Writing a POEM

Hello!

I came across this particular style of poetry writing through one of the lessons in my 2nd grade. It's fun to read and simple to compose.

For this, kids should have some previous knowledge about common nouns and verbs. It's a good idea to revisit them with your class before beginning the lesson. 

Once they are familiarised with the concepts, show them a sample of the poem that they are expected to write and discuss the pattern in it.

 Sample:   

                        

Busy Birds                                                                          

                                                                                         The pattern is:

Birds chirping,                                                     Noun verb,

Birds singing,                                                       Noun verb,

Birds flying, flying, flying.                         Noun verb,verb, verb.

                                                                                               

Birds eating,

Birds drinking,

Birds fluttering, fluttering, fluttering.

Birds brooding,

Birds resting,

Oh look! The sun has set!

Birds sleeping, sleeping sleeping.

Now, to begin with, ask your class to choose a noun and tell them that they will be composing a class poem using the noun they suggest (I always like doing a class poem before individual ones). 

Write the noun in the center of the board and draw a cloud around it. Then, ask them to brainstorm and suggest the verbs that can be used with the noun chosen.

Example:

They should come up with at least 9 verbs if they are required to write a 3-stanza poem.

Once we have the verbs ready, we can start writing our poem. Ask them to place the action words in way that builds a connect between the lines.

 

For example - playing and hiding can go together in one stanza whereas studying, talking and asking in the other. 

Their class poem may look like this:

Children hiding,
Children running,
Children playing, playing, playing.

Children talking,
Children asking,
Children studying, studying, studying.

Children yawning,
Children sleeping,
Here comes the Tooth Fairy!
Children dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.

Ask them to give a title to their poem and finally, have them read it together. 

Suggest a title for the class poem in the comments section if you like the post... :-)