Writing Poems

Welcome Back!
Reading/Writing Read the following poem to or with your students, then invite them to write a poem about all of the things they did this summer.

Skipper

by Heidi Roemer

Skipper excels
in many a sport;
he skis and he skates,
he is skilled on the court.

Sometimes he discos
or shoots skeet with friends.
He plays soccer and hockey
for days without end.
He loves to go snorkeling;
he sails a skiff.
He skin dives and sky jumps
and climbs frozen cliffs,

Summer is over
and Skipper's no fool.
He's completely exhausted –
he can't wait for school.

Writing Poetry Like Pros
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to name classic and contemporary American poets and at least one poem by each. They will also be able to explain one poetry idea at work in a classic or contemporary poem and in their own poems.

Poetry Slam, PowerPoint Style
Students select poems, create PowerPoint presentations that use graphics and text to enhance those poems, and then display their presentations as they read their poems aloud.

Astronomy Poetry: Combining Poetry With the Content Areas
In this lesson, students listen to and discuss poetry that pertains to the study of astronomy and write their own poems to enhance their learning of the subject. As a final project, students use the ReadWriteThink Printing Press to compose original poetry books about astronomy. Although this lesson uses astronomy as a model, it can be modified for any content area topic.