for elementary and middle school students
I like to start each semester with an easy-peasy assignment. Many reluctant writers take my class, so I have to hook them in quickly with something they can succeed at with little effort. I use the acrostic, diamante, and cinquain poems usually for the first class of a spring semester. I often receive a sprinkling of new students in spring, when some parents find their child needs a writing nudge.
I found two cute acrostic images on the net years ago, and my handout starts out with those, as well as two acrostics I wrote. I live in beautiful, big California, hence the CA poem.
CATS
C urled up in a small fluff-ball,
A ll snug and warm,
T hinking of mice and milk,
S lowly falling asleep.
California
C oyotes and locals eat chili peppers.
A rt reigns from Hollywood to San Francisco.
L ucky lookers spy passing whales.
I mmigrants galore make us strong!
F olks wear sunglasses even at night.
O aks are majestic in our golden hills.
R ose Parades float among cowboys and bands!
N orthern Sierras and southern deserts,
I ncluding beaches and bays we play,
A lways we love our beautiful state.
I start with the acrostic. We read the poems aloud, then I write WRITING in a column on the board, and we fill in the letters.
W ith a pencil
R ainbow colors in our words
I nteresting facts on paper
T ons of terrific books
I nky fun to read
N ational Geographic around the world
G reat writers are we!
Next I have the students write the name of an animal or simply their own name to create their acrostic. After about 10 minutes we move on to the diamante poem. Again, we read the handout.
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DIAMANTE: a seven-line poem that takes the shape of a diamond. A poem of Opposites.
Bananas Lion
Long, smooth Majestic, proud
Peeling, squashing, sharing Roaring, snarling, prowling
Crescent, sweetness, heart, crunch Mane, muscle . . . Fleece, fluff
Cutting, cooking, eating Bleating, leaping, grazing
Circular, colorful Meek, gentle
Apple Lamb
Diamante has 7 lines:
Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Two vivid adjectives that describe Noun
Line 3: Three interesting -ing action verbs that describe Noun
Line 4: Two nouns about Noun and two nouns about Antonym
Line 5: Three interesting -ing action verbs that describe Antonym
Line 6: Two vivid adjectives that describe Antonym
Line 7: Antonym
Begin each line with a capital letter, and remember your commas. Do not use ending punctuation. Add an ellipsis ... in Line 4 if you like. An ellipsis indicates something is omitted that the reader understands (which will be clear by the end of the poem; it is used in a puzzle here). Diamantes need no title.
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I take suggestions for opposites and write those on the board, day/night, war/peace, cat/dog, heat/cold, dinosaur/bird, reader/writer, etc. I write the numbers 1 through 7 in a column to compose the poem. After choosing antonyms, we add in lines, 1 and 7. Then we work on lines 2, 3 and 4 continuing to finish the poem. I use the ellipsis to remind them of the antonym subject change in line 4.
1 Sun
2 bright, hot
3 shining, burning, turning
4 fire, gas . . . rock, craters
5 reflecting, waning, leaving
6 bumpy, cold
7 Moon
Again I give them 10 minutes to start their own diamante or to at least come up with opposites they might like to write about as homework. If we have time I include the cinquain as a third poem or as a challenge for homework. This one has a looser structure and uses synonyms, so it’s fun for some students. I number 1 through 5 on the board and start with the synonyms on lines 1 and 5, then fill in the rest of the lines. Here is one my class came up with:
Read
fun, informational
exciting, interesting, calming
learn while sitting down
Comprehend
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CINQUAIN: a five-line poem in which the first and last word are synonyms.
Dog Mules
friendly, loyal Stubborn, unmoving
jumping, licking, running Braying, kicking, resisting
loves to chase balls Not wanting to listen
canine People
A cinquain has 5 lines:
Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Two adjectives that describe the Noun
Line 3: Three action verbs or gerunds (“ing” words) about the Noun
Line 4: A four word verb phrase relating to the Noun (can be a Feeling or Effect of the Noun)
Line 5: Synonym of Noun.
Line 1: One word Dinosaurs
Line 2: Two words Lived once,
Line 3: Three words Long ago, but
Line 4: Four words Only dust and dreams
Line 5: One word Remain
Cinquain originally consists of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines:
Line 1: Two syllables Baseball
Line 2: Four syllables Bats crack against
Line 3: Six syllables The pitch, sending it out
Line 4: Eight syllables Over the back fence, I did it!
Line 5: Two syllables Homerun
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