Language Arts: Poetry and Letters

Tomorrow (Friday) we will be writing our good copies for our letters and our poems. If students have not given me a rough draft to look over, they MUST come with a rough draft on Friday. Those students who have missed the whole week will be given time to work on those on Friday. Today some of the students talked about similes and were given a small amount of homework. They were given 10 things and were asked to write a simile for each one. This was to be completed for Friday.

Language Arts: Rough Copies

Today we had time to work on our rough copies for both our Limericks and our letters (to my sponsored child). Those must be done for tomorrow.

Poetry: Limericks

Today I introduced Limericks to the students. We looked at three examples to see what the rhyme scheme is (a-a-b-b-a) and to hear the pattern of the words.

I gave students a fourth poem that I wrote about the hockey playoffs. Ask your children if you want to hear it (they might not be happy with me if I posted it here).

There was no homework for this today.

Poetry: Quatrain Poem Rough Copies

Today we started on rough copies of two Quatrain poems. The students were to make one poem where all lines rhyme and one where the 2nd and 4th rhyme. They also were asked to make one serious poem and one funny poem.

If they did not finish the rough copies in class they were to complete them for homework. I asked that they all have someone check their poem and give them any tips for improvement.

One thing that is something to look for is a rhythm. The lines should all be about the same length and take the same amount of time to read. We talked about this in class.

Poetry: Rhymes

Today we talked about rhymes. I showed the students the notation we use for rhyming (using letters to mark each line that rhymes).

For homework I gave them the task of finding all the words they could think of that rhyme with: Glad, Blink, Hive, Round, Call, Clock.

If students wanted a challenge, I gave them six more words to look for rhymes for: Orange, Beige, Silver, Wasp, Wolf, Month.

Poetry: Quatrain Poems

Today we spent quite a bit of time looking at Quatrain poems and what makes a Quatrain poem a quatrain. We looked at several examples and talked about each.

As a class we made a poem at the end of the lesson:

The purple turtle's name is Mertle

And Mertle ate a popcorn kernel

At the movie “Super Yertle”

That was the end of the turtle Mertle

There is no homework tonight for Poetry. There is however, Math homework.

Poetry: Alliteration

Today we talked about Alliteration (having many words in a sentence or in a row that start with the same letter). I asked the students to write one sentence for each letter of the alphabet. They are to have at least three words with the same letter in each sentence and the words must make up more than half of the sentence (so if there are 9 words, 5 of them must start with the same letter). The sentences do not have to be serious, but they should make at least a little bit of sense.

Poetry: Haiku Good Copies

Today we did a lot of work on our Haiku poems. Some students were able to get their good copies of their Haiku poems finished while others are still working on them. We will likely get some time to work on them tomorrow in class so that everyone can be caught up.

For those students who have not yet finished their rough copies, they need to be done tomorrow. If any parents get a chance to look at them that would be helpful. One thing that I am being particular about is that students not use "It is" and similar words in their poem. They should be using as many descriptive words as possible. They do not need to write sentences.

I gave the examples of lines in class today:

Cold and Damp in here

and

It is Cold and Damp


I would prefer the first sentence as it sounds less choppy than the first. I hope that explains things for you.

Poetry: Haiku Poems

Today I introduced Haiku poems to the students. A Haiku poem is one that has 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line and 5 syllables in the third line. They are typically about nature (though several of the examples I gave were not about nature).

We talked about criteria for a good Haiku poem and came up with the following:
- Spelling and grammar
- Fits the form (5-7-5 syllables)
- Uses strong words to describe something
- Is about Nature (for a traditional Haiku)
- Pick a subject and stick to it

We made a poem as a class:

Pizza is pretty,
Pineapple olive sauces,
Pizza is so good

Poetry: Diamante Poem Good Copies

Today we went to the computer lab and made our good copies of our Diamante Poems. I will be taking these home this weekend and looking at them closely. Next week we will be working on a different type of poem (likely a Haiku) as well as talking about how to use great words in our poems.

Poetry: Editing our Diamante Rough Copies

Today we discussed how to edit a poem and offer up constructive criticism. I prepared two poems and as a class we discussed how I could improve them. Afterwards I had the students switch their rough copies with one another and offer up constructive criticism. The students were given some time to revise their poems. I will now look at them tonight and offer suggestions to students. Tomorrow we will be working on our good copies.

Poetry: Diamante Poems Rough Copies

Today we finished looking at Diamante poems and I had the students start their rough copies. We established a set of criteria in the class that the students will be expected to follow:
- Correct spelling
- Big, bold, clear letters
- Looks like a diamond
- Fits the form (the students took notes on this)
- Use of descriptive words (this is the focus of this assignment)

Students have been asked to write two poems, one of type A and type B. These rough copies are due on Thursday April 11th.

Poetry: Diamante Poems

Today I introduced Diamante poems. I showed 4 examples (one is included below) and we talked about one way that the poems can be written. Due to time constraints we didn't get to the second way we can write the poem. The plan is to continue with that tomorrow and then to move on to first creating criteria for a good Diamante poem and then writing our own.

Example of a Diamante Poem:

Rain Forest
Damp, dark
Raining, dripping, steaming
Monkey, jaguar, frog, anaconda
Climbing, stalking, slinking
Furry, scaled
Endangered

Poetry: Shape Poems Good Copy

Today we started on our good copies for our Shape Poems. I had read through all of them last night and enjoyed them all. Most students finished their good copies today, but for those who didn't the good copies are due on Tuesday April 10th.

There is no other homework for the weekend! Enjoy the time off!

Poetry: Shape Poem Rough Copies

Today we worked on our Shape Poem rough copies. Students took their homework from last night and put the words into a shape. We then switched poems with students and had them review the poems to give two things they like about the poem and one thing they could improve.

At the end of the class, students handed in their rough copies to me. Tonight I will go through them all and provide feedback to the students for their good copies which we will work on tomorrow.

Poetry: Shape Poems

Today we started writing Shape Poems. Yesterday we had talked about them and came up with the following criteria for a good shape poem:

• Clear, big, bold letters

• Creative

• Make sure it looks like something

• Make sure it has an interesting shape

• The words have to make sense

• The shape and the poem must match

• Correct spelling*

• Proper grammar*

The last two have a * because I told them if they make intentional errors it is acceptable.

For homework I have asked the students to finish brainstorming the words they want to include in their poem. They do not yet need to arrange the words into a picture. We will be doing that on Wednesday.