Looking for truly imaginative poems? Read Shel Silverstein! Write creative verses and display them on a beam of light.

• 1.

  Shel Silverstein shook the world of children's poetry in 1974 with the publication of Where the Sidewalk Ends. It is the top-selling children's poetry book. Read some of his poems from A Light in the Attic or Where the Sidewalk Ends.

• 2.

  Read poetry by other poets, too, and compare their styles, topics, and other characteristics.

• 3.

  Use your imagination to create a great story in poetry! What's going on that intrigues you? What animals or behaviors do you find captivating? Write your draft with Crayola® Colored Pencils.

• 4.

  Ask a classmate or an adult to read and critique it with you. How can you improve your imagery and clarity of ideas? Edit your poem until you are satisfied that it is the best you can write. Check spelling and grammar.

• 5.

  Draw a flashlight on paper with a wide beam of light coming from it. Color it in with Crayola Washable Markers. Cut it out with Crayola Scissors. Use a Crayola Glue Stick to attach it to black construction paper.

• 6.

  With a Crayola Fine Tip Marker, copy your poem in the beam of light coming from the flashlight.

Standards

• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Adaptations

• Encourage students to create a cover for their individual flashlight beams. This cover should be illustrated with an imagined scene representing the original poem. The title of the poem is written on the cover along with the author's name.
• Organize a class reading of original poems. Encourage students to dress up as they imagine a poet would for a performance. Props could also be used. Have each student perform his poem for classmates and parents, if available. Consider taking a digital photograph of each student poem and projecting it on the stage as the student performs.