This Lesson's Title:

Poems to Bug
Your Reader

using wordplay to develop a poem about invertebrates

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant Denise Gallues at an SBC-sponsored inservice class.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book insectlopedia by Douglas Florian. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out insectlopedia at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Douglas Florian’s insectlopedia, a collection of paintings and poems, is a delightful romp through the worldof creepy, crawling, flying things.  Word Choice is everything— alliteration, rhymes, puns, and inventions provide a clever, engaging look at the biology around us.  Because the poems are short, selecting the BEST words becomes critical; this poetry activity encourages writers to play with sound and rhythm by choosing adjectives and rhymes to tickle the reader. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is word choice; poets will base their poetic inspirations on word play and rhyme. The support trait in this assignment is idea development; based on Florian's models, students should be encouraged to explore unique ideas with their original poems.