Poetry Mini-Lesson on SUPER Heroes (plus Writer s Workshop)

Transcription

1 Poetry Mini-Lesson on SUPER Heroes (plus Writer s Workshop) Grade Level: Fourth Duration: Around an Hour 10 min. - Poetry discussion 15 min - Book reading/discussion 10 min in Practice 30 min. Writers Workshop/Sharing Purpose/ Rationale: The purpose of this lesson is to give students practice with the rhetoric of alliteration, metaphor and simile so that they can use it in future writing; have them practice selfawareness, reflection and identify and write about their own super powers (which are really resiliency traits, such as courage, sense of humor, kindness, compassion, etc.). Objectives: Students will be able to 1. Understand that anyone can be a poet. 2. Understand that poems show meaning and emotion. 3. Poets use alliteration, imagery, metaphors and similes. 4. Write on practice sheet. 5. Incorporate literary devices into their Super Hero poem. Materials: * Practice Worksheet * Awakening of Sharyn: A Shy & Brown Super Gyrl book * Super Hero poetry template * Overhead projector * Poetry Notebooks * Pencils Management: At the beginning of the lesson: -I d like to remind all of you fabulous fourth graders what it means to be an active listener: * Eyes on whomever is speaking. * Head up. * Raise your hand to make a comment, contribution, or ask a question. * Be respectful to your classmates, yourselves, and me: raise your hand to speak, and listen when others are talking (you might learn something!) Our goal today is to learn about alliteration, similes and metaphors and to discover each of our super powers

2 Hook: Three Minutes Have students attempt to say, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers! three times fast. Wow! Ladies and Gents, you ve just spoken with alliteration! Go over that alliteration is a device that a writer uses to grab attention, emphasize, and sometimes write tongue twisters. Alliterations repeat one letter of the alphabet as their beginning sound. Hand out worksheet. And remind them that they'll be practicing alliteration and some other literary tricks to make their writing more interesting. What do students need to know in order to begin the lesson? How will you convey this information? *Students need to be able to identify beginning sounds in words. As the class is of fourth graders, the students have had several years of practice identifying beginning sounds. How will students achieve the goal of the activity? 1. Talk about the difference in using poetic language. Have students fill in the blank areas. 2. Put Practice Sheet on the overhead. Work the first example with students together. Then give students 7-10 minutes to work independently on their worksheet. 3. Ask students to listen for alliteration, metaphors and similes and other patterns in the book, The Awakening of Sharyn. Then, read the book. 4. Ask students to identify some literary devices that they heard. 5. Discuss need for Super Heroes and have students decide on their own super power. 6. Use remaining time of Writer s Workshop writing their SUPER HERO poem and INCORPORATING ALLITERATION, METAPHOR and SIMILE into their poem. Wrap-up: Share poems. Poems need to be read and heard. ASK: What did you learn about metaphors, similes and alliteration? Which one is easier? Harder?

3 PRACTICE SHEET Alliteration What happens when the words in a phase or a sentence begin with the same letter and sound. Alliteration makes writing more interesting, and also to write tongue twisters. Here is an example of an alliteration using the word poetry and its beginning p sound. Pretty people write prickly poetry. NOW YOU PRACTICE: Write an alliteration with the first letter of your first name. You may use a dictionary to help you find words. Metaphor When you use two nouns and compare or contrast them to one another. When I write, my pencil is a magic carpet, taking me places. NOW YOU PRACTICE: Simile You use "like" or "as" in the comparison. Poetry is like a treasure hunt, you find so much good stuff inside. NOW YOU PRACTICE:

4 SUPER HERO POEM My super power is I am,, (three adjectives using alliteration) If I could, I would (action) like (simile of that action) People would see me and (action) because With my SUPER power, I am (metaphor) I'm as as can be. (adjective) When I use the SUPER powers within me.

5 SUPER HERO POEM example My super power is courage. I am bold, brave, beautiful. If I could, I would stop all bullying in school like I was a magical eraser, leaving no evidence behind that bullying ever existed. People would see me and ask to shake my hand because my touch would suddenly help them see the SUPER POWER they already have within themselves. With my SUPER power, I am a healing wind who spreads love wherever I go. I'm as special as can be. When I use the SUPER powers within me.

6 Whenever we write, we want readers to really feel and see and hear what you are saying, so one thing poets do is use comparisons to go from blah to wowza." Here are some examples: Ordinary Language The kids kept jumping up to say more ideas. Poetic Language Ideas popcorned around the class. When I get to school early, the classroom is quiet. When I get to school early, the classroom is asleep. The sky is blue. The sky is a blue ocean, with white clouds floating like ships. When I draw, I make pictures of dragons and castles. Castles and dragons live in my pencil. We have fun when we play at recess. The wind makes the classroom door shut loudly. We line up to go down the hall.