Curricular Areas: English Language Arts and Technology Integration Poetic Writing Acrostic Poem Brief Description: Students will create an acrostic poem that will reflect a creative piece of writing expressing their feelings and imaginative ideas. The poem will be one thought or sentence reflecting ideas around a central topic or theme. Students will use desktop publishing software to complete the assignment. Grade Level: 3 Time Frame: Several Periods
Acrostic Poem Outcomes: Students will be expected to: Subject Outcome Evidence Assessment English Language Arts Information Technology 8.1 use writing and other forms of representation to express feelings and imaginative ideas 8.3 experiment with language choices in imaginative writing and other ways of representing 10.3 demonstrate engagement with the creation of pieces of writing and other representation SEHI 3.5 includes in their own work the copyrighted materials of others only when permission to do so has been received, with teacher or library staff assistance. PTS 3.1 present their learning by selecting media and software appropriate to the content and purpose, with teacher assistance Final Draft of Poem Acrostic Poem draft writing sheet Revising and editing final product Teacher discussion Final Product Student checklist Student checklist (from Write Traits rubric for word Choice) Student checklist Final Product (students must use copyright free Images) Final Product C:ontent Summary: This lesson plan has used Spring as its topic, but the activity could relate to any event or occurrence, such as Easter, Mother s Day, Halloween, Christmas, Summer, Winter, etc. The Reading Writing Connection: o Discuss the concept of acrostic poems as a class. o Read the poems called dreaming and Night Game from page 18 in I Swallowed a Gnat! Poems to munch on. Show the overhead of the poems to the students and ask them to explore how many separate sentences were used and also how many thoughts were present in each poem. o Explain they are going to write an acrostic and will try to use one thought.
Acrostic Poem This style of acrostic can be difficult and students may struggle with it at first; some need help developing the idea of one sentence or thought but the results are well worth it. Concept Development: With the class, brainstorm words starting with each letter. Have the students think of as many words as they can that relate to the topic. The words could be coloured differently for each letter. The class brainstorm could be printed out so that students can have it in front of them while they are writing. It is also helpful if you share some joining words, for each letter (see sample chart). You could create a chart on the board. S P R I N G Some, See Smell People, Put, Pot, Pour Red, Real, Run I, In, Is, It, If No, Now, New, Nice Go, Glad, Give, Get Joining words
Acrostic Poem Independent Writing: Give each student the Rough Draft for Acrostic Poem sheet. Students write the poem title on the sheet with a letter in each box. Start writing the poem. The emphasis needs to be placed on making it one thought or sentence. Student samples are available from the portal and can be shared at this point. This is a rough draft. Students should expect to edit and make all necessary changes before creating their final copy. Some options for presenting these poems are o Print Shop on the card setting to make wonderful cards. S o Kid Pix where they are required to create their own visuals to go along with the program o A word processor, such as Microsoft Word, could be used with copyright free images and clip art. Teacher Discussion: Teachers need to discuss with students the issue of copyright when using images. Tools and Resources: Inspiration Projector Printshop or similar software (Kid Pix, Microsoft Word) Write Traits grade3 rubric for word choice p58 and / or pg59 From the literacy resources given to all grade 3 teachers: I Swallowed a Gnat! Poems to munch on by Monika Kulling o Poetry book (page 18) o Overhead transparency of the poems dreaming Night Game from I Swallowed a Gnat! Poems to munch on
Rough Draft for Acrostic Poem Acrostic Poem for
Student Checklist Acrostic Poem Student Name Student is able to : ELA 8.1 ELA 8.3 ELA 10.3 use expressive language to describe their feelings and imaginative ideas experiment with language choices in imaginative writing and other ways of representing Use Write Traits grade3 rubric for Word Choice p.58 and/or p.59 engage in writing/ representing activities for sustained periods of time work willingly on revising and editing for an audience demonstrate pride and sense of ownership in writing/representing effort