Winter Expressions

Teaching Theme of the Week

from Education World®

Write a winter "shape poem." Display the unique poems on a classroom bulletin board. (Grades PreK-8)

Subjects: Arts & Humanities, Science

Grade Levels: PreK-2, 3-5, 6-8

Objectives
Students

• write an original poem,
• draw the outline of an object that complements the poem, and
• copy the poem inside the outline in a pattern.

Keywords
winter, poetry, drawing

Materials Needed

• plain white paper
• writing paper
• pencils and pens

Procedure
Winter brings all kinds of beautiful images to mind. In this activity, students choose one symbol of the season as the focus for a winter poem.

Ask your students to name some objects and ideas they associate with the season of winter. These may be listed on a board or chart. Suggestions might include ice, icicles, snow, pine trees, cold, wind, snowmen, and winter sports, but there are many more. Share some winter poetry that you enjoy or a few of the examples given on the Read a Book -- Write a Poem project page by Marci McGowan. Talk about how the poems explore the topics and create images in the mind.

Students might pay special attention to the “shape poems” written by two of the classes, since they will be writing shape poems; but a shape poem could be combined with any other poetry format (for example, an acrostic, senses, or cinquain poem).

Give the students time to think about and select a topic for their own winter poems as you distribute writing paper. For inspiration, students may search through images contained in The Amazing Picture Machine (they might type in words such as winter or snow) or classroom resource materials. Tell them to consider an object that relates to this topic/poem as they work because it will be displayed in a shape.

Introduce students to shape poetry with another example of a shape poem, Pine Tree. Shape poems need not follow a specific format or appear in a specific length unless you so choose. After the students have finished their writing, they may begin to sketch the outline of a related object. (A poem about snow might be written in a snowflake shape, while one about wind could be formed into lines blown from a cloud.) When the students are ready, they may trace the shape onto plain paper and copy their poetry inside it. You may have students add color to their work for a more striking classroom display.

Assessment
Poems should meet classroom writing guidelines, be appropriate in nature, and appear in an original, logical shape that adds to the meaning.

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