Appreciative Poetry Unit

I have created a poetry unit for second-grade. I chose books that show diverse
characters. The selected books and poems are representative of race, ethnicity, ability, and
gender. Each book or poem that I use will highlight one element of poetry or figurative
language such as rhyme, imagery, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, repetition, and rhythm. Each
book will be used as a mentor text for students to write original poems. In the end, each
student will have a portfolio of work which will display the poets they have become.
When I was young, I remember the collective groan from my classmates when a teacher
announced the start of a poetry unit. Poetry is writing that often goes deeper into detail and
feeling, possibly with fewer words than a standard narrative piece. Poetry can feature elements
of rhythm, sound, figurative language, shape, emotion, and perspective. These elements
promote the idea of playing with language and being creative. That being said, many students
do not enjoy poetry. According to surveys taken by Fisher and Natarella (1982), Fulmer (2012),
Ingham (1980), Kutiper and Wilson (1993), and Terry (1974), children enjoy the humor, rhyme,
rhythm, and sound preferably in narrative poems, limerick poems, contemporary poems, or
poems about imaginative events and people. Children do not tend to enjoy haiku and free verse
poems or poems with complex imagery or figurative language (as cited in McClure et al., 2014,
p. 146). The goal of my unit is to provide a space for students to recognize and appreciate the
playfulness of poetry so that they can come to enjoy it. I originally included a book on haiku.
However, McClure et al., 2014 suggest that the more we allow young students to slowly and
naturally discover poetry in the classroom, the more appreciative they will be of more complex
poetry - such as haiku - when they are older (p. 147). I eliminated the book on haiku in my unit
to provide more opportunities for students to learn to love elements such as rhythm, rhyme,
and onomatopoeia. Additionally, students in the surveys by Fisher and Natarella (1982), Fulmer
(2012), Ingham (1980), Kutiper and Wilson (1993), and Terry (1974) tended to dislike complex
visual imagery (as cited in McClure et al., 2014, p. 146). In my unit, I purposefully built up the
complexity of the imagery. One day, the students will explore color poems where they focus on
the objects and feelings that they associate with a single color. On the following day, students
will hear a poem with high imagery about a young girl. They will draw the girl as they see her in
their mind, using only the words from the poem. After they sketch their ideas, I would reveal
the author’s illustration of her. In this way, the concept of imagery becomes very approachable.
The students start small with only one color. They move to more complex imagery but it
becomes a game in which they are working towards a big reveal.
Being that my unit is for second-graders, I am prioritizing appreciation of poetry above
any of the technicalities of syllable counting, deep emotional connection, or specific types of
figurative language. Poetry exposure and the opportunity to read, write, and listen to poems
helps students become better writers because they will learn to be attentive to word choice
(McClure et al., 2014; Simmons, 2014). Students who appreciate and engage with poetry will
reap the benefits later in their literacy careers. Young students who are still in the early years of
being exposed to poems need a positive foundation for their poetry knowledge. Students need
to be open to learning more about poetry for their knowledge base to continuously expand.
A. Goals, Objectives, and Intended Audience
Goal: Second-grade students will come to recognize and appreciate poetry as another
genre of reading and writing. In the end, students will have a portfolio of poems
showcasing their knowledge of various elements of poetry.

Unit Objectives: Students will be able to…

Read personal poetry aloud to class demonstrating language skills.
Read poems with rhythm.
Identify rhymes in a given poem.
Produce pairs of rhyming words.
Use rhyme in their poetry writing.
Recognize repetition in a given poem.
Demonstrate knowledge of rhythm by clapping.
Write a poem with repetition.
Demonstrate close observation and description of a chosen topic.
Produce and expand interrogative sentences.
Investigate a topic closely by asking many questions.
Recognize imagery in a poem.
Write an imagery poem about a specific color.
Draw a picture based on the imagery the poem creates.
Write an imagery poem using real-life connections about adjectives from the 5
senses.
Identify how structure and formatting add meaning to poems.
Manipulate words to play with language by restructuring the format of a poem.
Recognize onomatopoeia in a given poem.
Play with language to write onomatopoeia in a poem or story.
Identify hyperbole in a story.
Recognize extreme adjectives or descriptions of situations.
Write a story that includes hyperbole.
B. Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy
2.RL.4. Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes,
repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

2.W.3. Write narratives in prose or poem form that recount a well-elaborated event or
experience, or a set of events or experiences; include details and dialogue to show
actions, thoughts, and feelings; use temporal words to signal order where appropriate;
and provide a sense of closure.
a. For poems, use words and phrases that form patterns of sounds (e.g., regular
beats, alliteration, end rhymes, repeated sounds in words or lines) to create
structure.

2.L.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and

usage when writing or speaking; retain and further develop language skills learned in
previous grades. Sentence Structure and Meaning
a. Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative,
interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences and choose among
sentence types depending on the meaning to be conveyed.

2.L.5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

a. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe
foods that are spicy or juicy).
b. Distinguish shades of meaning among closely related verbs (e.g., toss, throw,
hurl) and closely related adjectives (e.g., thin, slender, skinny, scrawny).

C. Unit outline
Throughout the unit, students will be working towards a poetry portfolio. Each
poem that they write will be kept in a safe place so that they can be bound together
after the unit. Students can also make a cover that they design and give their book a
title. I would have the students write their byline in the format of “Poet: Laura
Holdman” to empower them to think of themselves as poets. Additionally, we would
have a running word wall with new vocabulary and definitions. The words included
would be rhyme, end rhyme, repetition, question, imagery, concrete poems,
onomatopoeia, and hyperbole. These words connect back to the standards I chose for
the unit. Displaying the words on the word wall reinforces the use of specific elements
of poetry as the students write. Throughout the unit, I would also provide opportunities
at the end of each lesson for the students to share their poems. The objective here
would be for them to learn to read poems with rhythm and gain experience speaking to
an audience. Alternatively, students never have to share their poetry. This is an
intentional choice as I want students to feel free to share their full feelings and
experiences in their writing.

Day 1
● Mentor Text: The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders by Jack Prelutsky (2002)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Identify rhymes in a given poem.
○ Produce pairs of rhyming words.
● KWHL chart (Know, Want to know, How to find out, and Learned).
○ Do only Know, Want to know, and How to find out
○ Under “Know” be sure to discuss what a rhyme is so all students are on
the same page.
● Add rhyme to the word wall. Define as “words that have the same ending
sound.”
● Jigsaw 5 poems with examples of end rhyme
○ Students read the poem aloud and recognize rhyming words in a group.
○ Then students join a new group of students with different poems and
share the rhymes they found (Standard 2.RL.4.).
 ● Idea Jar: On a piece of paper, there will be the outline of an empty jar. Students
will fill in ideas of topics they could write about. Students will refer back to this
throughout the unit for ideas.
● Exit ticket: Write 3 pairs of rhyming words you did not see today.

Day 2
● Mentor Text: Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack and Stevie Lewis (2019)
● Objectives: Students will be able to...
○ Identify rhymes in a given poem.
○ Use rhyme in their poetry writing.
● Read book aloud
○ Purpose for reading: Listen for rhyming words.
○ Students should also be made aware of how the book is not only a
rhyming poem but also tells a story with a problem and solution. Their
writing should have some structure that ends the story with closure
(Standard 2.W.3.).
● Add end rhyme to the word wall. Define as “words at the end of lines of a poem
that rhyme.”
● Partner work:
○ Pick a slip of paper out of a hat. The student with the rhyming word to
yours is your partner.
○ The students would then brainstorm a list of words that rhyme and write
a silly poem with their partner using as many rhyming words as the end
rhymes as they can (Standard 2.W.3.a.).
Day 3
● Mentor Text: I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont and David Catrow
(2005)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Recognize repetition in a given poem.
 ○ Demonstrate knowledge of rhythm by clapping.
○ Write a poem with repetition.
● Read the book aloud to the class
○ Purpose for reading: Listen for repeating sentences. Listen for rhythm.
○ Once students notice the repeating line, have them clap out the rhythm
of that line each time they hear it (Standard 2.RL.4.).
● Class discussion: Why might you add repeating words to your poems?
○ Discuss how it could make the poem funny, silly, dramatic, show that the
line is important (Standard 2.RL.4.).
○ Notice how the repeating line is something he says aloud (dialogue) and
it is funny because he doesn’t do what he says he’ll do (Standard 2.W.3).
● Add repetition to the word wall. Define as, “words or sentences that are written
more than once.”
● Write a poem with an idea from your idea jar that has a repeating word or line
(Standard 2.W.3.a.). The poem could include dialogue that repeats. Encourage
them to find a rhythm in their repeating line by clapping.
Day 4
● Mentor Text: Falling Down the Page by Georgia Heard (2011)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Demonstrate close observation and description of a chosen topic.
● Read 3 poems aloud: In My Desk, by Jane Yolen, Things to Do If You Are the Sun,
by Bobbi Katz, and Walking Home From School I See:, by Rebecca Kai Dotlich
○ Purpose for reading: I will read a few poems aloud without telling
students the title. Listen to see what category all the things in the list
might fall into and guess the title.
● Students will write original list poems. Students should choose something they
don’t typically look at closely (Standards 2.W.3., 2.L.1.a.).
Day 5
 ● Mentor Text: A Stick is an Excellent Thing by Marilyn Singer and LeUyen Pham
(2012)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Produce and expand interrogative sentences.
○ Investigate a topic closely by asking many questions.
● Read one poem aloud: How Do You Like to Swing?
○ Purpose for reading: Listen to all the questions the poet can ask about
one topic.
● Add question to the word wall. Define as, “a sentence that is asked to get
information.”
● Students will choose a topic from their idea jar and write question poems
(Standard 2.L.1.a.).
Day 6
● Mentor Text: Green is a Chile Pepper by Roseanne Greenfield Thong and John
Parra (2014)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Recognize imagery in a poem.
○ Write an imagery poem about a specific color.
● Read the book aloud:
○ Purpose for reading: Listen for how many things go with one color.
● Add imagery to the word wall. Define as, “the picture that words make in your
head.”
● Students will pick a color or two. On a blank sheet of paper, they can use colored
pencils, crayons, or markers of the chosen color to brainstorm ideas of things or
feelings that are the same color (Standards 2.L.5.a., 2.W.3.).
● Students will write a color poem in the format: (color) is a/an (object/feeling).
Day 7
 ● Mentor Text: Woke: A Young Poet’s Call to Justice, by Mahogany L. Browne,
Elizabeth Acevedo, and Olivia Gatwood (2020) specifically the poem titles Teeth
Dance with Silver by Mahogany L. Brown (2020).
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Recognize imagery in a poem.
○ Draw a picture based on the imagery the poem creates.
○ Write an imagery poem using real-life connections about adjectives from
the 5 senses.
● Read the book aloud:
○ Purpose for reading: Close your eyes and make a picture in your head of
what this girl would look like.
● Discuss the five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound.
○ Give the students a copy of the text from the poem. With a highlighter,
they should identify things that make a picture in their head or that relate
to the five senses. Students can then what they think she looks like and
we will have a big reveal when everyone is done with their drawing.
● Have students choose an idea from their idea jar that they can describe with the
five senses. Students should use that outline to write a poem that has imagery.
Their poems should be so descriptive that a friend can draw their topic without
having seen it before (Standards 2.W.3., 2.L.5.a.).
Day 8
● Mentor Text: A Poke in the I by Paul B. Janeczko and Chris Raschka (2001)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Identify how structure and formatting add meaning to poems.
○ Manipulate words to play with language by restructuring the format of a
poem.
● Read the book aloud: Start by reading Notes from the Editor at the beginning to
establish what a concrete poem is. Read a few poems aloud to students, with the
pages projected on a document camera so students can see the format.
 ○ Purpose for reading: Notice how the pictures complement the subject of
the poem.
● Add concrete poems to the word wall. Define as, “poems with the words
arranged into a way that adds meaning to the topic of the poem.”
● Students will write their own poems on a page. They can cut out each word and
arrange it onto a new paper and glue them down to create their concrete poem
(Standards 2.W.3.a., 2.L.1.a.).
Day 9
● Mentor Text: Fidgety Fish by Ruth Galloway (2001)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Recognize onomatopoeia in a given poem.
○ Play with language to write onomatopoeia in a poem or story.
● Add onomatopoeia to the word wall. Define as “a word that sounds like the
noise it makes.”
● Read the book aloud
○ Purpose for reading: Listen for examples of onomatopoeia.
○ What does onomatopoeia add to a story or poem? (Standard 2.RL.4).
● Ideally, this would be a day when students have music so we can do the first half
of the lesson before music, they can think about more examples in music and
come back after to share more examples of onomatopoeia.
● Students write a poem or story using examples of onomatopoeia (Standard
2.W.3.a.).
Day 10
● Mentor Text: Natalie’s Hair Was Wild by Laura Freeman (2018)
● Objectives: Students will be able to…
○ Identify hyperbole in a story.
○ Recognize extreme adjectives or descriptions of situations.
○ Write a story that includes hyperbole.
● Read book aloud
 ○ Purpose for reading: Listen to find out if this story is real or a stretch of
the imagination.
○ Discuss how the exaggeration changes the story. What adjectives did the
poet use? Was this an extreme situation? How long did the situation
continue? (Standards 2.L.5.b., 2.L.1.a.).
● Add hyperbole to the word wall. Define as making a situation bigger or more
exaggerated than it is in real life (i.e. using your imagination).
● Choose an idea from your idea jar and write a story or poem that exaggerates
the situation (Standards 2.L.5.b., 2.L.1.a.).
● Return the to KWHL chart from the first day of the unit. Using the word wall for
guidance, the students will add everything they learned about poetry and how
those elements enhance writing (Standard 2.RL.4.).

D. Annotated Bibliography
Beaumont, K., & Catrow, D. (2005). I ain't gonna paint no more! Boston, MA: Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt.
This picture book is about a young boy who gets carried away painting and,
much to his mother’s dismay, he paints the whole house. It features rhythm and
repetition of a recurring line, “I ain’t gonna paint no more!” The students will see
the humor in the young boy’s repeated vow to stop painting as he continues to
paint the whole house. Students would then write original poems with a
repeating line to make the tone of their poem more comical or to show that the
line is important.

Browne, M. L., Acevedo, E., Gatwood, O., Reynolds, J., & Taylor, T., III. (2020). Woke: A
young poet's call to justice. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.
This is a collection of poems written by three Black women. Each poem has a
 theme that contributes to being “woke.” Most of them are above a second-grade
level but the poem on individuality, Teeth Dance with Silver, by Mahogany L.
Browne, is appropriate for second graders. It is about a girl who is uniquely
herself and very confident about it. This poem highlights imagery. With the
students, I would guide a discussion on the five senses. I would read the poem
aloud once, without showing the pictures and ask that the students listen for
sensory details. I would give the students the text of the poem and have them
highlight details of the five senses. Next, the students would draw what they
think the girl looks like based on the words. Students would then write a poem
with enough detail that another classmate could draw their subject without
having seen it before.

Freeman, L. (2018). Natalie's hair was wild. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
This picture book is the story of a young Black girl who loves her hair to be wild.
It gets so wild that animals continue to nest in it. In the beginning, there are only
two birds but the situation gets out of control and turns into an entire zoo in
Natalie’s hair. Eventually, she has to call professionals to get the animals out of
her hair. Natalie’s hair is braided for one picture and then she goes right back to
having her natural hair. Natalie is proud of her hair, even if it can get wild. This
story illustrates hyperbole. With the students, I would discuss what it means to
exaggerate. The students would then write a story where they exaggerate the
truth.

Galloway, R. (2001). Fidgety fish. New York, NY: Scholastic.

This picture book is the story of a fish going on a journey through the ocean. It
features multiple examples of onomatopoeia. Ideally, I would do this lesson on a
day when the students have music. Before music, I would introduce the word
onomatopoeia and define it as, “a word that sounds like the noise it makes.” We
would read Fidgety Fish aloud and highlight examples such as snap, burp, and
 whoosh. Before sending the students to music, I would ask that students listen
for noises that sound like the word we call them. When they came back from
music, students would have the chance to share their examples of
onomatopoeia. Then students would write a poem using onomatopoeia.

Haack, D., & Lewis, S. (2019). Prince and knight. New York, NY: Scholastic.
This is a story about a prince who is supposed to find a princess to marry. The
king and queen bring him many lovely girls but he is not interested. He then sees
a knight slay a dragon and he falls in love with him. This LGBTQ book shows an
innocent romance between two men in a fairy tale setting. This book can be used
to show end- rhyme. The students would brainstorm a list of words that rhyme
and write a poem using as many rhyming words at the ends of lines as they can.

Heard, G. (2011). Falling down the page. New York, NY: Square Fish.
This book is a collection of list poems. The concepts of many of the poems are
very simple such as things the narrator sees on a desk or on the way home from
school. An important element to poetry is looking at things through new
perspectives. Students can use this as a mentor text to take an in-depth look at
the details of something they do not typically notice.

Janeczko, P. B., & Raschka, C. (2001). A poke in the i. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.
This book features a collection of concrete poems. Each poem is written in a
unique structure that enhances the meaning of the poem. I would have the
students write a poem, cut out the words, and glue them in any way that
emphasizes the subject. This will encourage playing with words and language.

Prelutsky, J., & Mathers, P. (2002). The frogs wore red suspenders. New York, NY:
Scholastic.
This book is a classic representation of what students think of as poetry. Jack
 Prelutsky writes a lot of silly rhyming poems for children. This book has many
rhyming examples. I would have students in small groups and jigsaw a few
poems in this book. I would copy pages of 5 poems and have the students work
together to find the rhyming words. Then they would be in a new group, in
which each student has a different poem, and they would read their poem aloud
and share their rhyming words.

Singer, M., & Pham, L. (2012). A stick is an excellent thing: Poems celebrating outdoor
play. New York, NY: Clarion Books.
This collection of poems is all about outdoor play. The pictures show children of
all races and genders kindly playing together. The poem, How Do You Like to
Swing?, is written entirely in questions. I would use this poem as a mentor text
and have the students write a poem entirely of questions.

Thong, R. G., & Parra, J. (2014). Green is a chile pepper: A book of colors. San Francisco,
CA: Chronicle Books.
This book is a concept book with poems focused on individual colors. It was
granted the Illustrator Honor for the Pura Belpre Award and won the Latino Book
Award. This book is a window into Latinx culture. The pattern and structure of
each poem are very clear and consistent. This would make it easier for students
to use as a mentor text because they can replicate that style with any colors and
original representations of those colors.
 References
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (2017). English Language
Arts and Literacy. Retrieved July 12, 2020, from http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/
ela/2017-06.pdf
McClure, A. A., Garthwait, A., & Kristo, J. V. (2014). Teaching children's literature in an era of
standards (1st ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Simmons, A. (2014, April 4). Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important. Retrieved July 28, 2020, from
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/why-teaching-poetry-is-
so-important/360346/