ACTIVITY: Creating poems about quiet winter activities
In the story, Jane Yolen describes her own experiences with her father when they went owling. She always had to be very quiet while owling! Note: This activity was completed over three days. As a culmination project to our Jane Yolen study, I read Owl Moon to my class once again. We focused on the beautiful language and similies included in Jane Yolen's writing. We also noticed how she described her quiet wintery activity using the senses. The watercolors in the book created a dramatic winter effect in the book. After concentrating on the crafts Jane Yolen used in the book, we discussed quiet winter activities that we enjoy. We began by each student thinking about a quiet activity that they like to do in the winter. We brainstormed a list of similies that could be used in the poems we were going to write. Some of the students came up with "quiet as a mouse", "quiet as falling snow", "quiet as a shadow" etc. I modeled writing a poem
using all of my five senses to help me be descriptive. I made a chart
on a piece of paper that looked like the following:
The students had to pick a quiet winter activity and then write it at the top of the page in their Writer's Notebooks and then create the chart below it. Under each of the senses they had to write two to three phrases describing their activity. After making their lists, each phrase became a line in their poem. Students then wrote their poems on colored paper and glued it onto a bigger piece of white construction paper. We had a discussion about the illustrations in Owl Moon. The children then created winter scenery around their poems using watercolors just like the illustrator did in Owl Moon. The children then read their poems to the class! |
"Playing in the Snow" When I *********************************************
"Drinking Hot Chocolate" I'm drinking my
hot chocolate My spoon is as silver as metal. It is just as hot as a nice summer's day. My marshmallows
are as white My hot chocolate
is as I love hot chocolate!
************************************************ "Drawing a Picture" Drawing a wintery
scene I see the pictures
beauty The smell of the
clean new Making colorful
lines The paper is smoother
************************************************* "Falling Snow" I could almost
hear the snow falling *******************************************************
Hearing creaks
and seeing ******************************************************* "Walking Through the Woods" I was walking through
|
New Jersey
Core Curriculum Content Standards
Language Arts Literacy All students will speak
for a variety of real purposes and audiences. All students will listen
actively in a variety of situations to information from a variety of sources.
All students will write
in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and for different
audiences and purposes. Cross Content Workplace Readiness All students will use critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving skills All students will demonstrate
self-management skills. |
© Patricia Knox & Susan Silverman - Frosty Readers
2002 - All Rights Reserved