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Students wrote poems inspired
after reading the book In My
Mother's House by Ann Nolan
Clark. This is collection of
poems written by Native American
children.
Preparation to
writing:
1. Students read or
heard the poem from the book
which corn and its growth
through the seasons and
harvest. This was compared to
their own area and the fruit
trees and vineyards that
abound in the area, and they
see daily. The task was to
show the beauty and seasons of
the area through describing
the various stages of the
fruit.
Writing Process:
2. Students
brainstorm descriptive words
to describe the both the
orchards and vineyards. These
were placed in a pocket chart
and on the board. The task
then was to go through all the
seasons (starting and ending
with winter) without using
those words-paint the seasons
with words. Younger students
were encouraged to go through
the springtime bloom. Photos
of the orchards were used to
motivate writing and
illustrations, some students
walked out into an orchard and
gathered some fallen fruit as
a prompt.
3. Write rough drafts and
then peer edit or edit with
the teacher. Read together and
encourage further expression
of stanzas in poem. Share
poems with each other. This
was most students third poem.
Except for spelling, they
needed far less assistance and
many wrote several pages of
rough draft.
Extended Activity:
4. Many of the
students also did original
pastels for their poems. They
looked at photos. Most did
completely original designs.
First they sketched in pencil.
Then they traced in black ink
and erased the pencil marks.
Then pastels or watercolors
are added to complete the
drawings.
Display Work:
5. Poems were all put
on display in room. The
illustrations and text were
also placed in a book as
samples of some of the best
work of the year. Their
original illustrations were
laminated and sent home
(suitable for framing).
Evaluation of
Lesson:
This lesson was successful
with a variety of students of
different grade levels. To use it
with kindergarten students
language experience techniques
work well. Primary students can
easily create original poems with
a little brainstorming and
webbing prior to beginning.
Rough drafts were written on
paper and then the poems were
typed and read. Students
sometimes added and made
modifications when the poems were
typed.
All of the students were very
pleased with their poems. All
took a printed copy home with
great pride and read and shared
them with other classes and
students.
A highlight of the unit was
that one student's poem was
selected as the Best Free Verse
for grades 4-5 in the district's
Creative Writing Festival. He
received a plaque and read his
poem at the high schoolduring the
presentation of the awards. What
an affirmation this was to all of
the students to strive for
excellence in writing.
Cheryl Vitali
Classroom Connect's Internet
Teacher of the Year 2000
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