Lesson

Title/Focus

Cinquains

Date

November 14, 2014

Subject/Grade
Level

Grade 5 Language Arts

Time
Duration

60 Minutes

Unit

Poetry

Teacher

Kristen ter Steege

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES

General
Learning
Outcomes:
Specific
Learning
Outcomes:

2: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to comprehend and respond personally
and critically to oral, print and other media texts.
5: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to respect, support and collaborate with
others
2.2: experience oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres, such
as historical fiction, myths, biographies, poetry, news reports and guest speakers
5.2: show appreciation for the contributions of others, and offer constructive feedback to group
members

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Discover the form of cinquain poetry
2. Apply knowledge of synonyms to personal poetry
3. Construct poetry while considering others ideas.

ASSESSMENTS
Observations:
Key Questions:
Products/Performances:

Assess students working in groups to observe if students are working cooperatively

What is the format of a cinquain poem?
What are the most important aspects of group work?
Creating Cinquain Poems in small groups.

LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroomresources/lesson-plans/composing-cinquainpoems-with-43.html?tab=4#tabs
Alberta Education English Language Arts Programs
of Studies

Cinquain Poem Fill in the Blank Handout

Cinquain Outline Handout
Blank paper for drawing
Cinquain Smartboard Presentation

PROCEDURE
Attention Grabber
Assessment of Prior
Knowledge
Expectations for
Learning and Behaviour
Transition to Body
Learning Activity #1

Introduction
Allow 2 students to pick a poem from Shel Silversteins Books that they
would like to share to the class.
Who can tell me a few reasons why we might read poetry? Who can tell me
a few reasons why you might write poetry? What kind of words do we use
in poetry and why?
1) Students will listen respectfully to lesson
2) Students will work cooperatively when creating their Group
Cinquains.
Today we are going to be learning about poems called Cinquains. These
poems are very similar to Diamantes, they just have a few different rules.
Body
Learning the Form of Cinquains
1. Hand out Cinquain Fill in the Blanks Handout- make sure
students are following along/keeping up copying the notes down
off.
2. Explain to students that Cinquains are short poems that only have
5 lines. This is the first question they will be filling out on their fill
in the blank notes.
3. Instruct students that this is where they will be filling in the
diagram (question #2) on their own Fill in the Blanks Handout
4. The first line of a Cinquain poem is a noun (person, place or thing).

Time
1 Minute
1 Minute

1 Minute
Time

10 Minutes

Ask students to tell you what a noun is. Allow students to given an
example of a noun
5. The second line of a Cinquain poem is two adjectives describing
the title (descriptive words). Ask students to tell you what a
adjective is as well as give an example.
6. The third line of a Cinquain poem is three verbs (-ing words). Ask
students to give you an example of a verb.
7. The fourth line is a related phrase. Explain to students that a
phrase is a short sentence. Allow students to share examples of
phrases.
8. The fifth and final line is a synonym for the title. Ask students to
tell you what a synonym is and to give an example.
9. Ask students what kind of words we have been talking about when
writing poetry. Emphasize to students the importance of word
choice. We want to write poetry that creates images in our readers
heads. Allow students to give examples of image enticing words.
10. Explain to students that this is something we always have to
remember when writing poetry.
11. Interactive Smartboard Activity Allow students to use the
examples of mixed up Cinquain poetry to place the lines/words
back in order for the cinquain about Penguins and about Trees.
Allowing each student to get an opportunity to place one word. If a
student is unsure, he/she asks for the classmates help.
Teacher Notes: Assessments/
Differentiation

Learning Activity #2

Interactive Smart board activity designed to assess whether or not students

know the form of the Cinquain poetry.
Group Writing a Cinquain
1. Instead of our own personal poetry we are going to be writing the
poetry in groups.
2. We are going to stay in our desk groups in order to do this. (If
anyone is missing allow the students to work in smaller groups
than 4 or if 2 students is missing from a desk group allow the 2
remaining students to join a group)
3. Ask this weeks passer to handout the Cinquain Handout.
4. Ask students to share with you the rules for good group work and
write their responses on the whiteboard:
-respecting others ideas
-encouraging each other
-helping each other out when were stuck
-listening when others are speaking
5. Allow students to discover their roles in the groups.
6. Explain to the students: The person who is the oldest gets to go
first and names themselves #1, then the person to the right is #2
and so on.
a) Each group is assigned the same title
b) The first person (#1) gets to pick the two adjectives
c) The second person (#2) gets to pick the three verbs (-ing)
words
d) The third person gets (#3) to pick the phrase that describes
the noun
e) The fourth person (#4) must think of a synonym for the title
7. Explain to the students that if someone is having trouble coming
up with their part, other group members can/should help them.
8. When I say go, you will begin working on your poem as a group
GO
9. When students are beginning to finish writing their poem say,
Once your poem is finished, each person will produce an image on
a separate piece of paper to accompany the poem that you and

15 Minutes

Teacher Notes: Assessments/

Differentiation

Consolidation of
Learning:

Sponge
Activity/Activities

your group came up with.

10. Ask this weeks passers to hand out a blank sheet of white paper to
each student.
11. Encourage students to make sure to write in their neatest printing
and illustrate nicely as both of these are their final drafts.
12. Explain to students that you will photocopy the poem their group
has created so everyone is able to include their poem in their poem
book.
Make sure to write all group members names on the poem and your own
name on the back of your image.
Assess whether or not students are appreciating others ideas and
contributing their fair share to the group.
Closure
Often, authors collaborate to create their own writing. It is an important
that we remember to write in a way that is engaging to others as well as
work with others and appreciate their ideas because sometimes others
think of things we might not have.
Students who are finished can work on their writing or silent read on their own.

Time

Lesson Plan Delivery Reflection Assignment

Kristen ter Steege
November 18, 2014

While creating lesson plans for my first professional semester, I find myself digging deeper into
every crevasse of my brain to think of methods that I could implement in order for students to learn best.
After spending time with students in large groups and one and one I feel relationships starting to form
which directly influences the lessons I plan. Because of these relationships I am able to see what
instructional strategies work best for some students and what dont work so well for any students. This
greatly influences the instructional strategies I choose to utilize within my lesson plans. The majority of
this lesson was led by a Smartboard Presentation I had created. Because the students in the class I am in
are at different levels when it comes to competency and knowledge, I began this lesson as a whole group
discussion. Allowing students to respond and ask questions as a whole group is very beneficial and has
worked well for me up until this point. Questioning is something I thought I would never understand;
however after two weeks in the classroom I find myself linking the students back to the outcomes I had
intended to meet. I have found that students love to be masters at any given subject. Students seem to feel
an immense amount of pride when they are able to help a classmate or explain something to their
classmates. I have found that questioning often leads to a general understanding rather than me just
spewing information. Allowing students to respond to questions I had set out in this lesson plan
encouraged a whole class understanding. While creating this lesson plan, I try and implement questions
after each bullet point in order to reinforce learning and allow students to be the masters. I also try and
include at least one interactive activity that all students get to take part in. This allows students to get out
of their desks, and they are all extremely excited to be able to touch the Smartboard.
The classroom management strategies that I have employed often come directly from the mouths
of the students. I often use brainstorming to develop a sense of what is to be expected during the class. In
this particular lesson, because students are to be working in groups we first had a discussion about what

working a group looks like. By writing the ideas on the board, the ideas almost became permanent to the
students. Allowing students to brainstorm what a respectful and learner driven classroom looks and
sounds like, encourages students to actually become responsible for following the rules because they
themselves created them. Students often have to be reminded of specific rules such as no shouting out and
listening to others when they are talking. The best way I have found deals with these behaviours is asking
the student what they think might be a more appropriate way of contributing a comment, or inviting the
student to share why we listen to others when they are speaking. Allowing the students to become
responsible for their own behaviours seems to be the most effective classroom management technique.
Certain classroom management strategies that I have embedded directly into my lesson plan are stating
how many students will respond to questions and how students will distribute handouts. I find embedding
this into my actual lesson plan encourages me to actively think about different ways that students are
leaving and arriving at their desk and how transitioning from one part of a lesson to the next will go. In
this lesson I employed specifics such as how groups will be formed and how groups will interact in order
to make sure my lesson flowed smoothly.
Group work often has the ability to have a direct impact on student learning. This lesson was at the
beginning of the day which was beneficial to students because most of the students were willing to
cooperatively work with their groups. I believe talking with the students about what was expected in order
to get the most out of the learning activity helped the group work. I believe choosing the students groups
for them enabled a better learning experience because students were worried about getting their work
done; rather than talking with their friends about their weekend. However, there are cons to teaching a
lesson of this size in the first period because of announcements and beginning of the day routine. Often
students zone out during the announcements causing a significant amount of time dedicated to reeling
students back in. Once the students found out they would be writing their poems in groups they seemed to
become more engaged and willing to focus. I also revealed to students that there poems would be
published on the classroom bulletin board and this excited the students and allowed them to begin

thinking of what they would be most proud of displaying to their peers. It is essential to reflect on the
variables that could impact student learning before planning and lesson, actually planning a lesson and the
delivering of a lesson.
There were many factors that had the ability to influence student learning and therefore going
forward, I will have to remember these factors in order to encourage the highest level of student learning.
Going forward, there will be many different variables that will affect my planning and instruction of a
lesson. I believe one important factor to observe when planning a lesson is when during the day the lesson
would be delivered. I have noticed that a students willingness to learn often differs throughout the day at
different points during the day. Therefore, if a lesson I am planning is proposed to be taught at the end of
the day or right before recess I would have to make sure the lesson I am planning will be the appropriate
mix of interactive and individualized in order to encourage students to remain engaged. I will also have to
remember these factors when delivering my lesson. If I notice students becoming unengaged or
disinterested I will have to recognize the problem (whether the students is hungry etc.) and do what I can
in order to reel the student back to a place of learning.
Planning lessons for a specific group of students has forced me to see the purpose of making
extremely detailed plans. By including the instructional strategies I plan to use as well as the classroom
management strategies I am setting myself up for success and am able to fall back on my lesson plan. The
importance of having a relationship with the students has become even more apparent as I find myself
thinking of how the particular group of students that I will be teaching will react to the lesson I have
planned. Reflecting on the experience of the planning and delivering of a lesson has enabled me to
discover many aspects to my own personal lesson planning style than I ever have before which I believe
will be very beneficial to me in the future.