Subject: ELA (English Language Arts)
Lesson Length: 30 - 45 mins
Topic: Summarizing skills and comprehension through Poetry
Brief Description: Students will write Acrostic poems to demonstrate their comprehension of a literature selection.
Know Before You Start: This activity can be used as a formative or summative assessment. This lesson works great as part of a literature or after reading a short story.
Hook:
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Read and discuss the sample comic based on the character Opal from the book Because of Winn Dixie. Students do not need to be familiar with the book.
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Ask students what they notice about each panel in the comic. Each panel has a phrase or sentence that starts with a letter of Opal’s name.
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Explain that the comic shows an Acrostic Poem. This is a fun way to remember key ideas and details about a character in a book or story.
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Model how to write a simple Acrostic poem using a familiar character and story.
Activity:
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Using the sample comic as a guide, have students create their own Acrostic poem comics based on a character in the literature they have read in class.
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Encourage students to think about key ideas, details, themes, and important information that should be included in the poems.
Closure:
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Provide an opportunity for students to share their Acrostic poems with other students.
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Provide feedback to students about their finished comics.
Differentiation:
- Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
- Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
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Display the sample Acrostic poem for student reference.
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Create an anchor chart of necessary components of an acrostic poem.
- Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
Resources:
- Comic to print or display
Because of Winn-Dixie
Bud, Not Buddy
A Wrinkle in Time
The Lightning Thief
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Sarah, Plain and Tall
