LESSON

PLAN

DATE: November 25, 2014

TIME: 9:05

CLASS: E42

DURATION: 60 minutes

SCHOOL: McCaig Elementary

SUBJECT: Language Arts

Topic: Poetry and Acrostic Poems

Adaptations/
Modifications

*Five students will be with the resource teacher to learn about poetry and acrostic
poems.
*They will be participating in the class discussion and work in a group of five while
the other are working in pairs. They will be given acrostic poems as a form of poetry
for the entire unit and project. They will start brainstorming in their group while the
others are working on acrostic poems in pairs. I will be sitting at a small table with
them to guide them and brainstorm together.
*I will be using technology in order to make it more engaging and interesting for my
students with ADHD.
I will be teaching poetry as a unit. Later on, when all forms of poetry will be
introduced, all students will give their top three choices on the forms of poetry they
would like to work on and I will place the students into groups of four. Students
already know how to write acrostic poems since they have learnt it in grade 3,
therefore the five students with special needs, which two of them are at cycle 1 level
1 level, will be in the group for acrostic poems. They will together decide a theme on
what they would like their acrostic poems to be about. Students will work as a group,
as well, as have the extra support of the resource teacher to learn new strategies and
techniques to write poetry and get the extra help needed to write their poems. When
they will be writing their individual acrostic poems , they will be able to choose their
own theme.

OBJECTIVES
(CURRICULU
M DOMAIN)

Students will:
Work with a partner
Create their own acrostic poem
Use their prior knowledge about poetry
Explain different forms of poetry they already know about
Participate in a class discussion
Learn about poetry
Explain what is an acrostic poem

GROUP SIZE
&
MATERIALS

Materials:
Book: Writers Toolbox by Nancy Loewen
White board
Writing booklet
Pencil
Resource:
SMART board
Brain pop: video poetry
https://www.brainpop.com/
Acrostic poems from children around the world:
http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/dhummon/acrostics/submitted_by_childr
en.html

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES:
Competency 2: To communicate clearly in the language of instruction both orally and in writing, using
correct grammar, in various contexts related to teaching.
-I will be teaching language arts therefore using correct english grammatical terms and spelling words
correctly will be very important. I will be discussing about poetry and acrostic poems with the class
and record student ideas and what they know on the white board.
Competency 6: To plan, organize and supervise a class in such a way as to promote students
learning and social development.
-The lesson will start as a class discussion where all students will be invited to share and use
their prior knowledge about poetry and make connections. Students will also be paired with
one of their classmates in order for the smooth running of the classroom when writing acrostic
poems.
Competency 7: To adapt his or her teaching to the needs and characteristics of students with
learning disabilities, maladjustments, or handicaps.
-During this lesson, I will be using technology to make it interactive and engaging for all
students. Students with special needs will be participating in a class discussion and then be
placed in a group of five to start working on their acrostic poem.
Competency 8: To integrate information and communications technologies(ICT) in the
preparation and delivery of teaching/learning activities and for instructional management and
professional development purposes.
-I will be showing a video about poetry on Brainpop to introduce poetry and some different
concepts in poetry. I will later on during the lesson, use an activity to build an acrostic as a
class about teachers.

SUBJECT SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES:

Competency 1: To read and listen to literary, popular and information based-texts
-Students will be learning and reading as a class on the SMART board about poetry and acrostic
poems. They will be listening to a video about poetry and then they will be given examples of a few
acrostic poems. Furthermore, we will be making an acrostic poem as a class, as an example before they
make their own.
Competency 2: To write self-expressive, narrative and information based-texts
-Students will be creating and writing an acrostic poem about their partner, which will be chosen by the
teacher. They will have to use what they have learned during the class about acrostic poems and what
they need to include in each poem in order to make it complete.
Competency 4: To use language to communicate and learn
-Students will be participating in a class discussion about poetry using their prior knowledge as well as
learning new information about poems and making connections to personal experiences.
Students will also read out the poem they have written to their partner.
CROSS CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES:
Organizes his or her work:
Students will have to use their knowledge about what is needed in an acrostic poem and find good
describing words or sentences or every letter in their partners name.
Works in a team:
-Students will be working with a partner and create an acrostic poem about their partner. Students must
know their partner in order to describe them in the poem effectively through their name.

TIME

LESSON
Introduction

15
Ask the students to put everything away. They should only have a pencil and eraser on their
minutes desk.
``If I say the word poetry, what first comes to mind?``
Introduction to poetry and forms of poetry using prior knowledge and discussion
What is poetry?
*Write the driving question: What is poetry? On the white board.
*Brainstorm and encourage the students to participate and use their prior knowledge on what

TIME

LESSON
they know about poetry.
* Record all students` ideas on the white board.
Once students have shared their definition of poetry, ask them: ``What forms of poetry do
you know exist?``
*Write: Forms of poetry on the white board and record the students ideas

5
Video: Poetry on the website brainpop, which explains to the students what is poetry.
minutes Link: https://www.brainpop.com/
5
Have a small discussion about what was said in the video
minutes Ask the students:
What do you remember?
What is poetry?
What tools do poets use to create their work?
Do all poems rhyme?
Discuss rhyme and metaphor briefly
*Explain to the students that to see the rhythm of a poem you can read it out loud. Also
explain that they are not obliged to use metaphors in their poems it is just another way to
describe feelings or objects using different words.
Turn on the SMART board and show the book ``Writer`s Toolbox`` by Nancy Loewen, Read
p. 67 and 68 to the students and let the students follow along on the SMART board. This will
allow students get a better understanding of poetry.
Look back to the white board with all the forms of poetry and explain to the students that
there are many forms of poetry that exist and that we will learn a total of 7 forms of poetry in
the next few classes. Explain to the students that we will be looking at different kinds of
poetry next class, but that today we will be focusing and learning about Acrostic poems.
Ask the students: What is an Acrostic poem?
*Record student ideas on the board under the section : Acrostic poems

10
minutes Turn to page 86 and ask a student to read tool #7: Acrostic poems. Then discuss acrostic
poems and add on to the ideas already on the white board to have a good understanding of
acrostic poems.
Show examples of acrostic poems.
Link: http://college.holycross.edu/faculty/dhummon/acrostics/submitted_by_children.html
2
minutes *These acrostic poems are about different themes and are written by other children around
the world.

TIME

LESSON

Go to the other white board in the classroom where an attached booklet of papers is attached.
Choose the word: TEACHER and ask the students to give their ideas to write an acrostic
poem about a teacher by giving descriptive words or sentences with the first letter.
10
T
minutes
E
A
C
H
E
R
*Remind the students to raise their hand if they want to speak
*This will provide another example to the students of an acrostic poem that we will have
done as a class.
Activity
Ask the students to take out their writing booklet
Group the students with a partner
Explain to the students that their challenge is to write an acrostic poem about their partner
using their partners name
Example: Alyssa and Ethan are paired together.
15
minutes Alyssa writes an acrostic poem about Ethan
Energetic
Trustworthy
Happy
Amazing
Nice
*Put a timer on the SMART board and set it up to 15 minutes.
Link:
Let the students know that they have 15 minutes to discuss and write an acrostic poem about
their partner using their partners name.
*Show the timer on the board so the students are aware of the time when working.
Circulate around the classroom to help and look at students work.
Look at the teams who are working well and quietly and give them points on class dojo.
Work and brainstorm with the 5 students who are starting the project.
Specific Targeted Goal for Development: For this lesson, I am a little worried about time
management. Since it is the first lesson of the unit, I am unsure about the knowledge students
have about poetry which will affect the time of the discussion as well as explanations. I
really hope that students have the time to work with a partner and writ a small acrostic poem

TIME

LESSON
about each other. As well, I am a little worried that it is not engaging and hands enough of a
lesson, even though my unit will be very student centered. Hopefully the students will enjoy
the lesson.
Follow-up activity: This lesson is part of poetry unit with nine lessons in total. Next class,
many other forms of poetry will be introduced. Students will then rite their top three choices
of forms of poetry. They will then be placed into groups and be assigned to a specific form of
poetry. Every group will have a booklet based on their form of poetry. They will together
brainstorm and come up with a theme to write their poems. Later on, individually they will
come up with descriptive words to help them organize their ideas for their poem. They will
be writing a rough copy, peer edit, change at least one descriptive word in their poem and
write a good copy on Google Classroom. Furthermore, when all groups with be done their
good copy of their poems and have made it colorful, every group will present and teach to
the class their form of poetry as well as read their poems. Poems will then be put on the
hallway walls and students will be assessed on content, creativity, grammar and spelling, oral
presentation and self-assessment.