Poetry


 * Grade:** 4th


 * Time:** 45 minutes

5. Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or  speaking about a text.
 * Standard:** Reading Standards for Literature K-5


 * Objective:** Students will be able to identify different elements of poetry and compose their own unique poem modeled after another poem.

· Poem “Knoxville Tennessee” by Nikki Giovanni. · Poem “End of Summer” by Cynthia Mershon. · Laptops. · Smartboard. · “Four Frogs,” “My Kitty Cat,” “Star,” and “Flint” poems. · Copy of “Knoxville, Tennessee” by Nikki Giovanni with blank side. · http://nikki-giovanni.com/bio.shtml
 * Materials:**

1. Miss O’Neill: Anticipatory Set (Engagement)- · “Good morning boys and girls. When you think of poetry, what do you think of?” · [Write responses on the Smartboard]. //2.// Miss McGivney: State Objective and Purpose- · “Great responses. Today, we are going to identify different elements of poetry and compose our own unique poem.” //3.// Teach and Model- · Miss McGivney: “Poetry is a very sophisticated style of writing. It takes great word-choice and thought to create a good poem.” · Miss McGivney: “There are many different styles of poems and we are just going to brush the surface of what poetry really is today.” · Miss O’Neill: “Within poetry, there are many different elements. Who can tell us what alliteration is?” · Miss O’Neill: “Alliteration is the use of the same consonant or vowel sound at the beginning of each word.” · [Show example of a poem with alliteration- “Four Frogs”]. · Miss O’Neill: “Boys and girls, who can come up to the Smartboard and circle the alliteration found in the poem ‘Four Frogs’?” · [Have a student come up to the board]. · Miss O’Neill: “Great work! Another element of poetry is rhyming. Who can tell us what rhyming is?” · Miss O’Neill: “A rhyme is a word that is identical to another in its ending sound.” · [Show example of a poem with a rhyme- “My Kitty Cat.”] · Miss O’Neill: “Boys and girls, who can come up to the Smartboard and put a square around two of the rhyming words?” · [Have 3 students come up to the board]. · Miss McGivney: “Great work! Another element of poetry is using similes. Who can tell us what a simile is?” · Miss McGivney: “A simile is a figure of speech that compares two things that are usually different.” · [Show example of a poem with a simile- “Flint”]. · Miss McGivney: “Boys and girls, who can underline a simile in the poem?” · [Have 3 students come up to the board]. · Miss McGivney: “Great job! Another characteristic of poems is that they can be any shape or size that you want.” · Miss McGivney: “Normally, the shape of the poem represents the theme of the poem.” · [Show example of a poem with a shape- “Star”]. · Miss O’Neill: “Within all of the poems that were just presented to you, the authors have chosen their words specifically to convey their message to the reader. Sometimes it can take poet weeks, months, or longer to come up with the best words for their poems.” //4.// Guided Practice- · Miss McGivney: “An example of a great poet is Nikki Giovanni.” · Miss McGivney: “Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee but grew up in Lincoln Heights in Cincinnati, Ohio. Every summer, Nikki and her sister would go back to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit their grandparents. The events that occurred at her grandparent’s house during those summers really impacted her life. We can see this in her poem ‘Knoxville, Tennessee’ because it is so unique and different from many other poems. After she attended undergraduate and graduate universities, Nikki Giovanni wrote many poetry books. Nikki Giovanni’s poetry is wonderful and is very different from other works. She has won many awards for her poetry books such as the Caldecott Honors book award and National Book Awards. She has been named a “National Treasure” and has been recently named one of Oprah Winfrey’s “Living Legends.” She is one out of twenty-five people to have this title with Oprah Winfrey. Nikki Giovanni is a professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. She has written over thirty books for adults and children and has impacted the writing of many people.” · Miss O’Neill: “On the Smartboard is the poem ‘Knoxville, Tennessee.’ I am going to read it to you and I would like you to follow along.” · Miss O’Neill: “Can you find any literary elements in this poem? Is there a shape to it?” · Miss O’Neill: “Boys and girls, there are two stanzas in this poem. Stanzas break poems apart. Since you noticed that there were no literary elements in it that we discussed, this poem is an example of free verse. Free verse is a poem that has no rules.” · Miss McGivney: “Now boys and girls, let’s look at ‘End of Summer’ by Mrs. Mershon. She modeled her poem off of Nikki Giovanni’s ‘Knoxville, Tennessee.’ Her poem is in the same form as Nikki Giovanni’s poem. Let’s read it together.” · [Read “End of Summer”]. //5.// Independent Practice- · Miss McGivney: “Now you will be creating your own poem modeled after ‘Knoxville, Tennessee.’” · Miss McGivney: “You should pay attention to how many lines in each stanza, your word-choice, and the amount of words in each line.” · Miss McGivney: “Try and add some of the literary elements we discussed previously into your poem. You can write about anything you would like. Examples include your hobbies, sports, instruments you play, a vacation, etc.” · Miss O’Neill: “If time permits, you will type up your poems on the computer.” · Miss O’Neill: “Now go back to your tables and begin working on your poems.” //6.// Closure- · “Who would like to read their poem to the class?” · “Great work everyone!”
 * Lesson Sequence:**


 * Assessment:** We will know if students were successful when they create their poems and read them to the class.