Maggie’s
Activity Pack
Name __________________________
Date ___________________________
Descriptive and Unusual:
Writing Acrostic Poems
I wanted to write a poem
about my good friend,
Maggie. Take a look at
what I came up with…
Many adventures
Aviator extraordinaire
Globe trekker
Gathers friends
Inquisitive detective
Earthly care
Kuma’s poem is called an
acrostic poem. You might think these
poems are easy to write, but if you
want to come up with a meaningful
poem, you really need to think about
descriptive words. Kuma wrote
Maggie’s name vertically. Then he
had to think about words or phrases
that told about her characteristics. He
wanted to highlight Maggie’s ability to
bring people together from all parts of
the world to solve environmental
problems. You see that he wanted to
be consistent and use two words for
each letter. Sometimes poets use
only one word for each letter. For
other poems they might write an
entire sentence for each letter. The best acrostic poets decide whether they should use one
word, phrase, or entire sentences throughout the poem. Take a look at the poem below.
Tell why this is not an example of a good acrostic poem.
Dog who is curious
This poem about me isn’t a
Uses his good nose to hunt for clues
good example of an
acrostic poem because
Digs
Explores
______________________
______________________
______________________
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2008. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
Here is an acrostic poem that uses sentences for each letter. You will see that you can change
your sentence around to help you begin the line with the needed letter. This acrostic poem
celebrates poetry month, April. You will see that all of the lines are about poetry. They do not
describe another topic like April rain or April flowers.
Always remember this is a fantastic month for poetry.
Poets write many different kinds of poems.
Readers see descriptions and word pictures in poems.
Ideas help readers understand the world.
Look around and then describe what you see for a great acrostic poem!
Now it’s time for you to choose a topic for your acrostic poem. Here’s a clue…don’t choose a
word like zebra or xylophone. You may have a difficult time finding good descriptive words for
the letters z and x.
What is your topic? ___________________________________________________________
Will you write one word, a phrase, or a sentence for each letter? ________________________
Now write your word in vertical form in the box. Then write your poem.
It’s always fun to write your poem on nice paper. Try writing the first letters with fancy script.
Draw a picture to go with your acrostic poem.
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2008. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.
Dear Colleague,
There are so many fun types of poems. Perhaps you’re like me and want your
elementary children to explore poetry but you struggle with this. I find giving children a format
to follow usually results in better poems than merely sending students “out on their own” with
the assignment to write poetry. Acrostic poems have the added benefit of allowing for word
play. You can use poetry forms such as this to add to a vocabulary lesson, too. See if children
can use a thesaurus or dictionary to come up with good synonyms for the words in your
vocabulary lesson, even those “hard” words in a science or social studies unit. If each student
takes a different word, writes an acrostic poem for it and draws a picture, you can create a
display and have children share ideas. Then you have a more valuable lesson than merely
asking children to “use each word in a sentence.” Even my middle-schoolers had difficulty
when I used to require such writing. I find that if students don’t know the word and need to
have it on a vocabulary list, then they will most likely have extreme difficulty using it correctly in
a sentence. I have seen some awful sentences with words used in awkward ways. We are only
reinforcing poor vocabulary when we give such assignments. So…why not use poetry as a
vocabulary builder?
To extend this lesson into technology – aw, poetry and technology…what a pair☺ !
Have children create a template in Word for their acrostic poems. If you use KidPix, this is a
perfect program for the creation of a beautiful piece of “techy” artwork.
Want to narrow the assignment even further? Ask your class to write an acrostic poem
about their favorite Maggie character or cartoon. Send us your finished products (First names
only!) and we will highlight them in future activities!
Happy teaching,
Kathy
Goals:
Examples of an acrostic poem are given. Students read step-by-step directions for creating
their own poem along with tips for poetry success. The Dear Colleague letter contains ideas for
using acrostic poetry as a vocabulary builder. This activity is available on the primary and
intermediate levels and correlates with the IRA/NCTE Standard, “Students employ a wide
range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to
communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.”
© Maggie's Earth Adventures, LLC 2008. Teachers may reproduce for classroom use.