What is an acrostic poem?

An acrostic poem, sometimes called a name poem, uses a word for its subject. Then each line of the poem begins with a letter from the subject word. This type of poetry doesn't have to rhyme.

Here's an example using the word school:

Shabonee is where I go

Computers, spirals, books, and more

Homework every night

On math, science, reading, and social studies

Our class does lots of fun projects

Learning never stops

How do I write an acrostic poem? For your first try, you might want to use your first name as your subject word.

1.Write the subject of your poem vertically (up and down)on a piece of paper.

2. Brainstorm a list of words/ideas to include in the poem. Think of any words that might go with your subject word. Don't try to only think of words that begin with the letters in your subject word, list anything you think of. You can make the words/ideas fit later.

3. Look through the list of words/ideas. Begin to decide how they might fit into the poem. **Often a word you want to put into the poem doesn't begin with the letters found in the subject word. Think how that word could be put into a sentence that begins with a letter from the subject word. Here's an example from the school poem:

Projects is a word that is a part of school, but there isn't a "p" in the word school. But by thinking of a sentence that contains the word projects, the word can be fit into the poem.

Our class does lots of fun projects

4. Work through all the letters of your subject word until you have created a line for each letter. Sometimes this can be tough. The first idea isn't always the best. You may need to think of some new words that describe your subject word to complete your poem.