1st Grade Writing Workshop Units of Study

Unit 7: Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages. Poetry

The goal in this unit is to teach children to explore and savor language valuing voice and repetition, sounds and onomatopoeia. Poetry can deliberately craft their language, trying things on the page on purpose, hoping to create special effects. Poetry can also encourage children to see the world with fresh eyes. Children can learn to see with their hearts, to show their feelings by capering and pretending and imagining with language. They can learn to have fun with words, to be daredevils, and gymnasts with language.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 1: Seeing with Poets’ Eyes

TEKS: 1.17 A-E, 1.18 B

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You can choose to use new poetry folders or cleaned-out old folders to mark this momentous occasion. This unit suggests to have a “Poetry Museum” to teach students to observe carefully and to see with poets’ eyes. You might display a few shells, driftwood, leaves, or special rocks. Soon you will invite the students to bring in things of their own to contribute to the poetry museum. Make sure you have written the poem “Pencil Sharpener” and “Ceiling” on chart paper for the lesson and a copy of Byrd Baylor’s The Other Way to Listen.

Connection

Writers, today is an important day. We have been reading a lot of poems during shared reading throughout the year and today we are going to learn how poets write poems. We are going to learn how poets see the world in different, fresh, and unusual ways. We are going to see the world like poets. Teach

So, Poets, I brought some poems from one of my favorite poets named Zoe Ryder White. Today let’s pay special attention to how Zoe sees the world in a fresh new way. In this poem, Zoe writes about a pencil sharpener. Let’s look at our class pencil sharper. Hmm, it’s a box with a little hole for the pencil to go in to sharpen. But now I’m going to read Zoe’s poem she wrote about the pencil sharpener and you will see what I mean about how poets see things in fresh new ways. Read the poem written on chart paper.Poets, when I read this poem, I was so surprised! I have never thought to see a pencil sharpener as the way Zoe wrote about it. Zoe sees the pencil sharpener as a poet sees it, in a fresh, new way! She imagined that there were bees inside buzzing around the tip of the pencil to make it sharp! Imagine that! This poem helps me see the classroom pencil sharpener in a fresh, new way and that’s what poetry can do.Active Engagement

Do you think we can write about another object using poets’ eyes?Zoe wrote another poem and this one is about the ceiling. Try looking at our ceiling right now. Allow students to lean back in their chairs or even to lie down on the floor. Look at it with poets’ eyes and see it in a fresh new way. Tell your partner what you see when you look at the ceiling with a poets’ eyes. I know, Poets, that you all saw the ceiling in other fresh, new ways, and maybe during this unit some of you will decide to write about our ceiling, or about other parts of our classroom.

Link

Today you will notice that you have new poetry folders at your tables. You also have some special things to look at so you can write what you see using poets’ eyes. You will not start writing poems today. Today I want you to look at the unique things that I have placed at your tables and jot down things that you see. Instead of saying, “the pine cone is brown” you might say, “the pine cone is a wooden porcupine” or “a pine cone is like a tree for an elf.” You can decide to go to another table to see the other objects as well. Happy writing, Poets!ShareCelebrate the ways the children looked with fresh new eyes by citing bits they’ve written. Tell the children that poets also look at ordinary things with fresh eyes, and ask them to do so with one of their shoes.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 2: Listening for Line Breaks

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: On chart paper, you will need to write the poem “Aquarium” by Valerie Worth (page 13), in two different ways: one straight through showing no line breaks and on another piece of chart paper the poem written in its original form with line breaks. Write the poem on page 15 about fireworks on a piece of chart paper straight through showing no line breaks, and you will also need to write each word of the poem on page 15 about fireworks on index cards. This will allow the students to manipulate the words into line breaks.

Connection

I am amazed at the way you were looking at things in fresh, new ways like true poets. I heard some of you say that a leaf was like piece of cake to a caterpillar. Wow, I never thought to look at a leaf that way. It seems you are ready to start writing poetry. You know how a cake has ingredients, right? Well so do poems. We already learned about one ingredient: to make a poem you need to look with a poet’s eyes at ordinary things. But today I want to teach you that there is a second ingredient. To make a poem you also need music, and poems have their own special music. The music doesn’t come from playing instruments or singing, but from how the words of a poem are chosen and how they are put onto the paper. Today I want to teach you that one way to give our poems music is to divide our words into lines that go down the paper. Teach

I have written the poem “Aquarium” in two different ways. One way does not give the poem music and the other way does. Read the poem straight through without line breaks like you are just talking. When I read the poem this way, it’s just like I’m talking to you. It’s kind of blah, blah, blah. There’s really not much music. Now look at this version. (Show the poem in its original form with line breaks) Read the first five lines of the poem and then pause to discuss it. When I read the poem with line breaks it sounds different, right? Valerie showed me how to read the poem in a certain way by the way she wrote the words on the page. I read the poem and my voice moves like a fish swims. Active Engagement

Try reading the first part, the fast fish part, of the poem to your partner, and then read the slow, snail part. Notice how Valerie Worth makes you read the fish part quick, just how a fish moves and then slow on the snail part, just how a snail moves.I want you to notice that poets use line breaks to help readers turn the poems into music.

Valerie uses line breaks to help us read her words like fast fish and like slow snails. I need your help with a poem I have about fireworks. Listen as I read the poem to you. Now, let’s see if you can help me put line breaks in the poem. I put each word of the poem on a cards so we can rearrange the words to make the poem have music. Discuss with your partner about how you would add line breaks if this was your poem. Does someone want to help me with the line breaks of this poem?Refer to the suggestion on page 16. Link

Today, Poets, you will go back to your precious objects. You can continue seeing with a poet’s eyes and collect notes. Or you can take the notes you wrote yesterday and start turning them into poems with line breaks. Remember you are trying to turn words into music and line breaks help us do that. Happy writing!ShareShow a poem a child wrote in which the child experimented with line breaks. Ask partners to talk about what the child changed between one version and another, and why they may have made the changes.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 3: Hearing the Music in Poetry

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need a small copy of a poem you love, the book suggests “Things” by Eloise Greenfield, folded in your wallet or purse. Write the same poem twice on chart paper, once correctly and then as a possible earlier draft, reference page 23. You will also need some copies of familiar poems from shared reading for the students to read. Make sure you have several different types of poetry paper available.

Connection

Tell a story of a poem that was sung to you or to someone you know, and use this story to tell the children that poetry is close to music. When I was little, my family would sing a song before we went to bed. It went like “Skidamarink, a dink, a dink. Skidamarink-a-doo, I love you! Skidamarink, a dink, a dink. Skidamarink-a-doo, yes, I do! I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening and underneath the moon. Skidamarink, a dink, a dink. Skidamarink-a-doo, I love you!” It makes me think of that song in Robert Munsch’s book Love You Forever. Do you remember how the mom would always say to her son, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as you’re living, my baby you’ll be.” I’m telling you this because I think poems are close to music, and today I want to teach you how important it is for poets like you to read and reread poems until they sound just right. Like any poet, we will listen for the songs our poems are trying to sing.Teach

I have this poem that I always carry around with me and I reread it often. The first time I ever read this poem “Things” I was just getting the words straight. It didn’t sound like a poem at all. I use to read it like this…Read a portion of the poem in a choppy, robotic way. Then I reread the poem, and this time I really paid attention to what the words were saying, like the part “Ain’t got no more.” I thought, that’s sad, the candy’s all gone. So I reread it with that feeling in my voice. I tried to think and feel what the words were saying. I also tried to take a breath after each line because I knew Eloise Greenfield used those line breaks for a reason, so readers would take little breaths before going on to the next line. Now when I read the poem, it sounds like a song to me. Listen.Read the poem making notion of the line breaks and feeling in the words. That was better! So next I decided to make some notes so I would remember how to read it really well. I write poems by putting some words on the page, then reread to hear the song in the words. I can then fix up the words so they sound better, and write some more words and reread it again. I think Eloise’s draft looked something like this.

Refer to the example on page 23 to write on draft paper. I bet she reread the first stanza and said, “wait, it needs something to wrap it up,” and thought, I’m sad about no more candy and soda. So she wrote “Ain’t got no more, Ain’t got no more” to express the sadness.Active Engagement

Let’s get started. I have a poem that we have read before during shared reading. We are going to decide where we will change our voices to make music in the poem. I have some sticky notes so we remember how to read it. Talk with your partner and decide how we can make our voice match what the words mean in the poem. Link

Today during writing time, you have lots of things you can do. You can look again at your special objects and really look with poet’s eyes, or you can work on turning your notes into poems. You can explore different ways to lay out your poems in the page, but I would love for you to reread your poems over and over again to decide how you want those poems to be read. Happy writing!ShareCelebrate the way one child used repetition to make her poem sound good. Read the poem to the class and ask them to show their partners any repetition or other strategy they’ve used.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 4: Putting Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need tiny topics notepads recycled from your author study, or you might have to make new ones for this poetry unit, a chart titled “Strategies Poets Use” and a copy of the poem “Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Nye.

Connection

I am proud of the growing poets you have become. You are seeing things in fresh new ways, making your line breaks match your words, listening for the song in your writing and writing with feeling. But there is one more thing that poets do. They choose their own topics and write about their lives. We’ve been writing about the little objects that I have collected for you. Poets do write about shells and pine cones, but in real life, poets aren’t told what to write about. A poet is just like any other writer and starts by thinking, “What matters to me?” Today I am going to teach you how poets choose topics and start writing. Teach

To write an interesting poem you need to think of a topics that are big and topics that are small. You can write about a topic that is important to you and fills your heart, or a topic that is small, like a safety pin, or a one-moment story.Remember when Angela Johnson wanted to write about her son? That was a watermelon topic and then she decided to write about one moment when Joshua heard night whispers. I’m going to do the same with my niece Avery. (You can pick anyone close to you to represent the big thing/feeling) I could write lots of things about Avery, but I need to zoom in on one small thing. Hmm one time we were at a wedding together, but that is still big. Oh, I know, I loved the time she heard the song “Happy” and ran out to the dance floor. If I close my eyes I can think of it right now and play it in my head like a movie. Now I’m ready to write a poem because I remember how she jumped down from my arms and pushed her way to the dance floor. Look at this chart that tells what I did. (Refer to the chart on page 33.) Active Engagement

Let’s try to get started on writing a poem together. Let’s think about this big feeling: loving to listen to a book. Get that big feeling about loving to listen to books in you right now. Now would you look around the room and find something small that can hold that feeling for you. It can be an object, something you see or it can be the memory of one particular moment. Tell your partner what the small thing is that holds the big feeling of loving to listen to stories. If you’ve got something small that holds this feeling, will you give me a

signal like cupping your hand like you’ve found a tiny object that holds a poem and I’ll signal for you to tell us. The book uses the object of the rug, where they sit to experience books and stories. Now think about what happens when you sit there. The book refers to the idea of the story coming to life or being there inside with the characters on page 35.Link

So, Writers, when you finish writing poems about the stones and feathers, try finding topics in your own lives. For the rest of your life, when you want to write a poem, you’ll go to something that is big and small. Happy writing!ShareCelebrate one child who found a big feeling and a tiny object or moment or detail that holds that feeling.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 4: Putting Powerful Thoughts in Tiny Packages; Part 2

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need tiny topics notepads recycled from your author study, you might have to make new ones for this poetry unit, a chart titled “Strategies Poets Use” and a copy of the poem “Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Nye.

Connection

Remind children that they are poets throughout the day, and recruit them to live in ways that let them find poems. Share Naomi Nye’s poem “Valentine for Ernest Mann.” Teach

Remind students of the tiny topics notepads they kept earlier in the year and suggest they revive these as places to record seeds of poems.Remember when we jotted tiny topics into our notepads? I think we need to begin to do that again, only this time you’ll observe little tiny details that could become seeds for poems. Write those down and we will look at them like we’ve been looking at our shells and feathers.Active Engagement

Turn and talk to your partner about some things that you might jot down in your note pad. Link

Today and every day from now on, let’s live in a way that lets us find poems. Happy writing!ShareInvite a student to share some ideas they have jotted down in their note pads.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 5: Finding Ingredients for a Poem

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need tiny topics notepads with entries, and the previous chart used, “Strategies Poets Use”.

Connection

Admire the way that children jotted down notes that promise to become poems and tell them you’ll teach them to select topics that could easily become poems. Today we are going to take the objects and ideas some of you jotted down and start making them into great poems.Teach

Remind students that poems have ingredients. One ingredient is precise words and a second ingredient is music. Remember how I told you that cakes have ingredients? Well, poems need ingredients too. There is another ingredient I add to the mix if I’m trying to write a poem that I hope will be really special. I always try to have a big, strong feeling. So maybe I start a poem with a feeling of “I love this classroom.” I don’t just put the feeling on the paper. Instead, I find something small that holds my feeling and write about that small object or that small moment. Today in your notepads, I want you to find something that gives you a big, strong feeling and think which of those things would make a good poem. On my notepad I wrote “new flowers.” Hmm, I don’t get a huge feeling about those. I also wrote down ocean waves. The ocean waves, make me feel happy and relaxed like listening to calm music. Wow! That just gave me a huge feeling of calm and happiness. Active Engagement

Now let’s see if you can do what I did. Look at your notebooks and see which things you jotted down give you a huge, strong feeling. There might be a word that gives you an okay feeling, but only focus on the ideas that give you big feelings. Link

Remember to include these ingredients when you decide on your topic and begin to write your poem. Happy writing!ShareRemind the children that poets like Naomi Nye believe that poems hide in the bottoms of shoes and that she calls us “to live in ways that let us find poems.” Then ask the children to find poems where ever they go.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 6: Showing, Not Telling

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: The teacher will need poems written by the students in the class.

Connection

Earlier we learned that poems, like cakes, have ingredients. When we go to write a poem, we often start by being sure we have a big topic, one that gives us strong feelings. Then we think, ‘Do I have a moment or an object or a detail that holds that big feeling? Remember poets don’t just say their feelings, poets find moments or details that hold their feelings. Today I want to teach you that one way poets do this is by showing, not telling. Teach

Remember when we were writing stories that we would say show, don’t tell. We are going to do the same with our poems. Poets, like story writers, show, not tell and sometimes when we read a poem, we need to infer what the poet was trying to show us. Sometimes we will find that the poet comes right out and tells us the little details but leaves it up to us to figure out what he or she is trying to show. The big feeling is usually there but the reader sometimes has to say ‘Oh I get it!’ Show a student’s poem or a poem of your own that displays how the poets just didn’t tell you about it, they showed it using words. We show our feelings toward our subject in the words we use.Active Engagement

Read the poem on page 49 aloud to the class. Would you listen and then tell your partner what the big feeling is that the poet is trying to show, and then point to places what that feeling peeks through. First I’ll read and then you’ll turn and talk to your partners.Link

Remember that poets, like all writers, have a saying: ‘Show, don’t tell. Instead of coming right out and telling us how you feel, you can show it by finding one time, one moment and showing one bit of life. Happy writing!ShareCelebrate the fact that the children have replaced vague words in their writing with more precise words and give examples.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 7: Hearing the Voices of Poetry

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need three poems by students in the class, transcribed on chart paper. These poems should exemplify three distinct voices. Copies of poems on pages 57 and 58.

Connection

We’ve been learning that although poets begin with strong feelings, they don’t just pile those feelings all over the page. Many of you have tried to show that love or sadness, those big feelings behind your poems. You are showing them with details and sometimes this makes your poem feel very “talky”, and you come to me saying, ‘This feels like regular writing, not like poetry.’ One way to turn regular writing into poetry is to give your writing the voice of poetry. Today I’ll teach you the voices of poetry.Teach

One way to bring out the voice of poetry is to speak directly to the subject. Show poem “Flowers” on page 57. In this poem the poets doesn’t say ‘I want my flowers to open up, instead of writing about her flowers she writes to her flowers. Read the poem to the students.Some poems are story poems. The poet spins a story with breathless urgency, like this poem.Show the poem by Ramon on page 57. Listen to Ramon’s story poem and imagine he just ran into the room and he’s telling you the story so you can picture what just happened. His story poem tells the whole story, fast and urgently.Some poems sound like the poet is speaking right to you and saying something that is the deepest, truest sound of their heart. Listen to this poem called “My House.” Listen to how this poem is like a song of her heart.Read the poem “My House” on page 58.Active Engagement

So let’s try it! Pretend you are writing about waking up in your bed this morning and finding that it is sunny already. You could say, ‘Some mornings are sunny’ or ‘Today when I woke up, I saw some sun.’ but pretend that you are in bed and just about to wake up and you feel the warm sun. Partner one, tell partner two a waking-up poem you would say, speaking directly to the sun.

Now let’s try a different poetry voice. Partner two, tell the story of waking up to Partner one using a storyteller poet voice. Pretend you just got to the breakfast table and you’re about to blurt out the whole story of how the sun woke you up. Now get a feeling in your heart about waking up and feeling the sun. Think about the deepest, truest thing you have to say about waking up and feeling sunshine. You can start ‘I wake up, I feel…’Link

Remember writers that if your poems sound like regular writing, you can try writing in one of the voices of poetry. Happy writing!ShareTell your children their work has given you goose bumps, set them up to read aloud to their partner in ways that give each other goose bumps.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 8: Searching for Honest, Precise Words

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need one of your poems, written on chart paper. Be ready to circle a vague word and to generate a few more precise words. You will also need your “Strategies Poets Use” anchor chart.

Connection

Yesterday you did a lot of wonderful exploration in order to make your poems sound like poems. Today I will teach you to reread for honesty and to revise words until they’re precisely right. Poets spend a long time searching for the exact word to match what they want to say.Teach

Yesterday my friend called me on the phone from the beach and said, ‘I called because there is something so beautiful here and I need to tell you about it.’ She started talking about all these shells that covered the beach and how they seemed amazing to her. She said they were ‘little and small and nice and purpley and little’. I told her I can’t picture them, help me picture them. So then she said, ‘they’re tiny purple mussel shells, open, but still connected, and they look like a million tiny purple butterflies flying in the sand. When she said that, all of a sudden I could see it! My friend really searched for the exact right words to tell me about the shells. That’s what poets do! She searched for the words that would really match what she saw. Active Engagement

Let’s work on a poem while we are sitting here on the rug. I was thinking we could write a poem about this pointer; we use it every day and it helps us read. Tell your partner what you would say about the pointer. Jot down some things they shared with their partner.

- The teacher holds it like a stick.- The teacher points the pointer at the words.- The teacher holds it like a wand.- When the teacher points at a word, we say it and it’s like the word comes to life.- The pointer taps and the story pops out, piece by piece. - It’s like the guy at the concert who points to the drums.

Poets try lots of ways to describe what is true and then they reread and think, ‘which is honest and fresh and sounds right?’ Would you and your partner read what we’ve written and find the ones you like? Maybe even put two together. Make sure it sounds good!

Link

Now, Poets, we’ve begun a growing list of strategies poets use to write poems and today you can do any of these things. You can also invent new strategies! Reference the anchor chart on page 67. Happy writing!ShareHelp the children practice finding honest, precise words with their partners to describe something on the room. Read examples of honest, precise language.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 9: Patterning on the Page

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need a necklace made out of patterned beads, the poem “Go Wind” (page 75) written on chart paper, and some examples of poems that have patterns in them.

Connection

Take a look at this necklace. It has a special pattern. Think in your mind right now how the pattern is going on this necklace. The reason I’m telling you about this necklace pattern is that poets think a lot about patterns when they write. Today, I will teach you the power of patterns in poetry. Teach

Patterns are really important in the world. We see them in math, in buildings, and in art. A pattern happens every single day. The sun goes up and over our heads throughout the day until it sets at night, then it happens all over again. Patterns are about having an order, a plan, and keeping things in the order of that plan. Poems often have a pattern, an order. Let’s look at this poem “Go Wind.” Let’s see if we notice a pattern in this poem. Listen as I read it. Let students describe the patterns they notice. Active Engagement

Let me read the poem again and tell your partner another pattern you notice. So, Writers, I hope if you start a new poem, today or any day, you might think, ‘Should this poem have a pattern? How should it go?’ Let’s try thinking like that. Let’s say you want to write about your baby brother or sister always interrupting you. You start to talk or play and then they get in the way and it keeps happening. Tell your partner a pattern that might happen in your poem. Now think about a very old person and how they go up a flight of stairs. They go upstairs differently than you do. Talk to your partner about a pattern that might help show how an old person will go up some stairs.Link

The easiest way to write with patterns is to line things up, to keep rows the same. Just like in “Go Wind.” See if you can do this today, and if you write in a pattern come and show me. Happy writing!ShareRead some poems that have patterns in them. You can also have students divide their poems into two sets: poems with patterns and poems without patterns.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 10: Using Comparisons to Convey Feelings

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need the poem “Inside My Heart” 9page 83), or a similar poem, written on chart paper.

Connection

We’ve been talking about how poets find topics that give us big strong feelings, and I’ve noticed that many of you put those feelings into your poems. I can see that you know that if you just write your feelings, like ‘I was mad’ it sounds a little plain. We know that if we want to convey our feelings in our writing we have to show not tell our feelings. Today I will teach you another way to let readers know your feelings. Remember when we studied how Zoe Ryder White saw the ceiling and the pencil sharpener in a fresh, new way. We also did that with our objects like the pinecones and our feathers. Well, today I’ll show you a way to see feelings with fresh eyes too.Teach

Sometimes we poets don’t just say exactly how we feel; instead we say our feeling is like something else in the world. We compare our feelings to something else. Listen as I read a part of this poem, “Inside My Heart” by Zoe Ryder White. Read the poem.Did you see how she wanted to write about how things that happen in her life matter to her and make her heart full, but she didn’t just want to say, ‘Oh my heart is so full!’ Instead, she wrote this poem to show her feelings in a special, poetry-like way. She doesn’t come right out and tell us how she feels. She makes the poem say what she feels like by comparing her feelings to things in the world that remind her of that feeling. That’s why Zoe chose those things to describe the happy feeling in her heart. Active Engagement

Will you think of a time when you felt really sad? If you were going to write about how your heart felt then, what kinds of things might you imagine to be living inside there? Tell your partner and say, “Inside my heart lives…” and then say what lives there. Now think of a time when you felt really proud. What kinds of things might you imagine to be living inside there? Tell your partner and say, “Inside my heart lives…” and then say what lives there.Now think of a time when you were angry. What kinds of things might you imagine to be living inside there? Tell your partner and say, “Inside my heart lives…” and then say what lives there.Remember to be specific. If you picture a lion living in your heart when you are angry, tell me what kind of lion. Maybe a roaring lion, or a growling bear.

Link

So, Poets, when you are writing or revising your writing, remember that poets try to write not only what we see but also what we feel in fresh ways. One way to do this is to write about the things in the world that remind us of that feeling. Remember to be specific. Happy writing!ShareRead an example of a fresh comparison a poet in the class used.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 11: Contrasting Ordinary and Poetic Language

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need a two-columned chart titled “Ordinary Language” and the other titled “Poetic Language”. In the “Ordinary Language” column list typical sentences from your or your children’s writing that describe something everyone in the room has experienced. On the “Poetic Language” side, you will rework each sentence to incorporate figurative language. Refer to page 91.

Connection

Yesterday we discovered that if a poet wants to show they are happy, they don’t always come right out and say they’re happy. Instead they may say ‘In my heart lives a birthday party and two laughing babies.’ Yesterday I got home to find that we were going to have my favorite meal for dinner, lasagna! So I said ‘My dinner made tonight feel like Christmas.’ Today I’m going to show you how poets compare whatever were writing about, not just our feelings, to something else. Teach

Let me show you the difference between ordinary and poetic language. Show them the pre-made chart you have made. Reference page 91. Do you see how I can take ordinary language and rewrite it in a fresh way by comparing? When one of you and then another of you jumps up with ideas, I can say, ‘Ideas popcorned around the room’, but your ideas aren’t really popcorn. When the room is quiet, I can say that the classroom is sleeping, but it really isn’t asleep. Active Engagement

Let’s try some of these together. Can you and your partner work on the parts of the chart I haven’t filled in? (Jot down good ideas for the poetic language column.)Wow! Look at all these exciting ways we have found to say what we want to say! Comparing things is such a powerful tool in poetry. Link

Whenever you write, and especially when you write poetry, if you want readers to really feel and see and hear what you are saying, one thing you can do is to use comparisons. Happy writing!ShareShow an example of a child who used comparing in a poem.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 12: Stretching Out a Comparison, Sustaining a Metaphor

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need the comparison chart from the previous session.

Connection

Do you remember when we were learning about writing small moments and we stretched out our moments across a few pages? We stretched one tiny goodbye moment out so it lasted across many pages. Well today I want to teach you that if you compare in your poem, it’s really smart to stretch that comparing out across many lines. Teach

Refer to the comparison chart you used in the previous lesson.Let’s go back to the chart of comparisons we made yesterday. If I write a poem about this one- ‘When I get to school, the classroom is sleeping’- I could go like this: (page 99)“Mornings”I come in

The classroom is sleeping.

I push chairs in and straighten tables.

Then the kids come.

This comparison is very short and quick. I only mention the classroom is sleeping in the second line. So, I’m going to try to rewrite this poem and stay with the idea that the classroom is sleeping. I am going to think how I would come in and push in chairs and straighten tables if someone was sleeping. New version: (page 99)“Mornings”I tiptoe in quietly

The classroom is sleeping.

I ease the chairs into their spots,careful not to bang them. I lift, not push, the tables to straighten them.

I’m careful to let the classroom sleep. Then the kids clang, clatter, bang inAnd wake up the room. Do you see, on many lines, I kept up the idea of the sleeping classroom?

Active Engagement

Let’s try to stretch out another comparison together. Let’s take this one from our chartHave the students extend on the ideas of the classroom moving down the hallway like a train. Let the students turn and talk about ways to stretch this comparison. Reference the examples on page 100-101. Link

Would you look at the poem you worked on yesterday? Read it over and think, ‘Am I comparing one thing to another?’ Will you look at these comparing poems and think how you could stretch out the comparing, like we did here with the sleeping classroom and the train-like line. Happy writing!ShareRead an example of an extended comparison from one of their classmates.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 15: Revising and Editing Poetry

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need the Editing chart you have been building throughout the year. If you haven’t been doing this, use copies of an editing checklist. You also need lines of poetry with some misspelled words. It’s best to get it from children’s writing, but only with their permission.

Connection

I remember when I was your age my mom told me that my cousins were coming over to stay the night and that they were coming in an hour! I looked around my room and I bet you can guess what I thought. I thought, ‘Uh oh! I better hurry. I’ve got to make this place look really good, really quick.’ When we writers hear that our writing will be published soon, we get anxious in the same way and we think, ‘Uh oh! I better hurry! I’ve got to make this writing look really good, really quick.’ So today, I want to teach you how we can clean up not our rooms, but our poems. Teach

When I want to clean up my poem, or room, I go slowly through each part of it. I look at everything slowly and carefully. I’ll show you a few lines from a poem. Notice the kinds of things I “clean up” when I am preparing a poem for company.Demonstrate reading the work slowly, fixing errors as you go. Comment aloud as you correct spelling, or any edits on your checklist. You may want to reference the chart on page 128. Active Engagement

With your partner, use this checklist to help you edit the next lines from the poems.Link

As you go off the edit your own poems, remember to use the editing chart. Happy writing!ShareHelp the students practice reading their best poems aloud to practice for the celebration to follow.

Unit 7: Poetry

Session 16: Presenting Poems to the World: An Author’s Celebration

TEKS: 1.17, 1.18

Resource: Units of Study for Primary Writing (Book 7), Lucy Calkins

Teacher Notes: You will need to plan to have appropriate places to post particular poems and copies of poems and means to affix them.

Connection

Take the class to an outdoor area to perform their poems while everyone listens. Teach

Tell the students that their poems will be displayed throughout the school or on a special poetry bulletin board. Active Engagement

Students will get a calm and relaxing feeling listening to poems that are about nature and big feeling outdoors that gave them their inspiration.Link

All poems should be displayed throughout the school.SharePrepare a poetry book of all the best poems written by your students.