Poetry can sometimes be left out of a child’s reading experience in Elementry School because a lot of people feel intimidated by it. In addition to the stories and chapter books that one already reads to the class, one should also read poems and introduce the students to a different perspective. This can begin simply with nursery rhymes and short, humorous poems that tickle the funny bone and engage the students. While teaching the different writing stategies and processes the activity below can be used as an early introduction to writing poetry in a simple format using adjectives to describe a piece of fruit or vegetable.
Objectives:
- To practice working with adjectives
- To write individual poems using descriptive words
- To isolate the five senses and think about them individually
Materials:
- A variety of fruit or vegetables such as lemons, celery, grapes, carrots, apples, potatoes, etc. - remembering to check for allergies in the class
- Writing paper
- Drawing paper
- Markers / colouring pencils / crayons
- Writing pencils
Introductory Activity:Have a class discussion about the five senses (touch, taste, sight, sound and smell). This activity could be part of an ongoing class unit, so this would act as a quick review. Talk about some examples of descriptive words (adjectives) to do with those senses - create a word list on the board of the adjectives suggested by the class. Encourage the students to think about the best choice of words that describe their fruit or vegetable to someone who is possibly unfamiliar with it.
Activity:
Have the students think about and write descriptive words (adjectives) that describe their specific piece of fruit or vegetable that they have chosen. Have them answer questions such as:
- What does it look like?
- Close your eyes and describe how it feels.
- What does it sound like when you take a bite?
- What does it taste like?
Have the students write their adjectives into the poem format where:
- Line 1 is one word describing how it looks
- Line 2 is one word describing how it feels to the touch
- Line 3 is one word describing the sound when they take a bite
- Line 4 is one word describing how it tastes
- Line 5 is one sentence describing how it leaves the mouth feeling
Example:
Apple
Round
Smooth
Crunchy
Juicy
It makes my tongue tingle
To Finish and Display:
Have the students draw the shape (quite large) of their piece of fruit or vegetable on plain paper and colour it in or decorate it. They can then write out a good copy of their poem onto a piece of paper and attach it to their paper fruit or vegetable for a bright, visual presentation that can be displaying in the classroom. It always gives students a great sense of pride to see their work displayed for others to admire.
Teacher Assesment:
- Can the students identify an adjective?
- Can the students give examples of adjectives?
- Can the students identify the five senses?
- Was the activity age-appropriate?
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