Proud Poetry

1. Begin by reading poetry from “Flamingos on the Roof” with students and briefly review the illustrations that accompany each/the poem. Encourage students to make connections that the artist wanted to stress between the words and illustrations.
2. Assign or have students choose a poem to emulate; supervise them, individual or in small groups, writing their own version based on something in the original poem.
3. Demonstrate basic 3-D folding, cutting and gluing for students. Provide time for children to practice. Have them create a 3-D illustration for their newly created poem. You can encourage primarily paper cutting for details, using marker details or even the glitzy metallic and glitter series of crayons and markers created by Crayola.
4. Assemble the group of class poems and illustrations and display. Instigate a class discussion and critique of how successful students/groups were in emulating the original poem and how well their illustrations enhance the poetry.

LA: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

LA: Explain major differences between poems, drama, and prose, and refer to the structural elements of poems (e.g., verse, rhythm, meter) and drama (e.g., casts of characters, settings, descriptions, dialogue, stage directions) when writing or speaking about a text.

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 (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing by planning, revising and editing.

SS: Explore and describe similarities and differences in the ways groups, societies, and cultures address similar human needs and concerns.

SS: Describe ways in which language and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people.

SS: Demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places view the world differently.

VA: Collaboratively set goals and create artworks that are meaningful and have purpose to the makers.

VA: Analyze components in visual imagery that convey messages.

Take a digital picture of each of the 3-D illustrations the students/groups made and bind together in a class book. Possibly create one for each student to keep.

Have students choose their favorite poem and create a totally different illustration for it.

Make this a project that you revisit throughout the school year and have students publish their own poetry book for the year. Make duplicates and build a class library.