3RD GRADE LEARNING SUPPORT POETRY UNIT PLAN

HEADING
Subject: Writing
Grade: 3rd
Unit Title: Poetry
Lesson: 1: Where can we find poetry?
Estimated Time Period for the Lesson: 30 - 45 minutes

AREAS OF THE LESSON PLAN

I. Learning Objective(s):
SWBAT: identify where they can find poetry around them.
SWBAT: list various objects that poems can be about.
SWBAT: walk around the school and identify where poems can be discovered.

II. Core and / or State Standard and / or INTASC Standard(s):

CC.1.3.3.G: Explain how specific aspects of a texts illustrations contribute to what is
conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or
setting).

III. Materials and Equipment:

Writers Notebooks
Pencils

IV. Procedures:
I will start by having student sit down at the front table. I will ask them what they
can tell me about a poem. After a few examples, most likely recalling their color poems
they wrote the year before, I will ask them what is important about a poem (It can be
about just about anything; favorite objects, random things in the room, people they know,
etc.). Once I have their attentions and we have listed as much as we can. I will ask the
class as a whole where they think they can find a poem? When everyone gives me an idea
or name of a place I will ask the students to join me on a walk through the school, and in
the court yard (it was nice outside) to find things they might want to right about or think
of poems they might have already heard poems about. After a fifteen minute walk around
we will come back into the classroom and pull out our writers notebooks to jot down
some things they observed on their walk worth writing about (The empty hallways, the
birds in the trees outside, the green grass, etc.) to help plan for the next days lesson.

V. Accommodations for Exceptional Students

I will help write for my student who struggles writing due to her cast as she tells
me orally what she wants written.
I will help support my students by giving them examples of my own, if they need
assistance collaborating ideas right away.
If students get frustrated I will offer a break to get a drink.
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VI. Student Assessment and Evaluation:

Students will write ideas down where they can find poetry based on our class discussion
and from out poetry walk around the school.

VII. Teacher Self-Assessment:

I will monitor every student and ask questions throughout the lesson to ensure
they are answering and providing me with as many examples as possible. I will also
check their notebooks to ensure they have what is needed to know how much additional
time to give them later in the day or during the next lesson.

HEADING
Subject: Writing
Grade: 3rd
Unit Title: Poetry
Lesson: 2: The world through the poets eyes.
Estimated Time Period for the Lesson: 30 - 45 minutes

AREAS OF THE LESSON PLAN

I. Learning Objective(s):
SWBAT: recall at least three of the five doors of poetry
SWBAT: identify at least one poem using one of the doors of poetry
SWBAT: observe poems to examine what poems are about from the poets eyes

II. Core and / or State Standard and / or INTASC Standard(s):

CC.1.2.3.A: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how
they support the main idea.

CC.1.5.3.E: Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order
to provide requested detail or clarification.

III. Materials and Equipment:

Poetry Anthology
Writers Notebooks
Pencils
3 sticky notes for each child (12 total)

IV. Procedures:
We will be sitting at the front table. I will have the students recall back to me
what we talked about the previous day. Once they tell me we talked about places to find
poems and what poems can be about I will distribute each student with a Poetry
Anthology. I will give the students ten minutes to read through a few and choose three
poems that stood out to them and place a sticky note on the page to refer back to later.
When everyone has chosen their three best poems I will then ask the students to close
their anthologies where they were and turn to the opening cover. There they will see the
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five Doors of Poetry. I will have students place their fingers on each of the doors as I
read what it says about them below.
Heart Door the door of our hearts. You should write poems about what you feel
is true. You can write about grief, sorrow, or rage. This is where our inner images,
longings and feeling come out.
Observation Door The door of our eyes. Behind this door are the things we
observe, what were amazed by and whats beautiful in the world.
Concern for the World Door The door to the world. This door includes what we
read in the newspaper, or watch on television. It can be about war, homelessness,
pollution or floods.
Wonder Door - The door about questions we may have. Questions might be about
the world, our lives, what were studying in school, the universe, or anything else
youre curious about.
Memory Door The door to our memories. Memories drift in and out of our
minds all day long. Our memories often seem very real and can be a great basis
for a poem.
Once we have read through them all I will then ask the students to go back to one of
their chosen poems they marked and try and decide what door their poem belongs in.
I will go to each child and read the one they choose aloud. As a group, after I read it
we will discus what we each might think the poem belongs in. There will be many
poems that may be multiple doors that may have to take some time to explain how it
might all depend on how the reader interprets the poem.

V. Accommodations for Exceptional Students

I will read the poems aloud for the students as a group.
As the students are reading through the poems I will slowing go around with each student
and read through a few lines with him or her to ensure the text is appropriate and
understood.
If students get frustrated I will offer a break to get a drink.

VI. Student Assessment and Evaluation:

Students will choose a poem from the collection and be able to explain to me which door
of poetry they believe it belongs in.

VII. Teacher Self-Assessment:

I will observe the students to see who has taken their time reading through the poems
they chose. I will look to all students to see if they will refer back to the doors of poetry
to help evaluate which door their poems belong to.

HEADING
Subject: Writing
Grade: 3rd
Unit Title: Poetry
Lesson: 3: Characteristics of poems
Estimated Time Period for the Lesson: 30 - 45 minutes
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AREAS OF THE LESSON PLAN

I. Learning Objective(s):
SWBAT: identify what is found in a poem
SWBAT: compare and contrast different poems

II. Core and / or State Standard and / or INTASC Standard(s):

CC.1.2.3.A: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how
they support the main idea.

CC.1.5.3.E: Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order
to provide requested detail or clarification.

CC.1.3.3.E: Refer to parts of texts when writing or speaking about a text using such terms
as chapter, scene and stanza and describe how each successive part builds upon earlier
sections.

III. Materials and Equipment:

Poster
Markers
Writers Notebooks
Pencils

IV. Procedures:
The students will come to their seats at the front table. I will be have a large poster size
paper hanging on the board. I will ask the students to keep in mind what we already know
about poems and think of a place that most of us have either been to or read about other
than at school, (The beach, the movies, etc.). We will create a list of things we can find at
a beach; sandcastles, loud excited children, the cold tide coming to our feet, the
screeching of seagulls on the shore, etc.). Once we have a list I will ask the class to help
me write out what we might see first and how we can use descriptive words to help
readers visualize what is going on. When we have a good start I will have the students
open up their writers notebooks and create a list of places they have been that they might
want to write about. If students are progressing quicker than peers I will have student(s)
start to list objects, similar to our lesson to include in their poem.

V. Accommodations for Exceptional Students

I will assist students that are struggling to places I know they enjoy or might be interested
in going.
I will help write for my student who has a cast, if necessary.
If students get frustrated I will offer a break to get a drink.

VI. Student Assessment and Evaluation:

Students will be able to write at least five places they might be interested in writing
about.
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VII. Teacher Self-Assessment:

I will monitor how well the students come up with lines to our poem during our guided
lesson to see if I need to have a review day or just an additional few minutes from the
next lesson before moving on.

HEADING
Subject: Writing
Grade: 3rd
Unit Title: Poetry
Lesson: 4: Line breaks
Estimated Time Period for the Lesson: 30 - 45 minutes

AREAS OF THE LESSON PLAN

I. Learning Objective(s):
SWBAT: identify what a line break is
SWBAT: compare and contrast lines of poems

II. Core and / or State Standard and / or INTASC Standard(s):

CC.1.4.3.T: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen
writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

CC.1.3.3.E: Refer to parts of texts when writing or speaking about a text using such terms
as chapter, scene and stanza and describe how each successive part builds upon earlier
sections.

III. Materials and Equipment:

Poetry Anthology
Writers Notebooks
Pencils
SmartBoard
Poem Poster from previous days lesson

IV. Procedures:
I will start class by having students continue where they left off yesterday, either on their
lists of objects or starting their own poems for about ten minutes. Once just about
everyone has finished their first draft of their poems I will have the student go to the front
tables with their anthology. I will turn on the SmartBoard and pull up one copy of Until
I Saw the Sea by Lilian Moore. I will ask the student to listen as I read the screen.

Until I saw the sea I did not know that

wind could wrinkle water so.

I never knew
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that sun could splinter

a whole sea of blue.

Nor did I know

before, a sea breathes in and
out upon a shore

I will ask the students what they can notice about the lines and where this writer broke up
her sentences. I will ask if they are complete thoughts. I will ask the student to go back to
the poem we wrote yesterday about the beach and talk about how the poems lines are to
try and get them thinking. I will then read the poem again. Once Ive read it again I will
turn the page on the SmartBoard to another form of the poem.

Until I saw the sea

I did not know
that wind
could wrinkle water so.

I never knew
that sun
could splinter a whole sea of blue.

Nor
did I know before,
a sea breathes in and out
upon a shore

I will then pull both poems next to each other and ask them if any of the words have
changed. I will ask the students to read through each of them on their own and make sure
to take a pause where the line ends. After a few minutes of comparing the poems I will
read each poem aloud again and ask them to put up which number of finger to put up
once they can tell me which poem sounds best, either the first or second. We will then
discus why they think or why the second poem sounds better to them as we open our
anthologies to page 6 to their own copy of the poem to take notes or why they think the
writer choose to break her poem this way. After a few ideas I will have the class look
back to their poems and think about how they organized their sentences to ensure they
created a good choice for their line-breaks. Once we have all had a chance I will ask
the student what they think a line break is and how is it used in a poem? When they can
identify and describe a line break they can pack up and get ready for reading.

V. Accommodations for Exceptional Students

I will provide one of my students with a written copy of each poem to compare and
contrast up close.
I will emphasize each line as I read to ensure they can get a better understand what to do
when they read each line of their poems.
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If students appear to struggle explain that they can think of it as a form of music with a
specific rhythm and beat.
If students get frustrated I will offer a break to get a drink.

VI. Student Assessment and Evaluation:

Students will have a piece of writing that I can have a notebook check to ensure they had
appropriate line breaks.
Students will participate and be able to compare and contrast the same poem with
different line breaks to identify which poem of the two is best.

VII. Teacher Self-Assessment:

I will check their notebooks to ensure they have what is needed or enough to continue
where we left off during their C.E time the following day.

HEADING
Subject: Writing
Grade: 3rd
Unit Title: Poetry
Lesson: 5: Putting Powerful Thoughts in tiny Packages
Estimated Time Period for the Lesson: 30 - 45 minutes

AREAS OF THE LESSON PLAN

I. Learning Objective(s):
SWBAT: create a poem expressing a strong emotion.
SWBAT: read poems with emotion

II. Core and / or State Standard and / or INTASC Standard(s):

CC.1.3.3.G: Explain how specific aspects of a texts illustrations contribute to what is
conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or
setting).
CC.1.2.3.A: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how
they support the main idea.

CC.1.2.3.G: Use information gained from text features to demonstrate understanding of a

text.

III. Materials and Equipment:

Writers Notebooks
Pencils
Poem Anthology

IV. Procedures:
I will have student come to the front table with their anthologies and writers
notebooks. I will explain to them that we have discussed line breaks, and created poems
about places, but now we will be talking more about the doors of poetry to include strong
 8

emotions in poetry. Once I have explained that we will focus on strong emotion I will as
students to share with me what their favorite toy or object is, some may say a stuffed
animal or action figure. I will say that I have a favorite bear that Ive had for a long time.
I will ask the students if I gave them my bear if they would love her as much as I do.
Some may say yes, and others will say no. I will ask why some said no (because my bear
is only important to me. They dont know my bear just as I dont know about their
favorite objects). I will ask them to open up their notebooks and list why their object is
their favorite. After a few minutes and each student has at least three ideas listed I will
ask them to share. Once they share at least four things I will have them go through their
anthologies and see if they can find one poem that stands out to them about a small object
that is important. When everyone has one picked out I will read each students choice
aloud and as a whole we will discus what is being described and what door of poetry is
being described whether it be the memory door or the heart door. When we go through a
few and talk about each poem I will have students return to their list and see if they can
try and create a poem based on what we have read and from their own feelings about the
object. If there is still time remaining I will have students read what they have or create
another poem with another object before getting ready to start reading.

V. Accommodations for Exceptional Students

I will sit and read a few lines of different poems with students to ensure they are
breaking down the poems and getting an understanding of what the poem is about.
If students get frustrated I will offer a break to get a drink.
If student excels and finished early they can create a second powerful poem.

VI. Student Assessment and Evaluation:

I will do a notebook check to ensure students have what is expected of them. If they have
a chance to read over their work I will evaluate based on how they present their work and
how they dictate poems to see their worth.

VII. Teacher Self-Assessment:

To ensure the students are really learning I will try to take a few minutes from each day
either during writing or later in the day to ensure they know important information and
how it can be used. I will also constantly refer back to their notebooks to ensure they are
taking notes and writing important information down that we have gone over.