1. Students will be re-introduced to poetry and related vocabulary.

2. Students will learn the basic fundamentals of three types of poems. Free verse, haiku, and couplet.

3. Students will write one poem of their choice.

4. Students will learn how the sailors felt at sea.

1. Student poems and songs.

2. American Sea Songs and Chanteys by Edward Wilson, Freeport, NY, Books for Libraries Press, 1969

3. Other poetry books like Sing a Song of Popcorn, New York, Scholastic, Inc' 1988.

4. Teacher written poems and song with words typed.(copies for students)

5. Poetry on the internet.

http://www.ilhawaii.net/~premaq/poet-rdc2.html

http://www.poetryx.guinet.com/1995/1995_11/week_2/pxp00588.htm

http://www.icu.com/oggle_omics/Poems.html

http://wasatch.uoregon.edu/~adam/poetry/the_eye.html

This lesson will require about 2-3 hours. This will depend on depth of discussion and knowledge of students.

Introduction: Use music to introduce poetry. Then students will focus on life at sea to understand why the sea chants and songs were written.

Step 1 Have each student bring in their favorite song and a poem of their choice.

Step 2 Play a popular song the teacher has selected with the words typed to hand out to the class. Ask why they liked or didn't like the song. Tell why you like it.

Step 3 Play some of the songs brought in by the students and ask why they like them and why they don't. Discuss the words, how they are written in stanzas or phrases, the verses and the refrain being similar to a poem that has lines repeating. (Hand out the words to the teacher selected song.) Why do people write songs? (They write about feelings and emotions, things that they feel strongly about, activities that are going on in their lives, etc.) How is poetry similar to songs - Lead into poetry discussion.

Step 4 Ask students what they know about poetry from past classes. List the ideas and vocabulary on the board. Ask what kind of poems they have heard or learned about. (The names of poems such as a sonnet, a ballad, a couplet, free verse, etc.) Introduce the three types to be discussed further.

Step 5 The free verse - the rules of fundamentals of free verse. (It does not have to rhyme, it has no meter, or set pattern.) Couplet - (It rhymes at the end of each line. The lines are in stanzas of 2 lines each. ) A haiku or another type of fun poem. Tell about each type.

Step 6 Discuss words related to poetry such as rhyming7 meter, onomatopoeia, alliterations, etc.

Step 7 Students will get into pairs and read to the other student the poems they have brought to class. They will discuss the type of poem and what concepts the poem contains. (For example meter or rhyme (where is it at the beginning, end of words).

Step 8 Using the book listed above or any other book on sea chants or poem about the sea or ships (some included) choose a poem. Have; a copy for each student. (You could use a number of different poems.) Pass out the poem and ask the students to read it to themselves. Then read the poem using emotion and expression. Ask what type of poem it is?

Step 10 The teacher will help the students visualize a situation where they would be isolated from their friends and family (long trip, going away to camp, moving to a new town, etc.). This should help the students experience similar feelings to that of a sailor at sea. Have each student write how they feel after you have painted this picture in their minds. (Write in journal.)

Step 11 Discuss how they feel, brainstorm on the board. What would you do if you felt this way? Would you sing or write or talk to yourself? What would you sing about? Students discuss what the poem is talking about, how the sailor felt, why he would have written or sung this while on a ship.

Step 12 The students will then write a poem of their own. The poem can be any of the three types of poems talked about today. The poem be about anything they want it to be about. The poem be as long or as short as they want it to be. It is their poem. Allow time to get started in class.

Step 13 The poems will be due at the end of the week. Time will be allowed to work in more in class during free time. Some students may want to read to the class.

1. Students will write a journal entry today. (Criteria for success = see journal rubric.)

2. Each student will write a poem. (Criteria for success = The poem is true to the criteria for that style, no spelling errors, and it is original

1. Language Arts - poetry study.

2. Social studies - Learn about poems from other cultures, like a haiku.

3. Music - Learning about different types of music.

4. Math - Patterns.

1. Students could write and learn about many other forms of poetry.

2. Students could learn more about the cultures from the different forms of poems.

Previous Lesson

Next Lesson

Back to Outline

Back to Main Page