In November… FREEBIES!
This last week of November, I am going to start something new in writing – we are going to work on poetry! To lay a foundation for the kinds of language kids need to be using for poetry, we are going to read In November by Cynthia Rylant.
I have the text typed up and I’m going to give a copy of the text to each kid. I don’t want them to see the pictures yet. Then we’re going to sort some of the lines of imagery from the book onto this chart.
After that, we’re going to illustrate a class book. Each kid will get one page to illustrate using the details from the text and we’ll compile them into a book! This is what some of our pages look like so far.
 |
| LOL Love the scarf. |
 |
| This bear cracks me up. |
 |
| This text prompted a LOOOONG conversation about the meaning of the word ‘beneath’. |
Next, I want to start working on using the kinds of language we found in In November to help us create some of our own beautiful language. I’m going to divide the class into teams and give each team a picture of a December-like scene. They’re going to record the details they can observe with their five senses on this chart.
Then we’re going to practice using the details to write some beautiful lines, using language like Rylant does in In November.
This is all just prewriting to get the kids thinking about the kinds of language and details they’ll include in their poem.
Once we’ve practiced writing beautiful lines, we’re going to plan out our poems using this graphic organizer (based on the main ideas from In November, but simplified).
Then, after we revise, and edit, we will publish on some pretty paper.
I want to do some kind of cute project-y thing with it. I need some ideas! 🙂
ALSO! I heart teaching elementary is having a great giveaway of the book Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching. Visit here to enter!
*Fonts from dafont.com, clipart from Scrappindoodles.
Hey Chrissypoo! That is so cute! I like that the imagery chart covers the five senses. We're focusing on poetry too. There are so many different literary elements to remember for poetry! At least imagery is one they usually understand pretty quickly. Do you have any resources or ideas for personification? We've already covered this but they have a hard time identifying examples on their own, especially when it comes to complex poems with unfamiliar vocabulary.