Introduction What comes to mind when you think of poetry? Do you like it? Do you hate it? Do you even know what it is? You will visit various websites that will refresh your memory on poetic devices. You will then get a chance to read and analyze some of the wonderfully written poems by Shel Silverstein.
Materials Pen or pencil Excerpts from A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein Paper Computers with internet access
Before Reading- Alliteration In Shel Silverstein’s poems, he uses a lot of alliteration. Visit this site and pick 5 of your favorite twisters. Add onto the tongue twisters to make them more complicated! Create at least two of your own twisters! Be able to hand in your tongue twisters work at the end of class. Click here! Alliteration lesson!
Before Reading- Onomatopoeia Shel Silverstein also uses onomatopoeia in his poems. To better understand onomatopoeia, click on the link below and complete the activity. If you complete this task, your work could be posted on the internet! Good luck! Click here!
Before Reading- Free Verse Sometimes Silverstein uses Free Verse in his poems. To find out about Free Verse, click on the site below and read some of the poems. What do you notice about them? Free Verse Poems
During Reading Read the packet of poems from Shel Silverstein, “Picture Puzzle Piece” “Twistable Turnable Man” “Buckin’ Bronco” “The Oak and the Rose” for fun. Now go back and look at which poetic elements Silverstein uses to create these poems. Write down what you notice in each of the poems.
After Reading Now that we have read the selected poems and thought about alliteration, onomatopoeia, and free verse, go back into A Light in the Attic and find some other poems in which Shel Silverstein uses these poetic elements. Write the titles down to share later.
Beyond Reading Take a look back in the book. Notice how Shel uses the English Language to be so creative. Pick a few of his poems to look at and create your own poem similar to his. Create an alliteration poem, an onomatopoeia poem and a free verse poem.
Beyond Reading After reading the selected poems from Shel Silverstein, you may want to learn more about his exciting life. Go to the site below and learn about his life. Pick three interesting facts and turn them into a poem about his life. You may model your poem after one of his poems. Shel Silverstein's Life
Rubric 5 Students created an alliteration, onomatopoeia, and free verse poems are created correctly. Work shows care and effort. 4Students created two of the three poems (alliteration, onomatopoeia, and free verse) correctly. Work shows care and effort. 3Student incorrectly created two of the three poems. Work shows some care and effort. 2Students incorrectly created two of the three poems and need help on the final poem. Work is sloppy and careless. 1. Students did not create the three poems correctly. Work does not show care or effort.
I hope that you feel better about poetry after reading a few poems from A Light in the Attic. You should be able to identify the different types of poetry, and the different types of literary tools authors use.
Congratulations!! You have finished this lesson. Make sure all of you work is collected and organized. Hand it in to Ms. Pansius.