Aims for teaching rhyming/rhythmic poetry to pupils
To show the pupils how you can paint a picture with words.
To demonstrate to the pupil how the senses are used in words – e.g. sounds, smells, what you see and sometimes taste. Also how the feelings of the poet can be expressed through the poem and how the feelings of the reader can be affected because of the words.
To show pupils how personification, metaphors, similes etc. can be used within a poem.
To demonstrate how rhythm and rhyme can make poetry fun, and also how it can help with literacy.
To build vocabulary, to vary words, using metaphors, personification, similes etc.
For developing sentence structure in an interesting way.
By exciting the children’s imaginations, and by adding a fun way to learn language.
To bring in short stories which relate, perhaps, to experiences and to provide talking points in classrooms.
By teaching factual material using a poem as a base.
To continue the fun of language by verse as a continuation to nursery rhymes and songs such as they learn at playschool.
OBJECTIVES:
The children will be able to recognise ”personification” in a poem and give their own examples of this.
They will learn the basics of “rhythm” in poetry and be able to measure the beats of rhythm in each line by clapping. (four beats).
They will be able to write a line which contains four rhythmic beats.
They will recognise rhyme as words which sound alike and, on second reading will be able to supply the rhyming words themselves.
They will talk about the difference between having a picnic on a cold day, such as in the poem, and the kind of picnic they would like – on a warm day.
30 MINUTE LESSON PLAN
5 minutes;
Introduction to the poem: This is a fun poem where the characters are enjoying things which are quite different to what we would like to do on a cold day.
Do you remember what we word we use when we give human qualities to non- human things?
Personification. E.g.: The moon smiles; the waves dance;
Write your own personification: The wind ----------- (whistles, sings etc.).
In this poem the two friends are called Winter and Ice and they have a picnic together (as humans do) – So Josie has “personified” them in her writing, making them as human beings.
10 minutes;
Listen to first verse. – Read slowly.
Introduce “Rhythm” to children: A poem is often like a song. You can count beats in each line: Listen to this poem:
Winter (1) - is wearing (2) - his cosy (3) - white vest (4)
Today (1) he’s looking (2) - his very (3) – best (4).
Get children to follow you in clapping as they read this.
How many beats does this poem have to each line? (4)
This poem is simple for the children because there are four regular beats in each line throughout the poem.
Get the children to think of a line of writing for themselves which would have four beats: e.g.: The dog (1) - is walking (2) - across the (3) grass;
The man (1) – is wearing (2) – a funny (3) – hat.
Not all poems are written this way, but this sort of poem is popular, especially when rhyming words are used.
5 minutes;
Which words rhyme in this verse? Read the first verse again.
5 minutes;
Read the rest of the poem to the class.
What did the two friends enjoy about their picnic which you wouldn’t enjoy?
Eating “ice burgers” - explain the play on words: Iceberg – “ ice burgers” – to link with a food which children like: beef burgers. Snow; iced rocks. They might like an iced cake – but the icing is made with sugar, not actually ice. Freezing cold water.
Well you might like to eat ice-cream and drink freezing cold water if it was a really hot day, but on a cold day you may prefer to drink something hot. The children can pick out other things which are things they would not want to do on a cold day.
5 minutes;
Read the poem one more time, pausing at the rhyming words to give the children the opportunity to supply them themselves.
HOMEWORK
Write a line of poetry to follow this line:
Summer is wearing a magnificent gown.
It must have the same rhythm and a rhyming word.
Copyright 2006