Your Turn Lesson: A List Poem Focusing on Senses
This YT lesson is based on the poem "Song" from Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater. (2014, Clarion Books).
Hook: Read “Song” from Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. With your students, talk about the poet organized her poem. The first stanza is an introduction; the second is a listing of sounds, or actions that suggest sounds (Squirrels chase.) The last line is the title of the book, and offers a scaffold that can be imitated. Discuss how the poet used specific and rich vocabulary. A good companion text to use with this poem is The Listening Walk by Paul Showers.
Purpose: Writers, today I will show you how you can use sounds to write a list poem just like Amy Ludwig VanDerwater did.
Brainstorm: List places at school or at home where students could collect sounds. This list might include the playground, the cafeteria, the bus, walking home, backyard, downtown, a park, the soccer field, a Laundromat, etc. Choose a location that lends itself to taking a listening walk with your class. If you can’t go somewhere, use the classroom. List as many ideas as you can following the examples in “Song.” For example, a listening walk on the playground might result in ideas such as children yell, kids squeal, cars honk, birds chirp, leaves rustle, swings creak, balls bounce, etc. Don’t worry about rhyming unless it comes naturally.
Model: Using the ideas generated, begin a poem using “Song” as a scaffold – start with a general description and then list some of the things heard. Borrow a version of the last line as an ending. Here’s an example:
Outside at recess
I hear
Fun and laughter
Everywhere.
Kids squeal.
Balls bounce.
Swings creak.
Jump ropes slap.
The playground has a song.
Shared/ Guided: Choose another location or use the same one and write a poem together with the class. If students need more practice they can work in partners to write additional poems.
Independent: Encourage students to choose a location and begin to gather sounds. Have them jot their ideas in their writer’s notebook. This activity lends itself to a home assignment. When students are ready, perhaps the next day, they can share ideas with a partner before they write.
Reflection:
How well were you able to describe the sounds?
Did you revise for better word choice?
How would this poem format work with a different sense, perhaps smells?
Hook: Read “Song” from Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater. With your students, talk about the poet organized her poem. The first stanza is an introduction; the second is a listing of sounds, or actions that suggest sounds (Squirrels chase.) The last line is the title of the book, and offers a scaffold that can be imitated. Discuss how the poet used specific and rich vocabulary. A good companion text to use with this poem is The Listening Walk by Paul Showers.
Purpose: Writers, today I will show you how you can use sounds to write a list poem just like Amy Ludwig VanDerwater did.
Brainstorm: List places at school or at home where students could collect sounds. This list might include the playground, the cafeteria, the bus, walking home, backyard, downtown, a park, the soccer field, a Laundromat, etc. Choose a location that lends itself to taking a listening walk with your class. If you can’t go somewhere, use the classroom. List as many ideas as you can following the examples in “Song.” For example, a listening walk on the playground might result in ideas such as children yell, kids squeal, cars honk, birds chirp, leaves rustle, swings creak, balls bounce, etc. Don’t worry about rhyming unless it comes naturally.
Model: Using the ideas generated, begin a poem using “Song” as a scaffold – start with a general description and then list some of the things heard. Borrow a version of the last line as an ending. Here’s an example:
Outside at recess
I hear
Fun and laughter
Everywhere.
Kids squeal.
Balls bounce.
Swings creak.
Jump ropes slap.
The playground has a song.
Shared/ Guided: Choose another location or use the same one and write a poem together with the class. If students need more practice they can work in partners to write additional poems.
Independent: Encourage students to choose a location and begin to gather sounds. Have them jot their ideas in their writer’s notebook. This activity lends itself to a home assignment. When students are ready, perhaps the next day, they can share ideas with a partner before they write.
Reflection:
How well were you able to describe the sounds?
Did you revise for better word choice?
How would this poem format work with a different sense, perhaps smells?
Your Turn Lesson
Check out this lesson that follows the same format used in Mentor Texts and Nonfiction Mentor Texts. The Your Turn Lesson is a resource for teachers of writers. Try them out yourself and use them in your classroom. Let us know how it turns out. We would love to hear from you! Check back periodically for new Your Turns Lessons.
Creating an Ice Cream Summer Memory to Use Your Senses December 27, 2011
Hook: Read Ice Cream by Elisha Cooper or Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons. Both of these books can be used again as mentor texts for procedural writing. You could also read Should I Share My Ice Cream? By Mo Wilems if you would like to have the students write a notebook entry on friendship or write about a time they did or did not share something with a friend or family member.
Brainstorm: (Prewrite) How many of you like ice-cream or frozen yogurt? Turn and talk with your partner about your favorite flavors. Make your own list in your writer’s notebook. Students share in small group before you share your list. Let’s share with the whole group (Teacher records some on the board).
Take your favorite flavor and create word storm in your notebook (feelings, senses, thoughts, opinions, associations). You may want to write where you remember eating the ice cream, who you were with, the season of the year, and anything else that pops into your head! Turn and talk with a partner.
Purpose: Today we are going to use ice-cream flavors to help us recall a vivid memory for our writer’s notebook. The entry will probably be fairly short, maybe four to ten sentences. You will probably use many writing strategies quite naturally such as appeal to the senses, color words, and vivid adjectives.
Model: Teacher writes ice-cream memory on the board or chart paper in the form of a graphic organizer (a word storm). If you have already prepared the organizer, display it and use the organizerto draft an entry in front of your students,
The Good Humor truck as it rolls down Durham Street pulls the children from their houses like a powerful magnet. Slap-slaps of screen doors are followed by the jingling of coins stuffed deep into shorts and jeans pockets as we dash for the street. Each child has a favorite. Mine is the rocket with its creamy vanilla ice-cream swirled with chocolate. I like to push up the ice-cream slowly so I can enjoy the cool taste on a hot August day for a long time. My younger sister Sandy, with huge baby blues and ringlets of gold that jiggle as she jumps up and down in front of the truck window, always asks for an orange creamsicle and spatters the sidewalk with drops of sticky sweetness – a prize for the ants!
Guided Writing: Turn and talk about the memory. What did you like about it? Open your notebook and try to write an ice-cream memory. It may be helpful to have students brainstorm settings and write one sentence about each before deciding on the entry. For example: Boardwalk – I sat on the hard, wooden bench and watched the waves rolling in and out, licking my creamy vanilla cone in rhythm with the waves. Walk around the room and peek at what the students are doing (Roving conferences with clipboard). After some time, have students share in small groups and in whole groups. Copy some of their sentences on the overhead to include as “expert” samples.
Independent Writing: Now try to write a notebook entry about a real ice-cream memory. Think a moment, do a web or list to get started, refer to your word storm, settings, or just start writing. Remember, you are not writing an entire story! Here is my example (Share on overhead or distribute your thoughts on a handout). Give students time to write and share (even if only with a partner).
Reflection: Let’s look at my paragraph. What writing strategies did I use?
· Reflect on the strategies you seem to use naturally and automatically as a writer. What are your “fingerprints”?
· If you would revise this entry, what is one thing you would absolutely do? Try it out.
· Perhaps rewrite your entry as a poem in any format. Compare entries. Which do you like better? Why?
Projection (Optional): Create a goal for yourself that will help your reader to visualize your words.
ü Try to appeal to a sense you don’t usually use – like smell, taste, or touch.
ü Look at your adjectives. Are they vivid and exact?
ü Do you use color?
ü Examine past portfolio entries to see how you have used the senses to create description. Choose a piece for possible revision(s).
ü Find examples in your reading where authors appeal to the senses and copy them into your notebooks. What strategy has an author used that you could try on for size?
Creating an Ice Cream Summer Memory to Use Your Senses December 27, 2011
Hook: Read Ice Cream by Elisha Cooper or Ice Cream: The Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons. Both of these books can be used again as mentor texts for procedural writing. You could also read Should I Share My Ice Cream? By Mo Wilems if you would like to have the students write a notebook entry on friendship or write about a time they did or did not share something with a friend or family member.
Brainstorm: (Prewrite) How many of you like ice-cream or frozen yogurt? Turn and talk with your partner about your favorite flavors. Make your own list in your writer’s notebook. Students share in small group before you share your list. Let’s share with the whole group (Teacher records some on the board).
Take your favorite flavor and create word storm in your notebook (feelings, senses, thoughts, opinions, associations). You may want to write where you remember eating the ice cream, who you were with, the season of the year, and anything else that pops into your head! Turn and talk with a partner.
Purpose: Today we are going to use ice-cream flavors to help us recall a vivid memory for our writer’s notebook. The entry will probably be fairly short, maybe four to ten sentences. You will probably use many writing strategies quite naturally such as appeal to the senses, color words, and vivid adjectives.
Model: Teacher writes ice-cream memory on the board or chart paper in the form of a graphic organizer (a word storm). If you have already prepared the organizer, display it and use the organizerto draft an entry in front of your students,
The Good Humor truck as it rolls down Durham Street pulls the children from their houses like a powerful magnet. Slap-slaps of screen doors are followed by the jingling of coins stuffed deep into shorts and jeans pockets as we dash for the street. Each child has a favorite. Mine is the rocket with its creamy vanilla ice-cream swirled with chocolate. I like to push up the ice-cream slowly so I can enjoy the cool taste on a hot August day for a long time. My younger sister Sandy, with huge baby blues and ringlets of gold that jiggle as she jumps up and down in front of the truck window, always asks for an orange creamsicle and spatters the sidewalk with drops of sticky sweetness – a prize for the ants!
Guided Writing: Turn and talk about the memory. What did you like about it? Open your notebook and try to write an ice-cream memory. It may be helpful to have students brainstorm settings and write one sentence about each before deciding on the entry. For example: Boardwalk – I sat on the hard, wooden bench and watched the waves rolling in and out, licking my creamy vanilla cone in rhythm with the waves. Walk around the room and peek at what the students are doing (Roving conferences with clipboard). After some time, have students share in small groups and in whole groups. Copy some of their sentences on the overhead to include as “expert” samples.
Independent Writing: Now try to write a notebook entry about a real ice-cream memory. Think a moment, do a web or list to get started, refer to your word storm, settings, or just start writing. Remember, you are not writing an entire story! Here is my example (Share on overhead or distribute your thoughts on a handout). Give students time to write and share (even if only with a partner).
Reflection: Let’s look at my paragraph. What writing strategies did I use?
· Reflect on the strategies you seem to use naturally and automatically as a writer. What are your “fingerprints”?
· If you would revise this entry, what is one thing you would absolutely do? Try it out.
· Perhaps rewrite your entry as a poem in any format. Compare entries. Which do you like better? Why?
Projection (Optional): Create a goal for yourself that will help your reader to visualize your words.
ü Try to appeal to a sense you don’t usually use – like smell, taste, or touch.
ü Look at your adjectives. Are they vivid and exact?
ü Do you use color?
ü Examine past portfolio entries to see how you have used the senses to create description. Choose a piece for possible revision(s).
ü Find examples in your reading where authors appeal to the senses and copy them into your notebooks. What strategy has an author used that you could try on for size?
