Detailed Lessons for Writing Poetry

5th Grade
(11 Days of Lessons)

Mentor Texts:
Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Love That Dog By Sharon Creech
Out of the Dust By Karen Hesse
I Never Saw Another Butterfly by Hana Volavkova
Yo! Yes! by Chris Raschka
Speak to Me by Karen English and Amy June Bates
Marvelous Math: a book of poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Wonderful Words selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Spectacular Science by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Turtle In July by Marilyn Singer
Pirates by David Harrison (Bluebonnet Book 2010)
Haiku Hike by written and illustrated by fourth-grade students of St. Mary's
Catholic School in Mansfield, Massachusetts (Scholastic, 2005)

Handout: Suspense by Pat Mora

Free Verse Graphic Organizer
Haiku examples from text.
Handout: The Termites by Douglas Florian.
Cinquain sample poem: Listen.
Cinquain Graphic Organizer. and Cinquain teacher discussion guide.
http://readwritethink.org Search for keywords: Discovering poetic form and
structure using concrete poems. You will find a lesson that includes great examples
of concrete poetry.
Poetry Assessment and Poetry Assessment Teacher Guide

Teaching Notes:
In each of the lessons during this two week cycle, you will be given a “poetry idea” that
you can use as a model. Following these patterns will help reluctant writers get started.
Writing poetry is a uniquely personal experience. It is helpful to model the process and
the sensitivity that is needed by writing your own poem. By writing with the children
you will not only show them how to go, step-by-step, from an idea to the final product,
but you will also show them the struggle that can be part of the process.

Musical instruments are helpful when you are teaching about the syllable counts in
the haiku lesson on Day 3. Set clear expectations for how the instruments will be
used, perhaps just one per group.
Day 1: Free Verse – Part 1

Lesson: (May be taught during the ‘reading’ portion of the LA Block)

Note: Today’s lesson does not follow the typical Writing Workshop pattern of Minilesson,
Independent Writing, and Peer Sharing, but instead involves students in reading and interacting
with poems to introduce them to the structures and vocabulary they will need to know before
they can begin to experiment with writing their own poetry.

1. Read aloud Suspense (Treasures Unit 2, pg.236), then ask, “How do you know that this is a
poem?” (Possible responses: It is short; it is not in sentences; it sounds like a song; it paints a
picture; it has one word on a line; it has alliteration--rivers rushing, prickly pears.)

2. Pass out Handout: Suspense by Pat Mora – Don’t have students read it from the textbook.

3. Shared reading: Have students read Suspense aloud with you.

4. Define personification:

Personification is a technique writers use to give human

characteristics to animals or other things.

5. Tell students to reread the poem and look for examples of personification. Ask them to write
down the examples they find in their reading journals.

6. After writing about it, students turn and talk to a partner about the personification. Have a few
students share with the whole class.

7. Focus on the imagery in the poem. Have students close their eyes and ask them to picture
what comes to their minds while you read Suspense aloud again.

8. List the images they share on a chart tablet.

9. Have students draw the images around the poem on the handout.

10. If you have already read Hurricanes use Connect and Compare question #3 on page 237.

11. The verbs in the poem are part of what paints such a vivid picture of the images. Review the
definition of a verb (if needed) and then have students underline or highlight all of the verbs
in the poem (chases, flattens, boil, roll, roil, dart, peer, paces, dashes, races, splatter, leaps,
rushing).

12. Ask, “What images do these verbs bring to your mind? Guide students to discuss the quick
action that is evoked by almost all of them. Have volunteers act out some of the verbs.
13. You might have students make up their own sentences using the verbs today or at another
time.

14. Define onomatopoeia:

Onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like the action it describes,

like “Zip” or “Splat.”

15. Ask students to share words from the poem that they think are examples of onomatopoeia
(plink, crash, splatter, splash).

16. Have students look at the poems in their textbooks to compare their drawings and their
thoughts to what the textbook writers chose to draw.

17. Begin a chart listing key words for this unit with definitions and examples.

Poetry Vocabulary:

Free Verse Poetry – Poetry that is not tied to any certain poetic
form; it doesn’t have to rhyme or have a certain number of lines
or syllables; the words do need to be well-chosen and artistic; it is
usually arranged in stanzas and lines (not paragraphs).
Personification – When writers give human characteristics to
animals or other objects
Alliteration – A repetition of consonant sounds, such as “the
smooth, skaterly glide and sudden swerve.”
Onomatopoeia – When a word sounds like the action it describes
Imagery – Writers use words to help the reader see, hear, feel,
and experience an idea.
Day 2: Free Verse – Part 2

Minilesson:

Prior to this lesson: Cut out several different kinds of weather related pictures for
students to choose from, as a topic for a free verse poem. National Geographic
magazines work well for this. (You might have students help you with this task.)

1. Review yesterday’s work with Suspense. You might have several students read the poem
aloud to the class and go over the class poetry vocabulary chart.

2. Today students will write a free verse poem about a weather related event.

3. Model drafting ideas for a poem using the Free Verse Graphic Organizer and example or
use your own poetry idea. Show students how you write everything you can think of when
brainstorming ideas for the graphic organizer. You will choose which ideas to use when
composing your poem later.

Think aloud about the process you use to decide which phrases to use and how to experiment
with the sounds of poetry.

4. Help students choose a weather related topic by having them choose from the ‘weather
pictures’ you have prepared before this lesson, or have students brainstorm a list various kinds of
weather.

Independent Writing:

5. Students choose a topic for their own poems and fill in ideas on the graphic organizers. To
help students choose a topic, you could cut out weather related pictures and let them choose one
for their poem or simply list various kinds of weather on the board.

Minilesson:

6. When most students are finished with their graphic organizers, say, “We are each going to
use the ideas we gathered in our graphic organizers to draft a free verse poem. I am going to
show you the way I did it and then you will have time to write your own.”

7. Read your model to the class. Then, on the overhead, model how you can take those ideas,
revise, and rewrite them in the form of a poem. You can use the examples given with the Free
Verse Graphic Organizer, or model using your own poem.
8. Students work independently in the same way you just modeled for them.

9. While students write, you might have your struggling writers sit on the carpet or at a table
with you so you can encourage them as they draft their poems. Or, you might call small groups
or individual students to conference with you as needed.

Peer Sharing:

10. Organize students into groups of 4 to share their poems.

11. As students share, listen in to find a few good examples to share with the whole class.
Display the poem you have chosen so students can see and discuss the form of the poems,
use of personification, sensory words, etc.

Homework or assessment: Practice book page 88.

Optional alternate lesson plan:

Read Aloud Anthology, pp. 82 – 84 “The Mother of the Movement”

Day 3: Haiku – Part 1

Prior to this lesson: Make copies of the handouts of the Haiku examples from text
to form small groups of students who will work with each poem. (These are from pages
214 – 215 of the reading textbook, but prevent students from looking at the book yet. )

Have percussion instruments available for student use.

Note: Today’s lesson does not follow the typical Writing Workshop pattern of Minilesson,
Independent Writing, and Peer Sharing, but instead involves students in reading and interacting
with poems to introduce them to the structures and vocabulary they will need to know before
they can begin to experiment with writing their own poetry.
 Lesson: (May be taught during the ‘reading’ portion of the LA Block)

1. Say, “Today we will be reading and then writing poems that are only three lines long. These
poems are called haiku which is a traditional form of Japanese poetry.”

2. Pass out the Haiku examples from text. (These are from pages 214 – 215 of the text, but
don’t look at the book yet)

3. Students with the same poems will practice reading it aloud. (If you want smaller groups,
either have two groups working on the same poem or find other good examples of haiku from
books in your school library.) Give groups about 5 minutes to practice.

4. Model beating the rhythm of the haiku with a percussion instrument.

5. Introduce the criteria for a haiku:

Haiku has three short lines:

The first line has five syllables.
The second line has seven syllables.
The third line has five syllables.

6. Pass out the instruments (one per group) and have groups practice reading the haiku with
their instruments (quiet voices!).

7. Then each group gets to “perform” their poem. Count out the syllables to reinforce the poetry
form.

8. Go over the vocabulary in the poems.

9. Discuss sensory language and how poets use it to create a picture in your mind. Give students
time to draw the picture that the haiku on their handout paints in their minds.

10. Discuss and define metaphor. In the 1st haiku on page 214, change the metaphor to a simile
to show how metaphors and similes are related. (Balloon, so high up, you are like a big bright
bouncing bubble…)

11. Ask students to read the other four haiku and find another example of metaphor ( Haiku #2
– a bee sleeps within)

12. Discuss and define simile. Then ask students to find two more examples of similes in these
haiku. (Haiku #2 – petals as white as sheets, Haiku #4 – floats like freedom.)
13. Finally, have them open their text books to pages 214 - 215. They can compare their
drawings and thinking to what the writers and illustrator of the textbook pictured and wrote
about.

14. Add new vocabulary to class chart – simile, metaphor, comparison, imagery, syllables,
haiku, stanza (If you read the four haiku as one poem, each one of them would be a stanza.)

Poetry Vocabulary:

Haiku – A type of poem written in 3 short lines with five, seven,

and five syllables.
Simile – When a writer compares two different things using the
words like or as.
Metaphor – When a writer compares two different things
without using the words like or as.
Comparison -
Imagery – Writers use words to help the reader see, hear, feel,
and experience an idea.
Syllables – A part of a word that has one vowel sound, with or
without surrounding consonants.
Stanza – A group of lines in a poem, separated by space, that
conveys an idea. Each stanza may have a common pattern of
meter, rhyme, and number of lines.

Day 4: Haiku – Part 2

Minilesson:

1. Review key ideas from yesterday:

 haiku has three short lines that have five, seven, and five syllables.
 haiku contain sensory language that paints a picture in our minds
 metaphors and similes are two poetic techniques.

2. Model getting started writing a haiku. Begin with a class metaphor/simile list. Have students
name things in nature and then find other things to compare them to.
3. When you see that students are understanding the concept of metaphor, use one example to
write a haiku in front of your students. Invite students to help you, if you wish, but remind them
that it is always up to the writer to decide which ideas he/she wants to use in their own writing.

Independent Writing:

4. Invite everyone to write one or more haiku. They can use an idea from the class chart or make
up an entirely new one.

Peer Sharing:

5. Editing: Students can edit their poems with a partner, checking that the words are spelled
correctly and that the poem ends with a period.

Note on syllable counts – if students are struggling with the syllable count, don’t force that in
their poems. Instead encourage them to write shorter first and third lines and a longer middle line
without worrying about the exact syllables. However, you can foster their appreciation of poets
who work to create beautiful poems within this rigid format.

6. For advanced students, editing could include checking the syllable counts for each line.

Publishing:

7. Students rewrite their edited poems on construction paper and illustrate them to match the
sensory images that they created. (Or have students exchange poems and illustrate each other’s
writing)

8. Written analysis of each other’s poems: Students trade copies of their poems with 2 or 3
other students. They write about the imagery, similes, and metaphor in each other’s poems.

9. Closing: Students read their haiku aloud and beat out the syllables with the percussion
instruments.

10. Review vocabulary from class chart.

Homework: Practice book page 79 Or assign the illustrating or analysis as homework.

Day 5: Concrete Poetry – Part 1

Note: Today’s lesson does not follow the typical Writing Workshop pattern of Minilesson,
Independent Writing, and Peer Sharing, but instead involves students in reading and interacting
with poems to introduce them to the structures and vocabulary they will need to know before
they can begin to experiment with writing their own poetry.

Lesson: (May be taught during the ‘reading’ portion of the LA Block)

1. Ask,“What do you know about termites?”Have students share ideas.

2. Pass out the copy of the poem, Handout: The Termites by Douglas Florian. Students will
take notes on the copy.

3. Read the poem aloud together.

4. Then say, “Re-read the poem and write down things you notice in the margins. For example,
you could write about imagery, rhymes, the shape of the poem, etc.” Give students time to write.
Have them put their name on the top of their paper.

5. Students pass their papers to the right and read what their neighbor wrote about the poem.
Then, they add anything new they have noticed or that their neighbor may have left out. They
could also comment on what their neighbor wrote.

6. Repeat several times, then have students return the papers to the original student.

7. Now that students have read the poem several times, they are prepared to contribute to a class
discussion. Call on students to share their thinking about:
- rhyme scheme
- rhythm
- shape
- imagery
8. Sum up by explaining that this poem has internal rhyme, rhyming words within the lines of
the poem instead of just at the ends of lines.

9. Have students use crayons or colored pencils to color code these rhymes:
Red - mound, ground, underground
Blue – nest, blessed
Green – immense, defense, fence
Yellow – enemies, degrees, guarantees
Purple – assign, design, fine

10. Explain that rhythm is the regular repetition of syllables and can also be described as the
musical quality of a poem.
11. Model reading the poem emphasizing the musical rhythm of the lines. Ask for volunteers to
try it out!

12. To extend this lesson, you could have groups of students prepare oral interpretations of the
poem by presenting it in the style of a rap artist, a beatnik, a rock and roll band, a radio dj, a
Shakespearian actor, etc.

13. Closing: Review key points:

 Concrete poems may or may not use rhymes. “The Termite” uses internal rhymes.
 Concrete poems somehow reflect the shape of their subject
 Concrete poems include sensory language which may or may not include metaphor or
simile.

14. Add new vocabulary to class poetry chart:

Poetry Vocabulary:

Concrete Poetry – Poetry that represents meaning not only by

the way the words sound but how they look. The print of the
poem itself takes shape as a collage or picture that conveys
meaning.
Rhyme Scheme – A pattern of rhyme found within the lines of
a poem. Rhyme scheme is illustrated in this example:
Excerpt from “Our House” by Dorothy Brown Thompson
Our house is small— a
The lawn and all a
Can scarcely hold the flowers, b
Yet every bit, c

The whole of it, c

Is precious, for it’s ours! b

Internal Rhyme – Rhyming words are found within the lines

of the poem, instead of at the ends of the lines.
Rhythm - The regular repetition of syllables, also described as
the musical quality of a poem.
Day 6: Concrete Poetry – Part 2

Prior to this lesson: Go to http://readwritethink.org

Search for keywords: Discovering poetic form and structure using concrete poems. You will find
a lesson that includes great examples of concrete poetry.
If possible, set up to view this web site with your laptop and projector. If not, you can
copy the samples and pass them out or use transparencies.

Minilesson:

1. Say, “Yesterday we read a poem shaped like a termite mound called, simply, “The Termites.”
Today, we are each going to write a concrete poem. Before you get started with your own ideas,
let’s look at a few more examples.”

2. Use the examples from the website listed above (Discovering poetic form and structure using
concrete poems).

Independent Writing:

3. For those writers who already have an idea for a concrete poem, let them get started on their
creations! Pass out blank copier paper for students to write their drafts, to encourage them to
link this type of poetry to art (no lines). These students can write more than one poem if they
have time.

4. Then say, “If you are having trouble thinking of a topic, you can participate in a discussion
with me to find some good ideas.”

5. Take students who want help aside to brainstorm topic ideas. Listing names of animals, birds,
weather, etc. may help them find a good idea. Encourage them to just try something out. Foster a
non-judgmental approach to this creative process.

6. It is also helpful to be prepared to write you own concrete poems with the students. Seeing
how you do it and hearing your thinking as you create the poem will help them as they try to
write their own.

Peer Sharing:
7. Have writers work share their poem(s) with a partner. They can correct spelling, make
suggestions to improve the poem, discuss decisions about punctuation and capitalization .

8. Closing: Ask writers to set their poems out on their desks. Have a gallery walk to view all of
the drafts. Celebrate their hard work!
Day 7: Cinquain

Prior to this lesson: Make copies of Cinquain sample poem: Listen. and the
Cinquain Graphic Organizer.
Preview this Cinquain teacher discussion guide.

Minilesson:

1. Say, “Last week we studied a Japanese form a poetry called a Haiku. Today we are going to
look at another short poetry form.” Ask, “Can anyone count to 5 in Spanish?” (uno, dos, tres,
quarto, cinco.) Say, “In French counting to 5 sounds very much like it does in Spanish… un,
deux, trois, quatre, cinq. The poetry form we are going to study today comes from the French
word for five – cinq. It is called a cinquain. Although it sounds French it was actually invented
by an American woman, Adelaide Crapsey, (1878 – 1914).”

2. Show the poem, Cinquain sample poem: Listen. Pass out copies of the poem to the
students.

3. Follow the guided discussion on the Cinquain teacher discussion guide.

4. At the end of the discussion, summarize the characteristics of the cinquain:

• Five lines
• 2 syllables in first line, 4 in the second, 6 in the 3rd, 8 in the 4th and 2 in the 5th
• The rhythm of the poem has a stressed syllable on every second syllable
• Cinquains can include similes, metaphor, imagery, and onomatopoeia
• Usually cinquains do not include rhymes

5. Pass out the Cinquain Graphic Organizer. Model using it to brainstorm ideas for a poem.

Independent Writing:

6. Now students try their hand at writing a cinquain.

7. If students need/want to write a second or third cinquain, they can create the graphic
organizer on blank lined paper or in their spirals.

8. As always, it may help to have struggling writers sit at a table with you while you write your
own cinquain.
 Peer Sharing:

9. Organize students into groups of 3-4 and have them share their attempts at writing cinquains
with each other. Listeners may offer suggestions for improvement.

10. Closing: Ask, “Did anyone hear a good poem in their group that they think we all should
hear today?” Students volunteer others to read their poems aloud to the class.

Add new vocabulary to class chart.

Poetry Vocabulary:

Cinquain
Cinquain –– A A type
type ofof poem
poem with
with 55 lines,
lines, with
with aa specific
specific syllable
syllable
count for each line: 2 syllables in first line,
count for each line: 2 syllables in first line, 4 in the second, 4 in the second,
6 in 6
rd rd th th th. th.
the 3 in, 8the
in 3the, 84 inand
the 24 inand
the 25 in The
the 5rhythm
The of
rhythm of thehas
the poem poem
a
has a stressed syllable on
stressed syllable on every second syllable every second syllable

Stressed
Stressed syllables
syllables –– A part of a word (containing a vowel sound)
that is emphasized when spoken aloud. A repetitive pattern of
stressed and unstressed syllables gives a poem a rhythmic or
musical quality.
Day 8: Revision

Minilesson:

1. Say, “For the past two weeks you have been working on writing poems. For the next few
days, we are going to revise, edit, and publish the poems you have already written. Today we’ll
work on revision.”

2. Ask, “How do you think poets make their poems better?” Guide students as they discuss the
revision process.

3. For revision: Make a chart of the different poetic techniques they should consider adding to
their poems, including:
- onomatopoeia
- simile
- metaphor
- rhymes
- imagery

4. On a transparency or on Elmo, model how you work to revise a poem you wrote, using any of
the above techniques.

Emphasize the fact that poetry, like all other writing, is revised or rewritten several times in an
attempt to create just the right picture or feeling in the reader’s mind. Poets need to review their
intensions for writing their poem. What feeling or image did they want to create with the words
in this poem? Poets think about every word in their poems and think about whether this is the
best word for the feeling or image they are trying to create.

Independent Writing:

5. Writers work to revise their previously drafted poems. They may ask a partner for help if
they want to.

6. Conference with writers to help them make decisions about word choice and adding any of
the above techniques. You might require students to bring more than one draft of a poem to their
conference, to encourage them to try the different techniques. You can help them decide which
techniques are most effective.

7. Closing: Each student shares one change they made to a poem.

Day 9: Editing

Minilesson:

1. Editing: Say, “Usually when we edit your writing, we follow steps to make sure all capital
letters and punctuation are used correctly. When writing poetry, however, poets make conscious
decisions about whether to follow standard capitalization and punctuation rules. They also
make decisions about line length and the placement of words on the page.”

2. Show students examples of poems from previous lessons and discuss whether the author used
capitalization and punctuation in conventional ways.

3. Ask, “Why do you think the author chose not to use ________ (capital letters or
punctuation)?

4. As students edit today, they should think carefully about these ideas:
• Which words to they want to capitalize?
• Where do they want to use commas? Or periods?
• Where do they want to end one line and begin a new line?
• Where do they want to place the words on the page?

This is one time when they do not have to follow the standard conventions of capital letters and
punctuation—as long as they can explain why they have made this decision!

Independent Writing:

5. Students reread their poems and circle words they may have spelled incorrectly, find the
correct spellings, and make the corrections on their drafts.

6. Students read their drafts with a partner and edit for punctuation and capitalization, justifying
their decisions about capitalization, punctuation, line length, and word placement.

7. Hold quick editing conferences with each student to guide them to make corrections in their
mechanics.

Peer Sharing:

8. Closing: Students share the decisions they made about one of the following: capitalization,
punctuation, line length, and word placement.
Days 10 and 11: Publishing

Minilesson:
Publishing:

1. There are many ways you might have students publish their poems:

• Students could write out their poems on lined paper, and then mount them on
construction paper. Students then illustrate their poems in the borders.
• Students could use a publishing program to type and insert graphics into their final
product.
• Students could publish their poems on story boards, illustrating each frame like a picture
story book.

Independent Writing:

2. It is likely that you will need one more day for students to complete and publish the four
poems they wrote during this unit.

Peer Sharing:

3. If everyone has their poems completed, you could plan a “Publication Party” for today. Have
students sit in a double circle and have a “read around.” Invite parents or administrators and
school staff to join in.

4. Closing the unit: Review the class chart of poetry terms.

5. Assessment: Have students apply what they have learned by writing about a new set of
poems. See handout: Poetry Assessment and Poetry Assessment Teacher Guide