Mini-Lesson and Writers Workshop

Created by: ICAT Christina Coates

5th Grade

Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts

Speaking and Listening- Comprehension and Collaboration

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one
onone, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on
grade 5 topics and texts, building on others ideas and
expressing their own clearly.
1. Follow agreedupon rules for discussions and carry out assigned
roles.
2. Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that
contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of
others.
3. Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of
information and knowledge gained from the discussions.
(5.SL.1)
Reading Standards for Literature- Craft and Structure
Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or
speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and
stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier
sections. (5.RL.5)

Content Area Objectives:

Students will examine various poems and identify elements of

poetry within them. (Analysis)
Students will write their own poem that includes two elements of
poetry, and then share with the class. (Synthesis)
Listen to others speak and actively engage in group discussions.
(Comprehension)

Language Objectives:

Students will use academic vocabulary when discussing poetry

Students will create poems that are grammatically correct and
done individually.

Vocabulary:
 Rhyme- when the last words convey the same sound. Either 1st/
2nd line rhyme or they alternate.
Rhythm- a pattern created in a poem using long and short or
weak and strong sounds. Read aloud to help find out
Repetition- when a word or line is repeated more than once.
Figurative Language- language enriched by word images and
figures of speech
Metaphor- comparison without using like or as
Simile- comparing using like or as
Alliteration- several words begin with the same sound or letter
Personification- giving a human characteristic to something
nonhuman

Anticipatory Set:

Teacher will read the dishes poem aloud. Teacher will ask students
what a poem is and what we elements we can find in a poem.

Teacher Actions:

1.) Read a poem aloud, the dishes poem that has repetition and
rhymes.
2.) Engage students in anticipatory set, and then bring up figurative
language and other elements of poetry.
3.) Define vocabulary on the board, as a class after discussing all or
most.
4.) Come up with examples on the board.
5.) Read the Cactus Poems book by Frank Asch and Ted Levin
6.) Ask students to point out elements of poetry they heard.
7.) Assign each student an element and ask him or her to share a
short poem using it, there may be more than one student with
the same element.
8.) Ask students to write a poem about anything they want and
include two elements of poetry.
9.) Ask a few students to share
10.) Allow students to ask clarifying questions.

Students Actions:

1.) Listen to read aloud and engage in anticipatory set.

2.) Listen to the teachers clarification of the elements of poetry.
3.) Help the teacher come up with examples of each on the board.
 4.) Listen to read aloud.
5.) Point out elements of poetry within those poems and write on the
board what was noticed.
6.) Use an element to share a short poem with the class, basically
another example of each.
7.) Write a poem about anything but include two elements of poetry
and share.
8.) Ask any clarifying questions.

Modifications:

Allow students to pass around the Cactus Poems book, or I will

write it on the board so they can hear and see it.
Allow students to hand in poems instead of sharing aloud.

Closure:

Students will complete an exit ticket, which will be to tell me one

element of poetry and define it.

Assessments:

Teacher will observe understanding of poems and elements of it

by asking questions and listening to poems. Teacher will also
collect writers workshop poems.

Materials:

Pencil
Paper
Cactus Poems by Frank Asch and Ted Levin
Dishes poem
White board and markers

REFLECTION ON NEXT PAGE.

 Mini Lesson and Writers Workshop Reflection

For my lesson it seemed to go very well and students were

interested and kept engaged. A few students constantly took notes

and I feel that their understanding of elements of poetry was evident in

their writing. These students also wrote down information that I had

on the board, which was mainly there to help visual learners. It was

extremely easy for me to keep students on task because they were

eager to share ideas and examples of poetry and elements within it.

Some students were also very willing to share the poem they wrote

with their peers and I. I did have to remind students to raise their

hand because they were excited to share and wanted to shout out

answers, the problem with this was that I wanted other students who

did not share as much to contribute. I did get shy students to share

and they did not say things like, do I have to share or I dont like

this. When I asked one student who is normally quiet to share he

could have said no thank you but instead he said okay and read his

poem.
 I also noticed that students had some background of figurative

language and were able to mention others like personification without

me bringing it up, they also discussed on their own about what could

be considered personification and what could not be considered

personification. We discussed how we see poems or elements of

poetry in our daily lives and students came up with movies, songs,

plays, and in books or other forms of writing like homework.

For the three levels of papers I decided to pick two for the low,

one for middle and one for high. The high quality poem has twelve

lines and has two elements of poetry, which are repetition and rhyme.

The first line in begins with The bees buzz, and this is repeated every

other line which shows repetition. The line that follows each repetition

has a rhyme at the end, which correlates with every other line as well.

Her rhyming words are flower, shower, shine, dime, sleep, deep, and

they all rhyme well except shine and dime but they are close. The

poem most makes sense and has capitalization, punctuation, and

correct spelling. That is why I choose this poem for the high level. For

the middle poem I choose a boys poem because it also had two

elements, which were rhythm and rhyme and it had six lines. This

student was one who took a lot of notes and frequently wanted to

share and involve others. His poem did not completely make sense and

the structure with the rhyming words was slightly difficult to

understand, for example his last 4 lines ended with the following words
say, Tuesday, Saturday, lay. He did well on the writing because he

followed my guidelines and used correct capitalization and spelling but

rhyming words were slightly off. For the low level poems I decided to

pick two because I felt they were different in their own way and both

students struggled with writing these poems. The boy wrote seven

lines but it is in the form of a paragraph and these lines could have

been split up so he could have written less. I think this could have

made it easier for him because he was struggling to get to six lines but

if he had gone to the next line after creating a rhyme then he could

have saved himself some time. He did also only used one element of

poetry, which was rhyming and it is hard to tell because it is in

paragraph form instead of going to the next line for a new sentence.

The second low level paper was done by a girl who used some rhyming

and alliteration but the alliteration is spilt up onto multiple lines and

the poem is very choppy and is hard to understand. For example she

wrote Carrie cane caught then on the next line wrote crazy roaches

west and a few lines in the poem have only one word so I feel that she

was trying to get to six lines but ended up with thirteen. She also did

capitalize anything except for the first name, Carrie, or add any

punctuation and struggled with spelling. I think these students could

improve on their poetry by doing a mini lesson about structure and

punctuation within poems and how stanzas and syllables should be

done. This may help with deciding where to place rhyming words and

how to use alliteration.

Student

work:

High,

Medium,

Low(2)