Curated OER
Students as Editors
Students read poems from a variety of authors. They write biographies of each poet and create a book full of the biographies and poems. They share their creation with the class.
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
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Slave's Dream"
Students examine Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's contribution to the anti-slavery movement. They read and analyze a poem, identify the poem's techniques, and write a critique of the poem, "The Slave's Dream."
Curated OER
Lessons of the Indian Epics: The Ramayana
Students read a version of Ramayana and explore the elements of the epic hero cycle. In this Ramayana analysis lesson, students retell the basic narrative of the Ramayana and identify the main characters. Students identify elements of...
Curated OER
Poetry and Paintings: A Comparative Study
Students find words for different feelings: sad, happy, annoyed, bored, puzzled, etc.
They think of colors which seem to fit each feeling. A painting is introduced and they are asked to verbalize how it makes them feel. What mood does...
Curated OER
Writer's Notebook and Haiku
Students, after viewing various examples from students around the world, as well as writing in their Writer's Notebook, create, compose and revise a Haiku poem that sketches a "snapshot" or image in time. They incorporate the theme or...
Curated OER
Luz: Poetry and the Physics of Light
Students explore color, light, refraction and reflection. In this light activity students measure solar position and compare it to time.
Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: My Chinatown: One Year in Poems
Students explore tier two vocabulary words. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students work in small groups assessing the meaning of new vocabulary words. Students record vocabulary in a word journal or discovery chart.
Curated OER
The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Teaching Shapes
Students identify two- and three-dimensional figures and associate them with real-world objects. In this geometry lesson, students are read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and complete several activities including a chart of...
Curated OER
Veteran's Day or Memorial Day Poetry Lesson
Students examine poems dealing with Veteran's Day or Memorial Day. They discuss America's involvement in wars and if anyone in their family has served in the military. They write their own poems and share them with the class.
Curated OER
Marriage of Visual and Thematic Aspects of Herbert's Poetry
Eighth graders study the visual aspects of poetry and write a poem using the white space to form a poem into the shape of a plus sign.
Curated OER
Friendly Poetry
Students brainstorm qualities that they look for in a good friend. They use those qualities to write a class poem. They are to illustrate their poems with crayons or markers.
Curated OER
Remember the Bridge: Poems of a People
Fifth graders explore poems of African Americans. They research a famous African American, write a report, create a timeline of events in African American history, create a map of the New World, and research Molly Walsh. After...
Curated OER
THE FLOW OF MUSIC AND POETRY
Students describe their feelings through writing, art or music.
Curated OER
Nightingale: Chinese Hand Scroll with Poem
After listening to the Hans Christian Anderson story, "The Nightingale," learners research more information about the bird. They then write an "If" poem, using facts about a nightingale. Next, watercolors are used to illustrate the poe
Curated OER
Poetry Book
Students study the following terms and concepts: word choice, dialect, invented words, concrete terms, abstract terms, figurative and sensory language. In cooperative groups, they select three of the terms, research them, and pick poems...
Curated OER
The Art of Poetry: The Lunatic, The Lover, and the Poet
Students, in groups, reflect on their attitudes towards poets and poetry. They read excerpts from George Puttenham's The Arte of English Poesie, which was written during Shakespeare's day. They compare their attitudes toward poetry to...
Curated OER
The Poetry Archive
Learners discover how to express their feeling poetically. In this poetry instructional activity, students discuss their feelings, descriptive language to describe these feelings, and create poems.
Curated OER
Post-It Poetry
Seventh graders explore how to spice up their work using vivid words and images. Afte a lecture/demo, 7th graders try their hand at writing poetry using a lot of adjectives and vivid verbs.
Curated OER
Blooming Up: Teaching the Art of Questioning
Students, through demonstration and example, write and answer questions at different levels of Bloom's taxonomy.
Curated OER
Haiku
Sixth graders study Haiku. For this Haiku lesson, 6th graders explore the history of the poetry form. Students also examine the structure the Japanese poetry as they read examples. Students write their one Haiku.
Curated OER
Performing Sonnets
Students use Shakespearean sonnets as part of a poetry analysis lesson. In this sonnet lesson, students perform a sonnet by Shakespeare but treat it as a script to be acted out. Students work in pairs to create motions for two lines from...
Curated OER
Pablo Neruda
Eighth graders explore the life and works of Pablo Neruda. They complete an author map concerning his personal and professional life. Students identify the key components of an ode. They write an ode to a common object around their...
Curated OER
Japanese Haiku and the American Experience
Twelfth graders research the history to Haiku Poetry. They read classical haiku to comprehend their special sensibility and form. Students encounter the Buddhist philosophical background of this poetry and its roots. They write original...