Poetry Round-up: TEACHING IDEA TUESDAY

Last month I created a Parts of Speech Round-up for my sixth graders during which they participated in six different activities (six learning stations) to help them practice the parts of speech. You can read about it HERE. They LOVED it and asked to do it again! Anytime sixth graders beg to do parts of speech you know you've got a hit on your hands.

Keeping the idea of a round-up in mind, I decided to do something similar with poetry since April is entitled Poetry Month (roundups are so adaptable and easy to put together), and I have my annual observation on Tuesday of this week. Guess what day I have the roundup scheduled?

Here's what I have planned:

Activities and Objectives

Poetry Spinner:  Students will select from a choice of three poems, read, and analyze the poem for particular literary elements, among them mood, theme, and figurative language.

Roll the Dice Poem: Students will compose a free verse poem based upon the roll of dice; the total number of dots per roll indicates the number of syllables per line.

Wordsearch:  Students will recognize poetry forms as being rhyming or non-rhyming while solving a wordsearch puzzle.

Bio Poem: Students will complete two graphic organizers which in turn will aid them in composing an autobiographical poem

Holiday or Color Poem: Using an online poetry generator, students will choose one of two formats to complete. They will print out their poem and add color and illustrations to create visual imagery to accompany the verbal imagery.

DaDa: Students will compose a DaDa poem.

This is a paper that provides more detail about each activity or station. Included are CCSS ELA for Sixth Grade, student directions, as well as where the station ideas came from (a shout out goes to Rachel Lynette, Laura Candler, Instant Poetry Forms Online, and the Classroom Game Nook). You can download a copy HERE. 

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAQTlFOEVWbDU5WUE/edit?usp=sharing

Also available for use is a set of learning targets based upon the gr. 6 CCSS ELA. I made these to place near each station. I've always stated lesson objectives prior to instruction, but I'm trying to be more concrete/obvious with these so that students become more aware of their exact role in the learning process. I printed each target as needed (one is used three times) on card stock and folded each paper in half so that it stands like a tent. You can grab a copy of these desk plates HERE.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoASHFqRXg2emdRUDA/edit?usp=sharing

You might also like a copy of the poetry wordsearch that is part of the poetry roundup. You can grab a copy HERE.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAd1UxcVE2NGdNczQ/edit?usp=sharing

I am REALLY looking forward to Tuesday, even though it is Observation Day! I'm also looking forward to a new feature at Teach Junkie: Teaching Idea Tuesday. I thought my Roundup idea would be a good starter for this brand new linky.

BTW... my observation went well!

Happy Teaching,
Angela
The Teacher's Desk 6