The Five W's
Poem
Who? What? When? Where? Why? Use these questions to write a
non-rhyming poem. Here's how:
Line 1: Who or what is the poem about
Line 2: What action is happening?
Line 3: When does the action take place? (a time)
Line 4: Where does the action take place? (a place)
Line 5: Why does this action happen? (a reason)
Example:
The laughing children
Splashing in the water
On a hot July day
At the neighborhood swimming pool
To just try and keep cool
Parody
This parody is a comical or humorous one based on a Mother Goose
nursery rhyme. Minor changes are made to the original poem. Here are some
examples:
There was an old woman
Who was very lazy
She had so many kids
She thought she'd go crazy!
Humpty Dumpty
Was quite tough
He could even play sports
That were very rough!
Rhythm Poetry
This is an easy poem
to write because it follows such a definite pattern. It's a good one to use
when studying adjectives! Any subject can be used as the main idea. Here is an
example:
Friends,
Friends, Friends
Girl friends
Boy friends
Neat, smart, funny friends
Short, tall, cool friends
Those are just a few!
Happy friends
Sad friends
Awesome, peppy, enthusiastic friends
Poor, lonely, upset friends
Weird friends too!
Thoughtful friends
Kind friends
And don't forget your teacher friends!
Last of all
Best of all
I like BEST friends!
Here is the pattern:
adj. noun
adj. noun
adj.,adj., adj. noun
adj., adj., adj. noun
Those are just a few!
adj. noun
adj. noun
adj., adj., adj. noun
adj., adj., adj. noun
adj. noun too!
adj. noun
adj. noun
And don't forget (adj.) noun
Last of all
Best of all
I like (adj.) noun!
Acrostic
Everyone has done an
acrostic poem at one time or another by using the first letter of a word or
phrase and completing a sentence that fits the beginning letter. They are often
used spelling the name of a holiday such as the one below.
C arolers singing under the street lights
H olly wrapped around a wreath
R eady to open gifts from Santa
I cicles hanging on the tree
S anta's reindeer on the roof
T urkey roasting in the oven
M other running to and fro
A ngel sparkling on the treetop
S miles all around
For variety, an
acrostic can be used in other subject areas such as science for endangered
animals, weather, etc. Children can write an acrostic for a particular state or
country. They can also be used as a comprehension tool. Spelling out the name
of the book or story read and using the title as an acrostic will challenge
children to be specific in creating sentences to go with the letters. Sometimes
we can't limit them to using the letter as the initial one, but somewhere
within the sentence or phrase such as the following:
Was A lumberjack (this
phrase was used for the A in Paul Bunyan written as an acrostic)
What’s
Your Name?
This is simply an acrostic poem
where the letters of the child’s first and last names form the beginning of each
line. Phrases describing the child follow. It’s a good poem to start off a year
and place on the bulletin board. This form can also be used with any proper
nouns such as the name of a city, state, etc.
Example:
S ometimes silly
A lways on the go
L oves her parents
L ikes broccoli
Y ells at her brother
A sks lots of questions
D oes her homework every night
A rt is her favorite subject
M akes a lot of noise
S ings in the shower
