Purpose: By the end of this unit students will be able to write a descriptive poem about an approved subject of their

choice. Students will be able to: Students will understand the importance of specific word choice in poetry. (Continuum, Grade 4, Page 82). (Word work with alliteration and the Poem Purple will reinforce this standard) Students will understand writers can learn to write a variety of poems from studying mentor texts. (Continuum, Grade 4, Page 82). Students will understand poetry as a unique way to communicate about and describe feelings, sensory images, ideas or stories. (Continuum, Grade 4, Page 82). Students will be able to understand the role of line breaks, white space for pause, breath or emphasis. (Continuum, Grade 4, page 82). Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Iowa Core Grade 4 Writing Standards) (http://corecurriculum.iowa.gov/ContentArea.aspx?C=Literacy)

Mentor Texts: Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary ONeil This book has a different poem on each page. Each page is about a different color and the things the author associates with that color. The important part of this book is that it has a poem that uses alliteration. The title of the poem is purple and throughout the poem the author uses things that start with /P/ to describe things that are purple. I will use this text for emphasizing the understanding the importance of specific word choice in poetry. I will also use this mentor text to reinforce the idea that poetry is a unique way to communicate about feelings, sensory images, ideas, or stories. This will be a good book because the author uses very interesting writing with many details and shows how unique poetry can be. I Am on a Bumpy Road by Jack Prelutsky This poem is really great because it is actually shaped in a very unique way. It looks like a windy, bumpy road. This poem will help students see how visual poems can be and will reinforce the standard of understanding the role of line breaks, white space for pause, breath or emphasis. Although most poems do not look like this-this is an extreme example that helps students to realize that poetry is all about being unique.

Read A Rhyme, Write A Rhyme by Jack Prelutsky This is a book of poems by different authors that have been selected by Jack Prelutsky. This book focuses on teaching children how to write poems instead of just reading them! The author uses what he calls a

poem start to help readers get interested in writing poetry. There are poems about dogs, food, birthdays, bugs, bugs, cows, friends, etc. On each page there are about three poems about the topic and then there is a poem start. Jack starts a poem and then lets the reader finish it. Here is an example of the bug poem start: If I were a bug And Im glad Im not, Id never roam the street. Id do my best To stay away From giant peoples giant feet.

If I were a bug,

Then the author writes to the reader-Imagine what it would be like to be a bug. Youd be much smaller than you are now, and youd have six legs. Your whole world would be different. Can you think of ways to continue this poem from a bugs point of view? Your poem can be silly, serious or somewhere in between. I really like how the author sets the readers up for writing in a fun way and guides them through their writing by giving them ideas. Pre-Unit Work: Before I start my unit I would read some poetry to my students to get them excited about writing their own poems. I would read Purple and other select poems to my students from the book Hailstones and Halibut Bones.

Unit Instruction Day One: Talk about the characteristics of poetry and listen to poetry. Discuss different characteristics of poetry Poetry is writing that is a unique way to communicate about and describe feelings, sensory images, ideas and stories. A poem has different features such as line breaks, alliteration, and rhyming. (Point these out when I read a poem that I have written)

There are SO MANY different ways to write poems! Discuss a few of these. Poem types and their definitions can be found on this website- http://thewordshop.tripod.com/forms.html Share a piece of poetry that uses the I Am method. Write one myself and then have the students practice writing one themselves. (This is an easy way for students to get started writing their own poetry because they are being scaffolded and can still use their own ideas.) I will give them a topic to write their poem on. For this poem it would be the first day of school. They will turn and talk to discuss things we do, see, hear and feel on the first day of school with their partner before they write. I Am I am I see I hear I feel I say I am I see I hear I feel I say Day Two: Discuss word choice in poetry. (This is where I will do my mini lesson on alliteration.) Read the poem Purple by Mary ONeill. Students will be able to recognize what alliteration is and how it helps to give meaning to a poem. They will use alliteration to add more detail to their poems and it will reinforce the understanding of the importance of word choice. Introduction: Today we are going to be focusing on alliteration. Alliteration is something writers use to make their writing more interesting. It can add feeling to a piece of writing and helps give our writing more detail. Sometimes writers even use it to be funny! Model what alliteration is. Alliteration means using words in your writing that start with the same sound. It gives our writing a noticeably repetitive feeling. Here is an example of alliteration: The sad salmon sang his silly songs to the sun. What do you notice about this sentence? It uses the same sound over and over again! Can you think of any other famous alliteration? Application: I want you all to practice using alliterations. Take out your writing journal. You and your table partner are going to think of some alliterations together. If Joe is my partner he is going to say an adjective. I am then going to think of a noun that has the same sound as the adjective. Joe, can you think of an adjective? He says Crazy. Ok, what is a noun that starts with the hard /c/ sound? I say: Cat. Crazy Cat! We both write

it down in our journal and then switch roles. I want you to come up with ten alliterations and turn them in to our writing box!

Day Three: Practice using line breaks and white space to portray feelings in poems. Read the poem I Am on a Bumpy Road to students. Discuss how what the poem looks like helps the reader understand the poem better. Ask students how else the author could have shown he was on a bumpy road. I will make sure to write down and show the examples we come up with on the board so that they can see it when they are writing their own poems. Remember to refer back to your great ideas when you are working on your own poems tomorrow! Day Four: Create a rough draft of their own poems. Explicit Instruction Lesson Plan Grade: 4th Lesson Overview Goal/Objective: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to write a descriptive poem using alliteration, and unique formatting to communicate about and describe feelings, sensory images, ideas or stories. Resources Needed: A copy of mine and each students I Am poem. A copy of each students poem start poem. A copy of the poem we wrote together in class with unique formatting about the bumpy road. Pencils. Writing Journals.

Focus Lesson: Teacher Models and Demonstrates Good writers use a lot of details and features to enhance their writing and make it more interesting for themselves and for their readers. For the past 4 days we have been thinking about different ways we can make our poetry more interesting. What are some ways that we talked about? Turn and talk. (Students share, record answers on the board.) My favorite poem that we looked at was The Bumpy Road poem. Does everyone remember that one? What was so unique about it?

 Let's revisit the other poems we looked at too. (Briefly describe the features of each of the poems we looked at or wrote.) Point out alliteration, descriptive words, formatting techniques. Guided Practice (We do) Lets look at our I Am poem. Discuss the features of this poem. Talk about ways we could make this poem more interesting. Practice writing a few lines using alliteration. I am smelling socks. How does adding alliteration give the poem more detail? When you write your own poems, practice using adjectives that make your poem more interesting and unique. Now that we have reviewed our I Am Poem, lets write one together! Ask for ideas on what our topic should be. Choose a topic and write an I Am Poem using alliteration. (Each student can contribute and if they have a good line they can come up and write it on the board.) Collaborative Practice Now we are going to make a graphic organizer that has nouns and adjectives on it that you can use if you get stuck while writing your poem. Have partners come up with adjective and then as a class write a few nouns that have the same starting sound as those adjectives. (The important part is finding unique adjectives that is why there will be more adjective on the sheet than nouns). Differentiation: In this section, I provide students with adjectives and give them time to think about it with their partners. Some students, particularly ELL students might have a hard time thinking of descriptive words on their own. Now you and your partner are going to write your very own poem! Writing a poem with a partner will be great practice for when you have to write your own poem. You can share ideas and that will help make your poem very interesting. I will read the book Chrysanthemum to the class. Partners will write an I Am poem using that book following the format provided. They will share at the end. Students will return to their desks and I will tell them that when we come back tomorrow they will be writing their very own poem. Day 5 Independent Practice Once students have picked a topic for their poem, they will use their ALLITERATION graphic organizer to get started picking out adjectives and nouns. Differentiation: I will be helping students get started thinking about their topic rather than just telling them to get started writing the poem. Also, I will always be conferencing with my students and therefore can help them brainstorm ideas that would make their writing more interesting. Great job working today and thinking of unique ideas about your poems. Tomorrow you will be putting all your ideas together and writing your very own poem. After you are done writing and

revising your poem you will get to have your poem published! That means you are a very successful author. I am really excited to get working tomorrow. Day Six Students will be creating a rough draft of their poem. I will be conferencing with students while they are working. Most likely, writing their rough drafts will take the whole time, and if they need more time they can take their work home. Day Seven: Revising I will explain the rubric to students, and make sure they know exactly what is expected of their writing. I will remind students what good conferencing with their peers looks like and how we give constructive feedback. Peer conferencing. (Three things you liked about their poem, and one suggestion you have) Differentiation: I can really take time to help certain students who need longer one on one conferencing with me. Day Eight: Edit and Publish Students will check their poem for capital letters, periods and spelling. Students will re-write or type their poem. I will also allow time for student to add images to their poem. They will get ready to share their poems with the class.

Day Nine: Students will share their poems. Once everyone has shared their poems, students will complete a self-evaluation. They will answer the following questions: 1. What did I like most about writing me poem? 2. What was frustrated about writing my poem? 3. Did I try to use descriptive words and alliteration in my poem? 4. What grade would I give my poem and why? 5. Am I going to write more poetry in the future? I will review each of their self-assessments. Since poetry is hard to give a grade because each student has a different level of creativity, poems will be graded on their efforts of using alliteration, descriptive words, conventions, and how it looks after publishing.

References: Fountas, I. & Pinnel, G. (2007) The continuum of literacy learning, grades 3-8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Prelutsky, J. (2008) My dog may be a genius. USA: Harper Collins Publishers. Prelutsky, J. (2005) Read a rhyme, write a rhyme. New York: Random House Publishing.

ONeill, M. (1961) Hailstones and halibut bones. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc. Iowa Core Curriculum Website: http://corecurriculum.iowa.gov/ContentArea.aspx?C=Literacy Michelle Krogulski Lesson Plan