My visit to

LEROY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
17 November 2009
Grades 3 and 4

 

A NOTE FROM
Scotti Cohn
Author of 
One Wolf Howls

Dear LeRoy 3rd and 4th graders, 

I hope you enjoy the poems! Be sure to look for similes, metaphors, alliteration, and other devices we talked about!

If you would like to write a poem of your own, I would love to see it! You can send it to me at sm_cohn (at) hotmail.com. 

Happy Holidays!
Scotti Cohn

 

Is There a Poem in the Picture?

Students in 3rd and 4th grades at LeRoy Elementary School were asked to provide words, descriptions, and ideas based on pictures provided by me -- Scotti Cohn, author of One Wolf Howls.

Using the students' suggestions, I wrote six poems: a couplet, a free verse poem, an acrostic, a triplet, a cinquain, and a haiku.

 

Couplets
two lines of poetry whose last words rhyme

The winds of winter blast and blow!
Slogging through slush and crusty snow,
Slipping and sliding on sheets of ice
Isn't nice.

I wish I were a weather wizard!
I'd stuff this blowing, blasting blizzard
Into the deepest, darkest hole
At the North Pole.

 

 

Free verse
poetry written without proper rules about form, rhyme, rhythm, or meter

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)? 

Flying a kite,
Running,
Racing a long summer day
Across an endless field,
A boy having fun.

 

 

Acrostic
a poem in which the first letter of each line forms a word or phrase (vertically)

CLOWNS
Creepy in a comical way
Little and big, fat and thin
Old and young
Wild, weird hair
Noses like round, red apples
Sad eyes, happy eyes -- what do they see? 

 

 

Triplet
three lines; rhyming pattern can be AAA or ABA

See the hungry guinea pig; he's in an ugly mood.
He scolds another guinea pig who clearly has more food.
"I can't believe that you won't share. You're really awfully rude!"

 

 

Cinquain / Pattern #3

Line 1: A noun
Line 2: Two adjectives
Line 3: Three -ing words 
Line 4: A phrase
Line 5: Another word for the noun

Fun
Smart, happy 
Jumping, swimming, splashing
Best friends
Exciting

 

 

Haiku
a 17-syllable verse form;
three metrical units of 
5, 7, and 5 syllables

We carved a snow doll,
With hair like white ocean waves
Huge, graceful, freezing.

 

 

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