Title – Word Beads: Writing Funny Poetry

By – Sarah Hollenbeck

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Secondary Subjects -

Grade Level – 2

Objectives: The second grade students will:

• Listen to selected poems written by Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky
• Assemble their Word Beads into poetic phrases and/or sentences
• Develop a poem(s) using some or all of their Word Bead words
• Write poem(s) into Poetry Notebooks

Materials:

• 
  Where the Sidewalk Ends
  
  by Shel Silverstein
• 
  For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone
  
  by Jack Prelutsky
• Word Beads
• Poetry Notebooks

Initiation: The teacher will ask his/her students what "funny" means. Do they know someone who is funny? Have they ever read funny books? Have they ever read funny poetry? Have the students describe what makes each person or thing funny. Tell the students that they will be listening to several "funny" poems and using their Word Beads to create their own funny poetry.

Procedure:

1. The teacher will read several poems from
   
   Where the Sidewalk Ends
   
   and
   
   For Laughing Out Loud: Poems to Tickle Your Funnybone
   
   .
2. After reading several poems from each book, the teacher will ask his/her students what they liked best about the poetry. What did the poetry make you think of? What was the author trying to get at? What types of words were used to make the poems funny?
3. The students will now use their Word Beads for word ideas and sequence.
4. Once Word Beads and additional thoughts are in order, students can write their poems into their Poetry Notebooks.
5. Students can write as many funny poems as they would like.

Closure: Students will share their favorite poem (or two) with a neighbor. Those willing can share their poem(s) with the entire class afterward.

Assessment: The teacher will be assessing the students’ participation as well as their effort in developing their own "funny" poem(s). The teacher will review the poems in the students’ Poetry Notebooks after the lesson.

Language Arts Framework (2003): In this lesson, students will:

• Select and apply strategies to facilitate word recognition and extend vocabulary development.
• Communicate with others to create interpretations and evaluations of written, oral, and visual texts.
• Recognize how literary devices and conventions capture the reader.
• Use descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive, and poetic modes.
• Prepare, publish, and present work appropriate to audience, purpose, and task.
• Conform to Standard English.
• Speak and write using standard word patterns (syntax) and word choices (diction).
• Use language appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.
• Use knowledge of their language and culture to improve competency in English (if appropriate).

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Sarah Hollenbeck

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