These last two weeks students have been working on analyzing and understanding poetry. Students are learning about lines, stanza, meter, and rhyme patterns. They've also become adept at identifying different types of figurative language. I love it when we are reading something and someone says, "Mrs. Ririe, that's personification!" (personification is giving a human attribute to an inanimate object). Some of the figurative language we are learning about includes, similes, metaphors, idioms, hyperbole, and personification.
As part of our poetry unit, students also learned how to write an acrostic as well as a color poem. Their acrostics are based on our novel Esperanza Rising. A color poem uses all the senses to describe a color. I loved reading their poetry and there were many times when a particular work took my breath away. Here are some examples of a color poem.
Silver by Jacob B.
Silver is the color of a brand new car, a silver dollar, a beautiful wolf on a silver snowy night.
Silver feels smooth and hard. Silver is the trophy when you get second place.
Silver should be the color of my mom because I love her so much.
Silver feels like the earnings I get after I do my chores. Silver is the soft wool on a sheep’s back.
Silver looks like the tools we use every day. Silver feels like a new snazzy gadget. Silver sounds like my husky talking to me.
Gold by Addison W.
Gold is the color of the medal I have just won, the leaves that have just fallen off the tree, the glitter you put on your poster.
There are gold picture frames, and golden books that light up in your hand. Gold feels like you are laying under the twinkle of the gold stars. Gold is a color of pirate treasure found under the sea.
Gold should be the color of every achievement.
Gold feels like you have just won a gold bar on TV. Gold smells like the golden pie crust on the pie your grandma just pulled out of the oven.
