A race with grace: Sports poetry in motion
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=920
A lesson plan for grades 3–5 English Language Arts
Students explore the aesthetics of sports in this lesson that explores poetry writing. After the teacher shares several sports-related websites with students, the class creates a word wall illustrating terms that might cover a wide range of movement. Then, once students have responded to questions about how they relate to movement, the class participates in a discussion about how grace, beauty and aesthetics are expressed through movement. In groups, students create a classroom Sports/Movement Center using words and images from in-class photographs websites and other media resources. After students have taken pictures of each other as they move about the gym or playground, they create a visual presentation of their images and words to share with the class. Once the teacher models how to choose words for expressing their ideas, students write and illustrate a poem that shows the grace and beauty of bodies in motion. Following the writing demonstration, students develop an assessment rubric for the evaluation of their poetry. When students have completed their poems, they share with the class using a variety of mediums. Readwritethink suggests several extension activities and provides opportunities for student reflection.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 3
- Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
- Objective 1.04: Increase sight vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and writing vocabulary through:
- wide reading.
- word study.
- listening.
- discussion.
- book talks.
- book clubs.
- seminars.
- viewing.
- role play.
- studying author's craft.
- Objective 1.04: Increase sight vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and writing vocabulary through:
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.03: Share written and oral products in a variety of ways (e.g., author's chair, book making, publications, discussions, presentations).
- Objective 4.07: Compose a variety of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama selections using self-selected topics and forms (e.g., poems, simple narratives, short reports, learning logs, letters, notes, directions, instructions).
Grade 4
- Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
- Objective 1.04: Increase reading and writing vocabulary through:
- wide reading.
- word study.
- knowledge of homophones, synonyms, antonyms, homonyms.
- knowledge of multiple meanings of words.
- writing process elements.
- writing as a tool for learning.
- seminars.
- book clubs.
- discussions.
- examining the author's craft.
- Objective 1.04: Increase reading and writing vocabulary through:
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.04: Share self-selected texts from a variety of genres (e.g., poetry, letters, narratives, essays, presentations).
- Objective 4.07: Compose fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self-selected and assigned topics and forms (e.g., personal and imaginative narratives, research reports, diaries, journals, logs, rules, instructions).
Grade 5
- Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write.
- Objective 1.03: Increase reading and writing vocabulary through:
- wide reading.
- word study.
- word reference materials.
- content area study.
- writing process elements.
- writing as a tool.
- debate.
- discussions.
- seminars.
- examining the author's craft.
- Objective 1.03: Increase reading and writing vocabulary through:
- Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
- Objective 4.07: Compose a variety of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using self-selected topic and format (e.g., poetry, research reports, news articles, letters to the editor, business letters).
