LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

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

Provider: IRA/NCTE

About this resource

Appropriate grades
3–5
Subjects
English language arts (literature, writing), diverse learners (multiple intelligences)
Provider
IRA/NCTE

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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 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 4.04: Use planning strategies (with assistance) to generate topics and to organize ideas (e.g., drawing, mapping, discussing, listing).
    • 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).
    • Objective 4.09: Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres (e.g., personal narrative, short report, friendly letter, directions and instructions).

Grade 4

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.03: Make oral and written presentations using visual aids with an awareness of purpose and audience.
    • 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).
    • Objective 4.09: Produce work that follows the conventions of particular genres (e.g., personal and imaginative narrative, research reports, learning logs, letters of request, letters of complaint).

Grade 5

  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • Objective 4.03: Make oral and written presentations to inform or persuade selecting vocabulary for impact.
    • 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).