoy, it is having nicely done examples of their creative work to take home with them as the year progresses. A book of original poetry is a wonderful souvenir for the children to have as a keepsake. The book I send home with my students has examples of their poems that are collected and saved throughout the year. The poems are typed into a writing program on the computer (by the students), and bound into a book with a laminated front and back cover. The front cover has original student artwork. Out of all the student-created books I send home, the book of poems has consistently drawn the highest reviews.
Of course, an obvious place to start with acrostic poetry is by having students make one up that uses their name. For example:
Cathy
- Creative
- Articulate
- Trusting
- Hilarious
- Yellow-Haired
That's Cathy
But there are lots of other possibilities as well. Students can write acrostic poems using virtually anything as a subject . . . the seasons, holidays, sports, favorite foods, favorite book titles, other family , members - the list is endless. I usually have at least three examples of acrostic poetry sprinkled throughout the book of poems that the students compile. Below are some lessons that will give you even more ideas of how you can utilize acrostic poetry in your classroom.
Acrostic Poems Lesson Plans:
In this classic lesson, students create an acrostic poem about winter. One nice thing about this lesson is that there are beautiful templates embedded in the plan that students use as a guide to write their poem. The templates can be printed out, mounted on construction paper, and displayed on a bulletin board about winter.
Students write an acrostic poem about Thanksgiving in this lesson that utilizes a variety of technology. Holidays are a classic topic to write an acrostic poem about, and this clever lesson has students compose their final draft of the poem on computer. The result is a beautiful class book of Thanksgiving acrostic poems.
Native American Acrostic Poems
One nice thing about acrostic poetry is that it can be used across the curriculum. This wonderful lesson allows upper-elementary students to use the Internet and other technological sources to create acrostic poems about a specific Native American tribe they are studying. Students work in groups to create acrostic poems that also have images of their tribe attached.
Another way to use acrostic poetry is having students respond to pieces of art in the form of a poem. This innovative lesson introduces students to famous works of art, and has them express the emotions they feel from looking at the work by composing an acrostic poem. This is a terrific lesson.