Title – JUICY, SUCCULENT, INTERESTING, and SENSATIONAL Descriptive Words and Synonyms

By – Kathleen Isberg

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Grade Level – 3rd

Duration – 10-15 minutes with a 45-minute writing component

Description:

This is a 3rd grade mini-lesson, with an optional writing activity, supporting the use of poetry to teach students understanding and application of descriptive language in reading and writing.

Colorado 21st Century Standard:

Interpret how the structure of written English contributes to the pronunciation and meaning of complex vocabulary.

Objectives:

• Use poetry techniques and poetic structure to craft a poem.
  
• Create mental images by visualizing text.
  
• Select language carefully to create images and mood.

Materials:

1. 
   Making Friends with Frankenstein – A Book of Monstrous Poems and Pictures
   
   by Colin McNaughton. ISBN 1-56402-962-X. (
   
   A fun title to use during the Halloween season
   
   .)
   
2. Class copies of the poem:
   
   I’m Talking Big!
   
   
3. Highlighter pens.
   
4. Student Thesaurus and Dictionary.
   
5. List of trait and character words for each student. (See list below.)
   
6. Projector – overhead or attached to a computer.
   
7. Pencil and Paper.

Trait & Character Word List:

Accomplished	Happy	Messy
Ambitious	Helpful	Mischievous
Beautiful	Humorous	Passionate
Brilliant	Fantastic	Peaceful
Clever	Friendly	Prosperous
Competitive	Generous	Quiet
Cooperative	Imaginative	Respectable
Creative	Intelligent	Sad
Dependable	Jovial	Serious
Exciting	Little	Trustworthy
Exuberant	Loud	Witty

Mini-Lesson:

• Teacher reads the poem
  
  I’m Talking Big!
  
  aloud using a large voice.

  • Ask students to
    
    highlight
    
    all the descriptive words.

  • Ask students to count how many descriptive words they found.
    
    There are 27.
    

  • Ask “Who can tell me what all these descriptive words mean?
    
    Big
    

  • “There are two descriptive words that don’t mean big, can anyone find them and tell me what they are?”
    
    Incredible and Unbelievable.
    
    (Be prepared for a student to reply I’m or talking. Explain subject and verb.)

  • Teacher and students read the poem together using their large voice.

• Teacher/Student Questioning Dialog:

  • Does the girl in the picture look big?
    
    No, but she feels big, enormous, vast and monumental.
    

  • What do we call words that mean the same thing – like the words big, enormous, vast and monumental?
    • 
      We call these words synonyms
      
      
    • To encourage complete sentences and oral language development, ask as one of your students who needs to work on replying in sentences to answer this question as a complete sentence.
    • 
      Words that mean the same thing are called synonyms.
      

  • Words make writing more interesting and not boring are called what?
    • 
      Descriptive
      
      
    • Continue to encourage complete sentences and oral language.
    • 
      Descriptive words are words that make writing more interesting.
      

  • Words that make us have a picture in our mind are called?
    • 
      Descriptive
      
      
    • Continue to encourage complete sentences and oral language.
    • 
      Descriptive words makes us see pictures in our mind.
      
      ”

  • So that means the words in our poem are both? What types of words?
    • 
      Synonyms and Descriptive
      
      
    • Continue to encourage complete sentences and oral language.
      
    • 
      The words in the poem are both descriptive and synonyms words.
      

  • Exactly most of the words are a synonym of big and are descriptive.

• Shared Writing:

  • Finish the mini lesson with shared writing. The teacher is the scribe and the guide supporting the imagery and mood of the poem; display the work as it progresses.
  • Select a messy or scary word for Halloween or as appropriate, such as
    
    Slimy
    
    or
    
    Oily
    
    or
    
    Cold
    
    or
    
    Stinky
    
    or
    
    Monstrous
    
    and have the students create an “I’m” poem. (
    
    This part of the lesson can be substituted for the modeled writing below.)
    

• Modeled Writing:

  • Project your writing on the white board.
    
  • Use the word “
    
    Accomplish
    
    ” and write an “I’m” poem.
  • Use the thesaurus and the dictionary to find words for the poem.
  • Make the poem no longer than 5 lines.
  • Explain why you choose to make your poem a little bit different.

    I’m ACCOMPLISHED! I’m completely, totally, utterly ACCOMPLISHED! I’m polite, well mannered, and a know-it-all! I’m ACCOMPLISHED!

Guided Writing:

Use the word “LITTLE” and have tablemates or other pairs work together to write an “I’m” poem. Have five of the student pairs share their work.

Independent Writing:

• Using the descriptive word list, have students look up synonyms for a word that describes their character and write an “I’m” poem.
• Allow the students to illustrate and share during writer’s workshop. This can become a permanent artifact.

Assessment:

• Determine if students need more time to complete their poems; this can be done in the next day’s workshop.
• Were they able to follow the author’s poem and the modeling to write their own poems?
• Were the student’s engaged in the process?
• Did they write a “I’m” poem and did they use descriptive language?

E-Mail

Kathleen Isberg

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