Lesson Plan #5

  Poetry 

Duration:       5 days

Objectives:    Students will:

• discuss its parts of a cinquain
• learn what a noun, verb, adjective is
• compose a cinquain poem

Materials: 

Cinquain Template

 How To Write A Cinquain

Arthur's Poetry Club 

Key Vocabulary:

Cinquain

Noun

Adjective

Verb

Procedures:  

• Students work in small groups of 3-5. Each group has one example poem, and the tasks:
  a) Identify the structure / form of the poem (what are the parts of speech in each line); and,
  b) Report orally and informally to the rest of the class on the feeling / tone of the poem.
  c) Answer the question: What is the relationship between the first and last lines?
  Students can use dictionaries, as necessary, to figure out unfamiliar words.
• Example Poem:

War
Sad, destructive
Killing, injuring, destroying
A thing that kills life.
Terminator

• Students report on their assigned poems. (Optional: students practice with the instructor orally beforehand and then read their assigned poem to the class.)
  The structural form is then written on the board or screen and/or presented on a handout. Example:
  
  Line 1: War = 1 NOUN-A
  Line 2: Sad, destructive = 2 related ADJECTIVES
  Line 3: Killing, injuring, destroying = 3 descriptive GERUNDS (verb + -ing)
  Line 4: A thing that kills life. = 1 complete, related SENTENCE
  Line 5: Terminator = 1 NOUN-B (a synonym of NOUN-A)
  
  
• Students' observations regarding synonyms, parts of speech on each line, emotional tone, etc. are also discussed / outlined clearly.
  
  
• Individual groups then "brainstorm" as many possible pairs of synonyms as they can create. The teacher puts the pairs up on the board / overhead screen as suggestions (eg. vacation-holidays, artist-creator, Paris-paradise, life-journey, , ......). Students can use a dictionary and/or thesaurus.
  
  
• Students and the instructor choose one of the brainstormed topics and write a cinquain poem together on the board / overhead screen. Optional: copy it down and add it to the class collection if a class anthology is in the works.
  
  
• Working individually with a template (see sample below), students write one or more cinquaines on the subject(s) of their choice. (Poems can also be written or transferred onto a computer VIA a teacher-prepared template.)

Sample Poems to use in class:

Assessment:

Criteria	1	2	3	Score
Use of given information and word webs.	Needed considerable teacher guidance for word selection	Needed some teacher guidance for word selection	Used resources and word webs independently
Reflects elements of a cinquain poem	Three or fewer lines in proper format	Four lines in proper format	Each of five lines in proper format
Uses conventions of grammar and usage	3 or more errors in grammar and usage	1-2 errors in grammar and usage	No errors
			Total Score:

Home Learning: 

Have students visit How To Write A Cinquain or Arthur's Poetry Club  Have students submit their poems online.

Extension Activity:

• Students' work can be compiled into a class anthology for reading, autographing, souvenirs, and so on.
  
• Illustrate poems with handrawn or computer-generated images.
• Have students illustrate their poem on Kid Pix and create a poem quilt.