Activity for ages 5 to 8.
These simple structured poetry pages make it easy to squeeze in poetry practice this spring. They’re perfect for a mini poetry unit, writing center or whole class activity!
Getting Ready
To prep for our mini poetry unit, I simply printed one copy of each page for the students in my class.
Note: Since the pages are black and white, I went ahead and copied them onto cardstock so that my students’ poems would look a little nicer on display out in the hallway.
Spring Acrostic Poems
Since my students had prior experience with acrostic poems, I started with them first.
I invited my class to our carpet so that we could brainstorm words that reminded us of spring. Our anchor chart list included the words: flowers, grass, picnics, grilling, sunshine, bugs, warm weather, rain, short sleeves, and more!
Then, I showed off the SPRING acrostic poem. I told my students that I remember that is called an “acrostic” because we write “across” the lines and the topic word is like a “stick” straight down the side. The could see the name “click” in the minds of many of my students.
Next, I explained that each line should start with the given letter. I asked for student input and, together as a class, we decided to write Sunny for the S, Pretty flowers for the P, Rain sprinkles for the R, Insects for the I, Now it’s warm for the N, and Green grass for the G.
Spring Shape Poems
After spending a day working on our acrostic poems, we moved onto the spring shape poems.
We talked about lightly “sketching” a spring shape (a sun, flower, butterfly, etc.) and again, I modeled how to sketch, write describing words or sentences around the edges of the shape, and finally color it.
Then I wrote the steps on the board:
- Sketch a spring shape.
- Write describing words or sentences around the shape.
- Color it and check for your name and a title on it!
Five Senses Poems
Lastly, my students worked on the five senses poem.
We went outside on one of the nicer days of the week and simply sat in a circle and talked about what we could see, feel, smell, taste, and hear on such a nice spring day. We didn’t write anything down, but just enjoyed a little fresh air.
When we came back in, my kiddos had experiences to draw on when starting their final poem of the week.
Grab Your Copy
Our mini spring poetry unit set us up to go deeper with reading and writing more poems this year.
Want to download these free poetry pages too? Simply click on the blue button below!
Erica Cain
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Thank you for sharing! My class will enjoy using these.