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Poetry Mini Unit

Rationale: In this unit students will learn to appreciate poetry. Elementary students learn what
poetry looks like, but that is one of the most difficult concepts to be taught because it does not
have a definable set of principles. Students need to learn the process to write poetry and how
poets do it. Students should also learn that poetry is a way to express yourself and that should be
used in favor to the students.

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Lesson 1

Objectives:
- Students will gain a broader knowledge about what poetry is to them and to others;
- Students will learn what poets can write about;
- Students will be able to write a short poem.

Procedure:
- While seating at the meeting area the students will define what poetry means to them. Teacher
should be writing ideas on the board to make a web. - About 10 minutes.
- Ask the students why they think it means different things to different people.
- Emphasize that poetry can be different for everyone and it does not have one single way to
write poetry. Let students talk about poetry and share their thoughts.
- Today we will learn what poets do and what poets can write about.
- Teacher needs many resources to leave on the students table. Students should analyze
different books and resources and write down on scrap paper what they notice about what
poets can write about including feelings, ideas, connections, and etc. - About 7 minutes.
- Share with the class. - About 4 minutes.
- Talk about words poets use. - Let the students describe the words and share their thoughts.
- Make a table on the board and on one side write simple words. Ask the student to use simple
words to describe something they can see, such as a tree. Ask for 7,8 words and write them on
the board.
- After that write poetic words on the other side of the table and ask students to come up with
poetic words to replace the simple words they shared before.
- Ask the students to write a poem about the item they can see, the tree in this case, in groups
using a couple of the words on the table.
- Share with the class if they are comfortable with it.

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Lesson 2

Objectives:
- Students will learn what it mean to personify an object;
- Students will learn how to recognize personification in poetry;
- Students will practice using personification in their writing.

Procedure:
- Write the word person on the whiteboard. Check background knowledge. Ask students to
define what a person is.
- Write the ending ify to the end of the word person on board. Ask students if they know
what ify does to a noun. Ask students: Does anyone like to drink a smoothie? Tell them
that to make a smoothie, they must liquefy the ingredients. Tell them that ify means to
make into.
- Ask students: Does anyone know the word magnify? Ask them to define it.
- Tell them that today they will personify an object of their choice. Erase the y from the
word personify on the board, and write at the end ication so that the word on the board
shown is personification. Tell them that once they have completed the act of personifying an
object, what they have made is a personification of that thing a noun. Define personification
for class and ask students to share their thoughts.
- Get a clip board and show it to the students. Talk about the grip, about it looks, and ask the
students to share what they are thinking about the clipboard.
- Give the students a piece of paper so they can write the title PERSONIFICATION and
practice for a couple of minutes with something they see in the class.

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