Bethany Linkous

Bethany Linkous Stefoni Shaw Poetry Assignment

Learning Context: Students are in a second grade heterogeneous classroom. They are beginning a unit on Native American Indians.

Plan: The students will be learning how to create an acrostic poem. They will be connecting their acrostic poems to the Cherokee Indians.

Day 1:

1. We will investigate what an acrostic poem is through the books Silver Seeds by Paul Paolilli and Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic by Steven Schnur. 2. We will read aloud the book Sequoyah by James Rumford. Sequoyah was a famous Cherokee Indian known for developing an alphabet for the Cherokee language. 3. After reading this book, we will list on the Smartboard words and phrases that describe Sequoyah. As a class we will create an acrostic poem based on Sequoyah.

Day 2:

1. We will present some background knowledge on the Cherokee Indians. The students will watch a short video (www.minnow.net) on the Smartboard. This video focuses on Native American life from the viewpoint of a young Native American boy. 2. The students will begin researching information on the Cherokee Indians. They will be rotating in centers reading books and text that we create on their instructional level. They will be asked to answer questions based on what they read. There will be several kid-friendly websites that the students will have the opportunity to explore.

Optional: If time is allotted there is a short video called Cherokee: Indians of North America that the students can watch. This can provide them with more in depth knowledge of the Cherokee Indians. Day 3: 1. After the students research information on the Cherokee Indians , they will be guided through a mini-lesson. This mini-lesson will focus on using precise description and interesting word choice in their poems. These are important features of an acrostic poem.

Mini-Lesson: We will display the Sequoyah poem that we created on Day 1. This will be reviewed along with characteristics of acrostic poems. We will bring in corn for the students and explain that corn was an important food that the Cherokee Indians grew in their gardens. They will take descriptive notes on the corn. The students will create an acrostic poem on corn. The students will share their poems with a partner who will highlight the words and phrases that make use of interesting and elaborate words to describe corn.

Day 4: 1. After the mini-lesson, we will invite the students to create an acrostic poem based on the Cherokee Indians. We will provide them with their invitation and rubric. Students will revise and edit their poems with a partner. 2. The students will illustrate their final poems and share them with their classmates. The poems will be put on display. Poetry Rubric

Yes No Possible Points Is your acrostic poem based on the Cherokee Indians? 5

Did you use the acrostic poem format? 5

Does your acrostic poem describe the Cherokee Indians using 10 interesting and elaborate words?

Does your poem include accurate and factual information about the 10 Cherokee Indians?

Did you work hard and stay on task? 5

Total Points: 35