Poetry+Lesson

Kelly Nolan Poetry Lesson November 2011

Grade: 5 Time: 40 minutes Standard: Reading Standards for Literature: Key Ideas and Details – 2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

Materials: Shel Silverstein’s //Who// on sentence strips, 11 copies of Shel Silverstein’s //Sick// cut into strips with four lines each, 22 copies of Shel Silverstein’s //Sick// in full version, 11 plastic bags, magnets, magnetic board

Objective: Students will understand that changing the order of the lines (or stanzas) in a poem does not change its meaning.

Lesson Sequence:


 * 1) Anticipatory Set – “Boys and girls, today we are going to talk about some poems by my favorite author Shel Silverstein. When I was in school I read all of his poetry books. I think one of the reasons I loved his poems so much is because I could always relate to their meanings. Have any of you ever read any of his poems? If so did you like them?”
 * 2) State Objective and Purpose – “There are some poems that Sileverstein wrote, that are really cool because you can change the order of the lines or stanzas and the poem will mean the same thing. Today I am going to show you an example of this and then you will have the opportunity to try it with a partner.”
 * 3) Teach and Model – “Can anyone tell me what a stanza is? A stanza is like a paragraph in a poem. Usually a stanza has its own particular pattern of rhyme. You can usually tell a stanza because it is separated by a space, just like in a book a new paragraph is indented. The poems we are working with today do not have separate stanzas, so we can move just the lines around to create a totally new poem that still has the same meaning as the original. On the board I have a Shel Silverstein poem titled //Who//. It is already out of the order that it was originally written in. I am going to read it out loud while you read it silently and then we are going to talk about the meaning. (I read the poem //Who// out loud.) Who can tell me what they think this poem is about? What does it mean?”Now I want one of you to raise your hand and tell me a different way to order the lines and we will read it again. If two or more lines are the same color it means they go together. (Student will tell me how to re-arrange the lines, I will change them and then read the new version out loud) Did the meaning change from the last time? Who wants me to put it back to the way Shel Silverstein wrote it. (I will then re-order the lines so that they are in the sequence in which they were originally written.) Let’s read it one more time. Did the meaning change? What does this tell you?”
 * 4) Guided Practice/Independent Practice – “Now that you know it does not matter what order the lines are in, I have a poem for you already cut into sets of lines. This poem was also written by Shel Silverstein. You will be working with the person sitting next to you to put the lines in whatever order you wish. I will give you 10 minutes to do this then you can share your poem if you wish and we will discuss them. When you are putting together your poems also think about what lines you might like to add or delete from the poem. Also, try to come up with a title for your poem.” (I will have the paper passers come to the front and give every pair a bag with the precut strips. Students will then be given time to work on the poems while I circulate and talk to them about the poems they are creating.) “Boys and girls, your ten minutes are up, put the finishing touches on your poems and then look up here when you are ready. Do I have everyone’s eyes? Good. Does anyone want to share their whole poem, or maybe even just a few parts? Be sure to tell me what you decided to call it.” (Students will share their poems. After each group shares I will ask them if there were any lines they would like to add or delete and why.) “So what was the theme, or the meaning, of this poem? Did that change depending on what order the lines were in? I am now going to hand out a copy of the original poem so that you can compare yours to the one Shel Silvertein wrote. He called his //Sick//.” (I will have the paper passers pass out the poem.) “I will read it aloud while you read silently. Now look at you poem and the original. What was the same and what was different? Are there any groups that would like to share? Which version do you like better, his or yours?”
 * 5) Closure – “So what did we learn today? When we changed the order of the lines in the poem did the meaning change? How do you think that this might help you when you are writing poetry?”
 * 6) Assessment – I will know students are successful if they are able to tell me that changing the structure of these poems does not change the meaning.