Writing Workshop in the Primary Grades - Poetry

UnitThese poems were written

by my second grade class last year. The students’ range of abilities was from high academic ability to those receiving resource room, ESL, and/or reading support services.

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Writing Workshop in the Primary Grades - Daily

OverviewTime: Component:

5 minutes Read Aloud

10 minutes Mini-Lesson

25 minutes Independent Writing and Conferring

5-10 minutes Share

Writing Workshop in the Primary Grades - Poetry Unit

OverviewWeek: Phase:

1 Immersion

2 Collect and Generate ideas

3 & 4 Writing, Editing, Revising

5 Publishing, Celebrating

a 2-5 week unit of study

Read Aloud

Create a poetry-rich environment.

Nurture the love of poetry in your students by immersing them in poems from the very first day of school.

When can you read poetry aloud in the classroom?To begin and end the school dayIn songs and nursery rhymesTo notice word/spelling patternsCelebrating special occasionsStudying the content areas of science, social studies and math

What to read aloud?

Share your favorite poems, poets, nursery rhymes, poetry books, and poems you’ve written or collected.

Read silly poems, sad poems, happy poems, and poems that make you wonder.

Read poems written by students.Use poems that will teach a particular craft technique.

How to Read Poetry Aloud

Remember that when you are reading poetry aloud to your students, the way the poem sounds will be inspiration to them in their writing.

Reading Aloud throughShared Reading

Display poetry on large chart paper in your classroom.

Make it a multi-sensory experience: get your students involved in reading, clapping, and acting

out poems.

Have them visualize pictures in their head. Distribute student copies of shared poems to

put in their poetry notebooks to read and illustrate.

Notice white space and line breaks.

Shared Reading

Put poems on chart paper all around the classroom and provide individual copies for students.

Illustrated copy in students’ poetry notebooks.

Offer opportunities for independent reading.

Encourage students to choose to read poetry by:

Displaying favorite poetry books in baskets and bookshelves for students to read during independent reading time.

Laminating copies of familiar poems to place in theme baskets.

Create class books of poetry and keep in a basket.

Use poems on sentence strips in pocket charts in your poetry center for students to play and experiment with.

Highlight poets as part of your spotlight on “Authors of the Month.”

Talking about poems

Begin to notice elements and structure of poems

Poetic language Imagery Craft technique Rhythm/rhyme White space, line breaks What poems are about

Spotlight on the Poet

Share quotes from poets you love.

“I love finding the right word. The stupendous, the magnificent, and the ordinary words. I collect them.” ~ Rebecca Kai Dotlich

“Poetry is really everywhere-especially surprising

places-where most people wouldn’t think of looking.” ~ Georgia Hurd

“…a good poem contains both meaning and music.” ~Eve Merriam

The Mini-Lesson

Keep mini-lessons short and to the point.

Think of it as planting the seeds of their future poems.

This is the part of the workshop where you help students generate ideas and they collect these ideas in a writer’s notebook or writing folder.

Ideas for mini-lessons

Noticing poetry in our words. Finding poetic inspiration in our own lives. Reading line breaks and discussing white space. Recognizing rhythm and rhyme. Becoming aware of craft techniques-metaphor,

simile, alliteration, repeating lines, onomatopoeia. Introducing different types of poems: concrete

poetry, free verse, acrostic, haiku, sensory, etc. Identifying poetic language.

Highlight student work

Make a student “famous” by showcasing her poem and having her assist in the mini-lesson.

Celebrate the Power of Words

Create a poetry word wall. Word detectives can look around the room

to find vivid verb, imaginative adjectives, and knockout nouns!

Collect wondrous words in a Word Jar Create a Poet-Tree Use a poetry notebook for further

exploration of the way language works (word study)

Getting their feet wet:Mini lesson-Where Do I Find Poetry?

Inspiration for poetry comes from so many places. Ideas for poems come from:

Other poems and poets Observation of the

world around us, big and small

Inside our hearts and our own feelings.

Mini lesson-Where Do I Find Poetry?

Using the poem, Where Do I Find Poetry? To prepare, send home parent letter and homework

assignment. In the classroom, have students brainstorm a list of

ideas about where poetry hides. Have each student choose their best one and create

a class chart using interactive (shared) writing. Re-write the chart as a list poem. This poem may also be used for a mini-lesson on

metaphor: “when sky is wrinkled and elephant gray.”

The actual process of writing

Students in the primary grades often need a boost to begin writing their own poetry. Once they develop their writing confidence, they are happy to write lots more poems!

Offer a template Have them write a poem “off” of previously

written piece Buddy-up with younger or older students to

write poems in two voices.

Writing “off” another piece of writing

Aiden wrote a book about turtles in our non-fiction unit of study. He then wrote his Turtle poem “off” of the facts he learned about them.

Independent Writing and Conferring

Offer support as needed

Provide templates of different poem structures

Conferencing should be only a few minutes per student

Ask writers to “tell more, say more”

Keep notes about your conference

Use the share as an opportunity to conference

Editing and Revising

Editing is simpler in a poetry unit since rules of conventions may be broken.

Capitalization and punctuation are not the focal point of a poetry writing unit.

Revising may be done with a peer or a writing buddy in an upper grade.

Revision ideas are often best offered by classmates or older students.

The Share

Use the share as a way to offer comments and suggestions by peers

Highlight students who incorporated the topic of your mini-lesson in their writing that day

A Sensory Poem

Using a template, your students can choose any topic about which to write. Encourage them to write about their passions!

Publishing

Celebrate the unit!

Invite parents in for a

Poetry Publishing Party-

prepare a keepsake and

have parent/child illustrate

Have students recite their

own poems for students in other grades

Display poems on a Poet-Tree

Create a poetry podcast

Evaluation

Students reflection:

Even primary students should be encouraged to reflect upon what they’ve learned in a poetry unit

Teacher assessment:

Rubric for student achievement

Helpful Websites for Reading and Writing Poetry and More!

http://poemfarm.blogspot.com

http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry

http://www.poetspath.com

http://proteacher.com

Ready to have a go?

Choose any type of poem from your packet and using it as a template, write your own poem. Or, simply write a poem from your heart. We will have a brief share if there is time left!