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

Word Processing Valentines

This lesson combines the need to practice keyboarding skills, completion of rhymes, a popular children's book, and the motivational aspects of the Valentine holiday.

A lesson plan for grade 3 English Language Arts

By Kay Harrison

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • complete rhyming patterns found in short poems.
  • complete Valentine poems and type them using a word processing program.
  • use correct spacing, capitalization, and punctuation.
  • print Valentine poems and decorate them.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

90 minutes

Materials/resources

worksheet with incomplete Valentine poems
children’s book-Roses are Pink Your Feet Really Stink by Diane DeGroat Publisher: Mulberry Books; Reprint edition (January 1997) ISBN: 0688152201

scissors, crayons, markers

Technology resources

computer lab, printer
word processing program like MSWorks, Kidworks,etc.

Pre-activities

Read the children’s book, Roses are Pink Your Feet Really Stink, by Diane DeGroat. Discuss that in the story, the students had to write Valentine poems for everyone in the class. Discuss how the poems in the story rhymed and how many lines they had.

Activities

  1. In computer lab, discuss the worksheet of incomplete Valentine poem ideas. Get the students to give examples orally of ways to complete the poems and make them rhyme. Have students notice the rhythm of the words and syllables.
  2. Students then type at least 3 of the 12 poem examples. They align the first lines of each poem. They start each line with a capital letter and end each line with the appropriate punctuation mark.
  3. Students save their work and print out a copy to embellish.
  4. Students can trace hearts or freely draw heart shapes over the poems. Then they cut them out. They decorate with other common symbols of Valentine’s Day.
  5. Students can give these Valentines to anyone they choose.

Assessment

Examine the student work for use of capitals, punctuation, correct spelling, completion, and alignment.

Examine the finished Valentines for overall decoration and appearance.

Supplemental information

children’s book-Roses are Pink Your Feet Really Stink by Diane DeGroat

Related websites

Possible further source of poem examples, free clip art to embellish Valentine poems —

http://www.holidays.net

Comments

Variation- Clip art can be added to poems at the computer.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

Computer Technology Skills (2005)

Grade 3

  • Goal 3: The learner will use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply, and communicate information.
    • Objective 3.03: Use word processing as a tool to write, edit, and publish sentences, paragraphs, and stories. Strand - Keyboard Utilization/Word Processing/Desk Top Publishing

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 3

  • Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.
    • Objective 2.03: Read a variety of texts, including:
      • fiction (short stories, novels, fantasies, fairy tales, fables).
      • nonfiction (biographies, letters, articles, procedures and instructions, charts, maps).
      • poetry (proverbs, riddles, limericks, simple poems).
      • drama (skits, plays).
  • Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, written, and visual texts.
    • 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 4.10: Explore technology as a tool to create a written product.
  • Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively.
    • Objective 5.01: Use correct capitalization (e.g., geographical place names, holidays, special events, titles) and punctuation (e.g., commas in greetings, dates, city and state; underlining book titles; periods after initials and abbreviated titles; apostrophes in contractions).