Spring is poetry time! I like to use this time of year to do a poetry unit with my 6th graders (read about that here). That unit focuses on figurative language with more of a reading focus. Once done with that unit, we do a bit of writing then a figurative language escape room and segway into a fun tech-free activity.
Read about it here!
Spring Things!
Pre-Planning
Students receive a Google Form and they choose a specific "spring thing" to focus on. I do not show them the images I will provide them...I like it to be more of a surprise! So, they look at all the options and have to determine what thing they could possibly write about.
In this survey, they also choose a specific type of figurative language to use for their poem. I tell them that they can certainly mix it up, but they will ultimately need to narrow it down to one.
Once they fill out this form, I tally everything up and start preparing the papers they will need.
Brainstorming
Each student gets a specific planning page based on their survey. They plan a poem based on the specific figurative language that they chose. The goal here is to really narrow down on that figurative language and to think critically about their "thing"
Drafting
Pretty basic...they flip over their planning page and draft on the back. I give it a look before they are allowed to move on to their next step.
I encourage them to to 3+ stanzas. Prior to this, we talk about rhyme, rhythem, repetition; all the good poetry stuff.
Finalizing
This is the fun part! Students then obtain their "spring thing". They write their poem on their thing, coloring and decorating it. It is then put up on a bulletin board to look nice!
Digital Version
If you are digital, you can certainly do this on the computers as well, as I have a digital version. Basically, students do all the same as above, except their brainstorming is done on Google Slides. They can then add everything to Seesaw to color and decorate. Lastly, you can put their final drafts on Padlet. This is how I handled it during Covid.
Bottom Line
Students have a love/hate relationship with poetry. Allowing students the option to pick what they want to focus on for writing their own poetry allows students to have more freedom and work within their abilities.
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