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5th Grade - Poetry Unit
Making Words our Brush and Palette
Name______________________
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Unit Breakdown
The poetry unit is broken into four bends
1) Immersion into Poetry
This bend exposes students to a variety of poems and teaches
students a number of different poetic elements
Time: Approx. 5-7 hrs. of instruction time + 3 hrs. of H/W
2) Interpretation of Figurative language
This bend exposes students to a variety of different types of figurative
language. Students learn how to write poetry using figurative language and
interpret the meaning of figurative language.
Time: Approx. 5-7 hrs. of instruction time + 3 hrs. of H/W
3) Interpretation of Poetry
This bend introduces students to the concept of the message behind poems.
It does so in a none threatening way by using popular music laced with
poetry. Students also learn a system for interpreting poetry (P.O.E.T.R.Y.)
Time: Approx. 2 hrs. of instruction time + 1 hr of H/W
4) Reasons for Writing poetry
This bend exposes students to the doors of poetry. It shows students the
reasons we write poetry and its impact on the world.
Time: Approx. 5-7 hrs. of instruction time + 3 hrs. of H/W
Overall – approx. 4 weeks of reading and writing class should be devoted
to this unit. Students will complete their only anthology of poems and
place them into a booklet similar to the examples shown
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Session 1 Defining Poetry & The Poetic Heart
In this first session, students learn that poetry comes from the heart.
1) Begin a discussion around these questions:
 Define the term ‘poetry’
 What makes poetry different from prose?
 What do you like/dislike about poetry?
2) Show students this clip from “Dead Poets Society” –
Understanding Poetry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmayC2AdkNw
Reiterate to students – “The powerful play of life goes on and that they
may contribute a verse – What will their verse be?”
3) Set up your writer’s notebook for your poetry
Set up a page in your Writers’ Notebook for poem ideas
Set up a page in your Notebook for poetic words and phrases
4) Tell students that great poetry comes from the heart and if they are
going to be great poets, they need to be open their hearts
Ideas adapted from Georgia Herd’s Book “Awakening the Heart”
Students are expected to brainstorm around these themes:
• What has really affected your heart?
• What people have been important to you?
• What are some experiences or central events you'll never
forget?
• What happy or sad memories do you have?
• What secrets have you kept in your heart?
• What small things or objects are important to you?
Students are then given a blank template of a heart that
they use to create a collage of pictures, images, notes,
photos, and drawing of their poetic heart
Students can then write a poem once their heart is
completed
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Resource for Session 1
My Poetic Heart
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Session 2 Immersion into Poetry: SEE THNK WONDER
Today, you will get your students to see the beauty of
poetry as well as beginning to list some of the most common
poetic elements
Model first with – 1) the painting 2) the poem – In Flanders Field
a) Reading For Meaning
 What they see, think, wonder as they read the poems
 Memorable words and ideas
 Images that they see in the poems
 Thoughts they have as they read
Show students the youtube interpretation of the poem. (link on powerpoint) How were
their notes similar/different?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e4jqTF6aks
Have your students browse through an assortment of poetry
books that you have checked out from your school library.
As the students read the poems have them write down in
their notebooks ideas from list a) above
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Session 3: Characteristics of Effective Poetry
Ask the students to read in Flanders Field again. This time have them list the poetic
elements they see in the poem
Now ask your students to look for poetic elements in poems they read. They can use
stick notes or write a list in their writers notebooks
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Title/author
Journey
Organization – Beg/middle/End
Word Choice
Stanzas
Balance
3 Rs
Poetic Devices
Punctuation
White Space and line breaks
Rule follower or Rule Breaker?
Share as a class
Conclude by telling students that effective poems contain both elements from yesterday’s
lesson and from today’s Poems always have a purpose and poems are use poetic
elements to make them different from other writing genres
Have your students browse through an assortment of poetry
books that you have checked out from your school library.
As the students read the poems have them write down in
their notebooks ideas from A and B
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Resource for Session 2 + 3
In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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Read the following examples of Metaphor Poems –
write a metaphor poem about your family following
the examples below.
Metaphor for a Family
My family lives inside a medicine chest:
Dad is the super-size band aid, strong and powerful
but not always effective in a crisis.
Mom is the middle-size tweezer,
which picks and pokes and pinches.
David is the single small aspirin on the third shelf,
sometimes ignored.
Muffin, the sheep dog, is a round cotton ball, stained and dirty,
that pops off the shelf and bounces in my way as I open the door.
And I am the wood and glue which hold us all together with my love.
Fifth of July
My family is an expired firecracker
set off by the blowtorch of divorce. We lay
scattered in many directions.
My father is the wick, badly burnt
but still glowing softly.
My mother is the blackened paper fluttering down,
blowing this way and that, unsure where to land.
My sister is the fallen, colorful parachute,
lying in a tangled knot, unable to see the beauty she
holds.
My brother is the fresh, untouched powder that
was protected from the flame. And I,
I am the singed, outside papers, curled away
from everything, silently cursing
the blowtorch.
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Session 4 Word Choice – Kennings Poem
The purpose of doing a session like this so early in a
poetry unit is to push from the onset the importance of
precise word choice.
1) Define the concept: Kennings Poetry
A kenning is a much-compressed form of metaphor, originally used in Anglo-Saxon and
Norse poetry. In a kenning, an object is described in a two-word phrase, such as 'whaleroad' for 'sea'. Some kennings can be more obscure than others, and then grow close to
being a riddle.
2) Model for students the steps of how to create a kennings poem with teacher
i) write the word teacher in the middle of a whiteboard
ii) write all the roles of a teacher
iii) model for students how the content can be switched into Kennings format
e.g. grades papers = paper grader
teaches students = learner facilitator
writes lesson plans = lesson plan creator
Stress the importance of not repeating any vocabulary words and being as descriptive as
possible
Have students select a person or occupation and begin brainstorming ideas about that
describe the person/topic
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Resources: Session 4
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Kennings
Read each of the Kennings Poems below. Guess the topic.
a. _________________
Nose wiper, bottom swiper,
peacemaker, morning waker,
food provider, task collider,
lie detector, nagging heckler.
"No" repeater, morals preacher,
bedroom tidier, taxi driver,
chore finder, chore reminder,
cuddly soother, household hooverer.
Fun wrecker, homework checker,
Manners monitor, always on at ya,
Love radiator, family mediator,
"never too old for hugs" articulator.
Sharon Rodd
b. ______________________
Meter-ruler
After-schooler
Slave of the state
Not your mate
Name-shouter
Homework-touter
Queue-dodger
Resource-blodger
Chief grammarian
Sous librarian
Mark-maker
Register-taker
Parent-meeter
Donut-eater
Language-tinker
Coffee-drinker
Spell-checker
Playtime-wrecker
Whiteboard-writer
c.____________________
Egg layer
Insect betrayer
People scarer
Trap preparer
Silent creeper
Death reaper
Meal storer
Fly adorer
Duster hater
Web creator
Corner hider
Choose a topic that you know a lot about and
create your first kennings poem. Min 16 lines.
You CANNOT repeat any words at all
Session 5: Where do poems hide?
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In this session students will learn that they can find poetry all around them. They are
introduced to the idea that if they look at everyday objects much closer, they can find
poetry.
1) Select an everyday object and have students in tables write detailed descriptions
bullet point descriptions about the object.
2) Have students read poems titled – where do poems hide
(teacher can choose to remove titles of poems and see if they can guess what the poem
is about)
3) Have students turn their notes into poetry about the everyday objects
OR
1) Take students on a tour of the school and get them to try looking at everyday objects
differently.
2) Students take detailed notes of their objects e.g. elevator – water fountain – stairs
3) Have students read poems titled – where do poems hide
4) Have students turn their notes into poetry about the everyday objects
Resources for session 5
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The Pencil Sharpener
I think there are a hundred
bees
inside the pencil sharpener and they buzz
and buzz
until my point
is sharp!
--Zoe Ryder White
safety pin
Closed, it sleeps
On its side
Quietly,
The silver
Image
Of some
Small fish;
Opened, it snaps
Its tail out
Like a thin
Shrimp, and looks
At the sharp
Point with a
Surprised eye.
Session 6 Interpreting Figurative Language
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This bend introduces students to the figurative language bend.
1) Begin the session by showing the brainpop video on Figurative language
http://www.brainpop.com/english/writing/similesandmetaphors/
2) Have students read and discuss the poem ‘ Icicles’ – with respect to figurative language
3) Have students search for figurative language in their poetry books around the classroom.
Have up x4 pieces of large construction paper titled
SIMILE METAPHOR PERSONIFICATION NOT SURE
As students find fig. lang in their poems, they go and write them on the large construction paper.
Students can also write what they think the language means.
4) Divide the class into four ability groups. Give each group a piece of chart paper. Have the groups
discuss the chart paper entries and change as needed.
5) Have groups share findings to the class e.g. good/bad entries
H/W IMPORTANT
Each night this week, students should be given as h/w the poem – Invictus
Night 1
What does this poem make you feel?
Listen to the sounds and the meaning of the words, what words stand out to you?
Does the poem remind you of anything in your own life?
What pictures do you see in your mind?
Night 2
Draw or paint a picture of the images of the poem in your mind. You can illustrate the poem on a
single sheet of paper.
Night 3
Home Learning Tonight: for tomorrow, bring in a letter, a photograph, an object, another poem, a
book, a song, or anything that will help you connect to the poem.
Night 4
Write a call and response poem for this; in other words, a poem for two voices.
It is important that students do not see tasks for subsequent nights until the night.
End the week by showing the students this video from the movie INVICTUS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FozhZHuAcCs
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Tell students that Timmy McVey used this poem as motivation for bombing the Oklahoma buidling
Message – ‘Poetry is what you get out of it’
Session 6 – H/W Material
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
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Session 6 Resources
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Session 7: Personification Walk
A) Tell Students
We are going on a walk – to the lobby. Write down
five things you notice – (i.e. the clouds, sky, leaves,
grass, wind, and so on).
Choose one and make a list of at least five ways
your subject seems human or animal-like.
Example: Trees = Giant hands reaching towards
the sky.
B) Share the poem -The Beach – with the class
C) When students return to the class, have them
work in small groups and combine their
observations work into a poem.
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Session 7 Resources
The Beach
On my first trip to the beach
The sea refused to cooperate.
It kept curling and whirling
bobbing and weaving
clearing its throat
whenever a wave drew back.
It kept moving and grooving
shucking and jiving
dishing and dancing
razzling and dazzling
wouldn’t keep still even
long enough to shake hands.
Session 8 Spinning Similes
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This lesson is the first of two that really helps students develop their understanding of figurative
language
Show this quick 30 sec youtube clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg9zNhGiZIk
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSet1j_fFCY
Tell students that the spinning similes technique makes that you find more than one simile to describe
the topic using the same nouns
e.g. He traveled a fast as a horse
As swift as an eagle
Like a bullet
Cruising through the sky
Have students identify the similes in the stanza and make sure they see how they all relate back to how
fast the man travelled.
Give students a choice of similes to spin from the list on the powerpoint in groups
Session 9 Extended Metaphor
Tell students that metaphors are often ‘carried’ through a piece of writing or poetry.
1) Share the poems with students that show an extended metaphor
2) Walk the students through the powerpoint slide on how to create an extended metaphor
i) Begin with a metaphor – Her voice was a river
ii) show students the list of words that are associated with voice and then with river (on ppoint)
iii) Show students how to match up words from both categories (on ppoint)
3) Show the students the finished poem
Next powerpoint slide
Tell students to select one metaphor from the list and work in pairs to create an extended metaphor.
Remind students to identify the two key noouns in the metaphor first and brainstorm categories around
those nouns
IMPORTANT – Tell your students to bring in a piece of fruit for the next lesson
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Session 10: Inside/Outside Poem
This is a fabulous idea for a lesson that students really enjoy. It involves describing a piece of fruit
using figurative language (on the outside first) – then cutting it in half and describing it on the inside.
Directions (The power point slides take the students through the poem one step at a time. It is
important that they only do one line at a time using the categories given on the power point.
Knowing Yourself
An Outside/Inside Poem
Outside.
Write a line of poetry that describes the following aspects of your fruit.
e.g. Color It is red orange and green NO! It is the shades of fall day YES
Color
Texture
Scent
Size
Shape
Inside
Now do the same for the inside of your fruit. (Cut it in half)
Color
Texture
Scent
Size
Shape
Taste
Do necessary changes to each line and write a title for your poem
H/W Task
Write an inside/outside poem that contrasts how others see you (outside) to how you see yourself
(inside). You the same format practiced above. – or use a different format if you choose
You will have to come up with your own categories (Minimum x6 categories)
e.g. Appearance
Personality etc
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Session 11 – Interpretation of Poetry
In this bend students are introduced to a song (it is presented as a poem first)
1) Have students select their favorite line of the poem (song) ask them why.
2) Walk them through the powerpoint slide directions – Each time telling them to look at the poem in
this way.
3) Tell students that the directions are actually a mnemonic P.O.E.T.R.Y and that this is what they
should use when responding to a poem.
4) Show students this video of the song (WARNING – this song deals with the topic of losing a parent)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWjtz4V87Vo
5) Tell students that great music contains poetry. Their h/w task is to choose a song (tell them they
MUST work with their parents on this) and write an interpretation of the song. Students should present
their songs to the class. Advice is to spread this out over a number of future lessons.
See examples of work form other students
http://www.screenr.com/HKis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6UVhZTTWb0
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Session 11 Resources
Session 11 Resources
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The Living Years
Every generationBlames the one before
And all of their frustrations. Come beating on your door
I know that Im a prisoner. To all my father held so dear
I know that Im a hostage. To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Crumpled bits of paper. Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations. I’ m afraid thats all weve got
You say you just dont see it. He says its perfect sense
You just cant get agreement. In this present tense
We all talk a different language. Talking in defence
Say it loud, say it clear.
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we dont see eye to eye
So we open up a quarrel. Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future.Its the bitterness that lasts
So dont yield to the fortunes. You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective.On a different day
And if you dont give up, and dont give in
You may just be o.k.
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
Its too late when we die
To admit we dont see eye to eye
I wasnt there that morning
When my father left that day
I didnt get to tell him. All the things I had to say
I think I caught his spirit. Later that same year
Im sure I heard his echo. In my babys new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
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Session 12 and 13
These sessions teachers can do multiple poems or give students
choices to choose one/two of the doors to write about.
Walk students through the concept that there are doors of poetry. If
look inside these doors, we can truly pull out our best poems
we
Share with students poems from the different doors. Have students select a poem or two from different
doors to write about.
Below are two wonderful options for the doors
OPTION 1Memories Door – Students could write a narrative poem about a world event. (see example
from below) Model for students how to change prose into poetry using the Anne Frank text.
Left Side - Prose
Right side – Prose turned into poetic ideas
Have students read the poems titled –Narrative Poetry below. Can they guess the world event?
Have student write a narrative poem about a world event they know well.
Tell students that they will have to perform the poem using hand motions to the class.
OPTION 2 Concerns about the world poetry
Tell students that slam poets show their concerns about the world using this technique. Show these
examples
What do teachers Make
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuBmSbiVXo0
Have students write a slam on a world topic that makes them really angry
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Session 12 Resources
Narrative Performance Poetry 5th
Can you identify the historical events that these poems describe?
1.
Night twinkling over
Boiling men dressed in scars
Marching like soldiers
All ready to strike
Wooden oars hitting water
Piercing Tomahawks about to slaughter
Tax being tipped
King Henry can’t bear
Scolding of tea splashing water
Roaring of tax haters
Cool air, brushes by
Everyone replies a chattering cry
Next morning tea floats
So they ride out on boats
Hitting the beverage
There’s now no float age
Taxes have sunken
Event___________
2.
Like a takeoff launched the “Roaring
Twenties”
Finding a bad deal like looking for pennies
This time stocks flew
Buying a stock like something new
Trouble as heavy as rocks
Using credit like flying into fire
Because soon the cost would be dire
In the clouds sat faith in stocks
Before long trouble as heavy as rocks
Stores’ doors became shut
Conditions now like a shabby hut
Stocks must switch hands
Worry and fear like noisy bands
Trouble as heavy as rocks
Mt. St. Helens as horrible as the crash
Wall Street came down like Pompeii’s ash
Great Depression began here
Soon normal life would disappear
Trouble as heavy as rocks
Event__________
Event___________
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Session 14 Celebration: Cookies and Cream Poetry Party or Poetry Café
It is important that the unit is closed in a celebratory fashion. Students should be encouraged to
memorize at least two of their poems. Some teachers use the poetry café format. My personal choice is
for a ‘dinner party’ type set up where students eat ice-cream and cookies and read their poems.
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