Poetry Society
Imaginary Words
Oh, what fun! Young logophiles and neologists create a dictionary-sounding definition for imaginary words and try to fool their classmates.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan for Waiting to Waltz: A Childhood by Cynthia Rylant
Sixth graders examine the elements of writing poetry. In this creative writing lesson, 6th graders discuss a book of poetry in the setting of Appalachia. Students incorporate childhood experiences into the development of visual and...
Curated OER
Something About Me
Students write a list poem based on a word that describes them. The teacher uses the poems to compile a book about students in the class.
Curated OER
Poetry: Techniques & Form
Ninth graders explore poetic technique and figurative language in this ten lesson unit. Comparisons are made between a variety of forms of poetic expressions and the lives of several poets are studied.
Curated OER
A Life Lived Well
Learners write poems based on words and phrases found in an obituatuary. They write autobiographical obituaries that imagine their own lives and future accomplishments.
Alabama Learning Exchange
"Batty" About Bats!! (Writing)
Young writers identify the characteristics of a bat and write an essay about bats. They construct a book about bats that includes information that they have learned through print materials and online resources.
Curated OER
Poetry Tea Party
Studetns make inferences based upone one-line poetry and group comparison. In this poetry lesson, 9th graders read strips from a poem and write prediction sentences for the poem. Students read each other's poetry lines and then read the...
Curated OER
Raptor Poetry
Young scholars create poems about raptors. They discuss raptors and create three poems including at least two of the following: haiku, diamante, found, and acrostic. They create a classroom book of poems or conduct a poetry slam where...
Curated OER
Prairie Activity: Imagist Prairie Poems
Students write an imagist prairie poem. They explore various websites, view images of prairies, read examples of poems, and write an original poem that creates a mental image in the mind of the listener through the use of descriptive...
Curated OER
Christmas Poetry
Middle schoolers explore writing using literary terms. In this Christmas poetry instructional activity, students write a poem about a Christmas tree or a snowman using at least one example of each: metaphor, simile, and personification....
Curated OER
Creative Writing and Analysis
Students read and analyze poems by Li Po and Wang Wei. They answer discussion questions, identify the elements of the poems, examine and discuss Chinese landscape paintings, write an original poem, and write a comparison/contrast essay.
Curated OER
The Important Poem
Students are read numerous examples of strong poetry. Individually, they brainstorm a list of interests or attributes about themselves and choose the most important one. They write a poem using the attribute and shares the poem with the...
Curated OER
Animalopedia Poetry
Students reseach animals while working in groups. They write poems to be included in a class Animalopedia book.
Curated OER
Poetry as a Means of Redemption and Reflection
Eleventh graders read poetry for homework and discuss it during class. They participate in poetry readings and decide who the speakers are in the poems.
Curated OER
Number The Stars Diamante Poem
In this language arts worksheet, middle schoolers read the rules and format for a diamante poem. They fill in the lines on page 2 while following the guidelines.
Curated OER
Diamante Poems
In this language arts worksheet, learners are guided in the process of creating diamante poems. Then they create their own from the choices given.
Curated OER
Informational Writing
Fifth graders study Paul Revere. In this writing lesson, 5th graders discuss the elements of writing that help a reader be engage. They read about Paul Revere's life, taking notes about what made his life seem heroic, and write about...
Curated OER
Trait Variations for Survival
Young learners examine how different traits could give one organism an advantage over another. In groups, they view two different organisms in different environments. To end the lesson, they complete a Venn Diagram on the two organisms...
Crafting Freedom
George Moses Horton: Slavery from a Poet's Perspective
After reading about the life of George Moses Horton, the first slave to publish anti-slavery poetry, learners will recall his major accomplishments, provide a summary of the obstacles he faced, and identify common aspects of the...
Curated OER
6th Grade: Express Yourself, Lesson 2: Close Read
The second lesson of a pair about Paul Laurence Dunbar, this plan focuses in particular on his poem, "We Wear the Masks." After a short historical introduction, class members conduct a series or readings, marking up the text and...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - Mrs Twit
"A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly." The second lesson plan in an 11-part unit that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl uses poetry to encourage positive character traits. Mrs. Twit has ugly thoughts, but those...
Curated OER
Brave New World: Biopoem
“Words can be like x-rays if you use them properly—they’ll go through anything.” Readers of Brave New World will be pierced by an activity that asks them to use details from the text to craft a biopoem for one of the characters in Aldous...
Curated OER
Ballad
Young balladeers analyze examples of ballads and generate a list of common traits (story, quatrains, rhyme schemes, refrains, etc.), then identify these traits in Robert W. Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and a ballad written by...
University of Arizona
Yoruba Legends: Southern Nigeria
Explore legends and storytelling with your learners. After listening to some legends, pupils work collaboratively and then individually to come up with original legends about animals.