Structure of a poem

Structure of a poem

I can identify structures within a poem.

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Structure of a poem
Teacher
Kids

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General

Students learn about different structures within poetry and can distinguish between them.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.5
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.5

Learning objective

Students will be able to identify a poem's structure including lines, stanzas, rhyme schemes, couplets, and quatrains.

Introduction

Read the poem on the interactive whiteboard as a class, then have students turn and discuss with their neighbors some of the things that they notice about the poem. Discuss some of the observations that students made about the poem. Tell students that some of the things they noticed had to do with the structure of the poem- how it is formatted. It is this unique structure that makes poetry special.

Instruction

Define lines, rhyme scheme, and stanzas to the students and give examples of each. Re-read the poem from the warm-up and then answer the structure questions as a class. Read a second poem as a class and have students answer the structure questions. Introduce students to couplets, give an example and ask students if they can complete a couplet. Next, introduce quatrains, give an example, and ask students to complete a quatrain. Give students three poems and ask if they can determine if they are couplets, quatrains or neither. Ask students to work in pairs and challenge them to create a couplet or quatrain that makes sense using the rhyming words given. Ask students to share (some of) their work. Next, divide the class into groups or pairs and have them spin the dial. They must write the poem type given. Set a time limit for this activity.

Quiz

Students are given ten questions which check understanding of key concepts from the lesson and ask students to define words, select poetry types, and answer questions about given poetry.

Closing

Ask students to think about the learning goal of being able to identify structures of poems. Ask students to review some of what was taught during the lesson. To close, ask students to form pairs and research haikus, limericks, and cinquains. What is unique about these types of poetry? Bonus for students to try to write these poems.

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