Ashley Louth Using Rhyming and Poetry to Tell a Story Grade: 4 Common Core State Standards CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.

3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3.a Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3.b Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3.c Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3.d Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3.e Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.4.4.c Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases. Objective: Students will draft a story written in quatrains. Materials: Sir Cedric by Roy Gerrard Writing notebooks (each student) Pencils (each student) Document camera

Poster paper and marker

Procedure Lesson Introduction Students will sit on the carpet for the mini lesson. Do any of you remember this story? Sir Cedric by Roy Gerrard. We read this book together and we discussed rhyming. Then we created lists of rhyming words together. Now, we are going to use it as a mentor text to start writing poetry. I will show the book pages I am reading to the class on the document camera so the students can see the words that rhyme. Gerrard tells us a story through poetry by having the words on every other line in a ABCB. Lets read here on the first page to see what I am talking about. Sir Cedric was cheerful and gallant, (a) Sir Cedric was gentle but bold. (b) He ruled his lands wisely and fairly (c) and was very well-liked, so Im told. (b) Bold and Told rhyme while Gallant and fairly do not. He does not have all of the even lines rhyme on the page though. Gerrard has the second and fourth lines of every four lines rhyme in his story. He has every four lines set up into quatrains. Who remembers what quatrain means? Students will remember that in a previous vocabulary lesson e learned what quatrain means and that quatr is the Latin root for four. Let me reread the first quatrain with the second quatrain to show you how they have different rhyming words. Sir Cedric was cheerful and gallant, (a) Sir Cedric was gentle but bold. (b) He ruled his lands wisely and fairly (c) and was very well-liked, so Im told. (b) The people who lived near his castle (d)

were happy to be in his care- (e) For robbers and villains all kept well away (f) when they knew that Sir Cedric was there. (e) You see he uses bold and told in the first quatrain and care and there in the second quatrain. I also want to remind you what we talked about when we were creating lists of rhyming words. Some rhyming words sound alike but are spelled differently. There is an example of this here with care and there. Teach and Model I am going to show you how I would write the first Quatrain of my rhyming story. I think I am going write about a Cowboy. Back in the wild, wild west, There lived a cowboy brave and strong. His name was Cowboy Clint; It was not very long. I will write my quatrain in front of the kids, describing my thoughts. I started writing my story and I had strong and brave written. Then I changed it to brave and strong because I could not create a rhyme for brave. It is okay to write and then rewrite lines of your story. We also have already created lists of rhyming ords that you can use when writing. Notice how lines a and c do not rhyme. You are only going to rhyme the second and fourth lines of each quatrain. Guided Practice Now we will add to my poem together. Practice 1 As a class we will write the next quatrain of my story. The students will come up with ideas for lines that we will write. For instance, a student will give a line then another student will add a line and so on. I will make sure the second and fourth lines rhyme. While this may not be the exact quatrain we will write as a class. This is what I would write next and can use to help guide the class. Clint did not travel the west alone.

He had a horse named Light. Light liked to go fast. He always ran with all his might. I like how we all remembered that we have to have the second and fourth lines rhyme in our quatrain. Practice 2 Lets practice one more time to write another quatrain before we go do it individually at our desk. I will have the students write another quatrain to my story. While this may not be the exact quatrain we will write as a class. This is what I would write next and can use to help guide the class. Outlaw Leroy was the worst of all. Everyone was scared of his great big frown. Leroy had a trade mark that was only for him, Everything he wore was the color brown. Independent Practice (30-35 minutes) Okay, so today we start drafting our story poems just like Gerrard. I want you to remember that a good story has a beginning, middle and end. There should be character development and descriptions. One way we develop our characters is through the dialogue so remember to include dialogue. If you need help coming up with rhyming words you can hold a conference with your writing partner or look at the list of rhyming words we created the other day. If you have any questions or think you need more practice stay seated on the carpet. Otherwise, go back to your desks and begin writing. Happy writing poets! If students stay seated on the carpet we will answer questions and write another quatrain if need be to help them understand how to write one. Students will work independently on their writing. They will use their rhyming words lists and thesauruses to create rhyming words and begin writing quatrains for their story poems.

If I see that students are struggling with creating rhyming words for their story I will call a brainstorming break and as a class we will help each other come up with rhyming words. Lesson Conclusion (Group Share last 10 minutes) Students will come back to the carpet. Did anyone start drafting quatrains for their story poems? Students will raise their hands. Would anyone like to share a quatrain with us that they have drafted? Students will share examples of their quatrains. Poets, remember that writing is a process. We will be working on these poem stories and other types of poetry writing for this unit. You will have many opportunities to expand your rhyming vocabulary and to work with peers and myself to develop these poems into masterpieces. Assessment Students will be successful if they write quatrains for their short story poem using rhyming words.