Language Arts Poetry Lesson Plan – Grade 6
Stephanie Knutson
Lesson Theme:
Descriptive Poetry –centered around the poem, Daffodils by William Wordsworth
Lesson Length:
1 or 2 language blocks (80 + minutes or whatever time is necessary for the class to complete their
poems.) The class will have other pieces to finish or work on when they complete their poem.
Curriculum Expectations:
Oral Communication
 Demonstrate an understanding of appropriate listening behaviour by using active listening
strategies in order to contribute meaningfully and work constructively in groups
 Distinguish between stated and implied ideas in oral texts
 Extend understanding of oral texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and
experience, to other familiar texts, including print and visual texts and to the world around them
 Analyse oral texts in order to evaluate how well the communicate ideas, opinions, themes and
information
Reading
 Demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex texts by summarizing and explaining
important ideas and citing relevant supporting details
 Develop interpretations about texts using stated and implied ideas from the texts to support
their interpretations
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Writing
 Generate ideas about a potential topic and identify those most appropriate for the purpose
 Identify elements in their writing that need improvement, selectively using feedback from the
teacher and peers with a focus on supporting details and precise language
 Make revisions to improve the content, clarity and interest of their written work using a variety
of strategies
 Produce revised draft pieces of writing to meet identified criteria based on the expectations
 Proofread and correct their writing using guidelines developed with peers and the teacher
 Using a range of appropriate elements of effective presentation in the finished product
including print, script, different fonts, graphics and layout
 Produce pieces of published work to meet identified criteria based on the expectations
Cross-Curricular Links:
Art: Students could satisfy a series of visual art expectations (too many to list!) by creating a picture
to supplement their poem by hand or using technology.
Core Lesson
 The teacher will read Daffodils to the class. Then, the class will read the poem several more
times, once in a whisper, once in a loud voice, once in a nasal voice, once in a yawn.
 After reading the poem, each tribe will be given a slip of paper with a sense on it: taste, touch,
smell, sight or sound. In their tribes, they will have a few minutes to come up with an example
of their sense with specific evidence from the poem. If they cannot provide specific evidence,
they need to be able to justify why their sense works. For example:
Taste: He tastes the sweet air of spring or the salt of the water in the bay. (Because that’s
when daffodils bloom and that’s where he is)
Touch: He feels the wind in his hair from the breeze. (line 6)
Smell: He smells the dampness in the air from the water in the lake.
Sight: He sees many, many daffodils, brightly coloured yellow and the sparkle of the lake.
Sound: He hears the rustling of the leaves of the flowers and the silence of solitude.
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After they share their responses, the class will be challenged to come up with a guess as to
which season this poem is talking about (spring). The class will decide why or why not this
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poem was effective in communicating that it was about spring.
The class will then brain storm (teacher as a scribe) some other things that you could sense
about spring that are NOT in the poem.
In their tribes, the students will be given one of the three remaining seasons. Their job is to
brain storm (using words or pictures), on large chart paper, some things that you could
associate with any of the senses about the other seasons (winter, fall, summer) describing
words, or phrases.
When they have compiled a list (approx. 5 mins), they will put up their chart papers around the
room and share what they wrote.
The teacher will introduce their learning task – to create a poem about the senses. The
student is to choose a season – spring, summer, winter or fall- and write a poem in either a
rhyming or non rhyming form. They must describe all of the things that they sense without
mentioning the actual season. The students can write sentences, stanzas, lines – whatever
they like - and in any order they like BUT they must mention each of the 5 senses.
When they have a poem that they are happy with, they can edit their own work.
When they have edited their work, they can move to the “peer editing” table where the students
will work together to make the poem clear and effective in communicating which season it’s
about.
Once they have peer edited, they can conference with the teacher, if they haven’t already had
a conference (the teacher should be circulating, making notes and checking in with the
students as they go through the writing process).
Finally, they can “publish” their work as a final copy – if there is time, on a computer or using
other creative means (ie: calligraphy etc)
Skills Focus
Social Skills:
 Working as a group (tribe) - teamwork
 Taking turns
 Active listening
Learning Skills:
 Working independently
 Making inferences, interpreting text
 Using descriptive language
Culminating Task:
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When a large portion of the class is finished, the students will be invited to share their poem in
a poetry circle, and the class can guess what season they are describing. (Always with the
right to pass!)
Assessment Tools and Strategies:
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Throughout the lesson, the teacher should be circulating, taking notes and checking in with the
students as they go through the writing process.
The teacher could use a “bulls-eye” tracking sheet to track a specific behaviour – such as
working well with others, sharing the floor, contributing, on task etc.
The teacher should also be making anecdotal notes
A poetry rubric or a holistic rubric would be used at the end of the assignment to grade the
poem, if it is chosen by the child to be included in their graded work. ( I too would allow them to
choose their best pieces to be graded if they have enough)
Lesson Checkpoints & Feedback:
 Throughout the writing process, the teacher would check in with the student to ensure that they
are on the right track.
 Feedback would be provided during the check in sessions, but would also be provided by their
peers during the peer editing phase as well as written and oral feedback once the poem had
been read/marked.
Key Concepts & Skills
Reading
Instructional Approaches:
 Choral reading
 Active Listening
Thinking Skills:
 Making inferences
Accommodations/Modifications:
 Because the initial reading of the poem is choral, the student can participate as much as they
feel comfortable – even if that’s just the beginning sounds of each of the words
 To ensure understanding, allow the child to work with a partner
Writing
Instructional Approaches:
 Writing process
Accommodations/Modifications:
 Prepare pictures of each of the seasons to assist with understanding
 Allow students to use a picture for inspiration while creating their poem
 If they struggle to write anything, allow them to follow a template where they can fill in the
blanks (ie: I taste… I smell…. I touch…I hear… I see…)
 If the student finishes quickly, they could publish on a computer using graphics, or add a
picture they create either by hand, or using technology as a supplement
Oral Communication
Instructional Approaches:
 Poetry Circle
Accommodations/Modifications:
 Allow the child to pass if they aren’t comfortable reading their poem in front of the class but
encourage them to read one on one with either another student, the teacher or both.
Daffodils
by William Wordsworth.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed - and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.