For the poetry lesson, I set up the lesson so that we would read through a book three times. The first time was to teach the movement that would go with certain rhymes or pages, which meant there was a lot of stop and go while reading the book.
The second time was me reading the book smoothly so they could do the movement more fluidly as I read it. They had to remember quickly what they had learned and spring into action!
The third time I told all of the students that they had to pick their favorite movement and only do their favorite when I read their specific page. If they weren’t dancing, they had to sit down and watch as others did their part. I gave them a big pep talk about being confident in their choice and not giving in to peer pressure or changing their mind because their friend is doing something different.
A valuable lesson I learned from planning this lesson was the value of having a teacher and mentor to help with ideas and lesson planning. I am so lucky to have Ms. Jones and my mentor, Kori Wakamatsu, to help me throughout the process because they have so much experience and advice to help me out.
I sent in the lesson plan a little later than I wanted to when preparing to teach about poetry. I got some amazing feedback from Ms. Jones and Kori, but because of the limited time it was hard to change anything in the lesson and I ended up teaching my original plan. I definitely learned the importance of giving enough time to send in a lesson plan so I could get proper feedback and make necessary changes if needed to make the lesson the best it could be.
Here's the lesson plan:
Arts Bridge Poetry Lesson
Objective: By the end of 35 minutes, the 4th grade students in Ms. Jones’ class will understand rhyming in poetry by working in groups to accomplish tasks and practicing rhyming.
Materials:
- Book: Wolf’s Coming by Joe Kulka
- Drum
- Speaker and playlist
Setting up Expectations:
Review rules and go over call and respond with drum, “Avengers Assemble” and practice “Hear ye, hear ye, all hail the queen!”
Experience and Identify:
Poetry: literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.
Investigate and Explore:
Command: When I say, “Wolf’s Coming”, everyone crouch and stay completely still.
As we go through the book, I will ask people to think of rhymes of the words to then be my
helpers to show and explain what will happen.
1- Hurry, hurry! Don’t be slow! Follow me. C’mon, let’s go!
Lines of 3-5 students, copy the line leader
2- Faster, faster! Take my hand! Run back home like we planned.
Grab hands in a group and travel around the room. Can’t let go and need to be aware of other groups. Use all levels! High, medium, and low.
3- Quickly! Quickly! Get inside! Shut the door, better hide.
Four people hold hands, leave one hand open to let people “inside” - be super-fast!
*Problem solve amount of people holding hands or making shapes
Make positive shapes in their negative space. First group will hold shape and then the others will try to use the space around them to make another interesting shape.
4- Glowing ember eyes appear. Pointed ears strain to hear.
Pick anyone in the class, and your goal is to never be in their vision by hiding behind other
people (not desks) can roll, crawl, etc. Choose creative locomotor steps.
5- Surprise!!
Your best dance moves!
Create and perform:
- Everyone freeze in a shape and pick your favorite of 1-5.
- When I say your number, move and perform for the class.
- Stay dedicated to the number you chose, even if you’re alone!
*Some suggestions that I wish I had time to implement:
- Create mini duets to talk about rhyming and have students create some type of movement where the beginning is different but the ending is the same - just like rhyming words!
- There could have been more emphasis on rhythm. We could have repeated phrases from the book and either clapped them or counted syllables, stomped, or any other way to find more rhythm in the movement and in the story.