Lesson Plan Day 4 (and subsequent days) Grade Level: 4th Grade Length of Instruction: 20 Minutes Standard(s) Addressed

(Common Core) CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2.D Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.3.D Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. Content Objectives Language Objectives Students will be able to follow a poems structure to compose Students will be able to present their poetry orally in an Authors Chair. a singular poem within the poems structural limits. Students will be able to use the senses to create a descriptive text about an object occurring naturally in nature. Mentor Texts: Shel Silverstein Strategy Focus: Free verse poetry using descriptive key words compiled together to make one fluid piece of writing. Vocabulary: Free verse poery Number of Students: 15 Instructional Location: Classroom

Materials: Paper Pencil ipods Add any relevant information that is essential to understanding the context of your lesson: NA Prerequisite Skills: Students know poetry does not have to rhyme. Students know there are multiple different types of poetry.

Enduring Understandings (Big Idea): Explore creative writing of nonfiction and fiction texts through modes of poetry. Essential Questions: How does structure affect different types of poetry? What makes a poem? MINILESSON Setting the Purpose: When we read something is it more interesting when the descriptions are vague/bland or extremely descriptive so we can visualize it in our mind? Connect to prior learning: We are going to use our descriptive senses skills to describe on object we find in nature. Your free verse descriptive poem will let me visualize it when I read it. Introduce and explain: -It is important to use your creativity to make a piece of writing that paints a picture. One of the most important parts of poetry is using descriptive key words to make a poetry piece. Strategy Teaching: What: Use descriptive text to create a piece of free verse poetry that describes an object found in nature. -Why: It will promote creativity and through thought processes. It makes the students think descriptively and to only use key words to convey a topic. -When: Students will find the objects outside using the iPod to take pictures as references and then complete the writing inside the classroom. How: Show students a personal example based on completing the activity with the students. Active Engagement (Guide Practice) Practice creating descriptive phrases with partners. Think about a tree and think of all the descriptive phrases and key words you can create about a tree. Then compile the phrases into a poem * Participant Structures: partners Link to Independent Writing

-Remember to think of key phrases when writing a piece of poetry. It is IMPORTANT to think of description techniques of the senses to make a proper sentence. INDEPENDENT WRITING Students: Write descriptive phrases and key words to create a piece of poetry. -Teacher: Giving aid and conferencing with students. SHARING TIME -Students will present their pieces in an AUTHORS CHAIR format. Students who have not yet presented in the authors chair format will be the first ones presenting. TEACHER-STUDENT CONFERENCES -Conferencing with the small group of students working extensively on the descriptive skills (using the senses) Assessment(s): A completed free verse poem describing an object found naturally in nature. How might you extend this lesson? Let students use any object they know a lot about and use their background knowledge and descriptive skills to write a free verse poem. Discuss how you differentiated instruction for your learners during this lesson? The higher-level students I would require more detailed keyword information about the object. The lower-level students I would require less detail and have more of an emphasis on making the poetry itself.

Brief Reflection Notes: The students were really passionate about this piece of poetry. They were enthusiastic to be able to use technology to aid in their writing. The students expanded their horizons with the lesson. This type of poetry was much more flexible. They took ownership of the writing and wanted to formulate a poem that reflected their thoughts. Conferencing was more focused on using descriptive skills. The small group I conference with used a thesaurus to find words that reflected on the types of thoughts they were having. It really expanded their knowledge base. It helped the students see how their ideas and details can be modified using more concrete words. The new language made the poetry much more dramatic and impressionable.