Interested in poetry? Write an acrostic poem using this activity for kids, adults, and everyone in-between!
A. Choose a word for your poem Pick a word. It could be your name, but if your name is either super short or super long, you might want to choose a different word. For the sake of this example, I’ll choose my last name: Spuler
B. Write your word Now write your word vertically (up and down) on your page, starting at the top and going down:
S
P
U
L
E
R
C. Write your poem! Now think of words that start with the letter on each line. Try to use words that describe or relate to the word you chose. I chose my last name, so I’ll describe my family:
Not sure how to study a poem? Here are some ideas! Choose one or all of these:
Read aloud and enjoy the poem
Neatly write out your favorite stanza for handwriting practice or…
Copy and paste the poem into your word processor and print it out
Draw a picture about the poem
Circle or color-code the words that rhyme!
Read more about the author’s life
Share with someone you love <3
The Sun Has Set
The sun has set, and the long grass now Waves dreamily in the evening wind;
And the wild bird has flown from that old gray stone
In some warm nook a couch to find.
In all the lonely landscape round I see no light and hear no sound,
Except the wind that far away
Come sighing o’er the healthy sea.
~Emily Jane Brontë
Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
~Robert Louis Stevenson
Hungry for more? Check out this week’s…
Poetry Activity (for kids, adults, and everyone in between): Acrostic Poem
If You Could Only Take 3 and a 1/2 Things With You On A Desert Island, They Would Be…
A knife? A pot for boiling water? A phone? 1/2 a bottle of suncreen? 1/2 a juice box? If you were stuck on a desert island, you probably wouldn’t need toothpaste. But what would you need? I can’t wait to hear your ideas!
Write a list with me! Every Monday I will post a fun list. Fill out your list and enjoy it by yourself, share it on my Facebook page. Not convinced? Read about how lists encourage better writing here.
Like this activity? See other Fun List Mondays here!
Ready for this week’s Story Share Topic?
Join in the fun! Write your story and send it in for a chance to have your story shared on the site!
This Week’s Story Share Topic:
Write a story about a character who travels to the Land of Feelings.
What does it look like? What happens there? Who does the main character meet? What is the problem? How is it solved? How does the character change because of the trip? Your creativity is the limit! (Please keep it between 100 and 1000 words.)
Need at alternate topic? Write a story about a character who feels sad. Why is he/she sad? What happens that eventually makes them happy again?
FAQ: If you don’t want to share your story, can you still write one? Absolutely! Do you have to write a story on this particular topic? Nope! Writing stories is a great creative writing exercise, no matter what the topic. The topic is a prompt to get you started!
Writing with little ones? Read this post about how to include young children in writing activities.
Think you know which animal? Click here for the answer!
Simplified definitions: Adjective: a describing word, placed before a noun (or pronoun)
Noun: a person, place, thing, or idea
Verb: an action word
Biome: the type of environment where living things make their homes, a habitat (ex: desert, rainforest, tundra)
herbivore: plant-eater
carnivore: meat-eater
omnivore: eats both plants and meat
Ready to free your writing? Let’s do a freewrite together!
Write about a time you’ve had a strong feeling.
Questions to get you started: What happened to make you feel that way? What did you do once you experienced that feeling? What did you want to do? Do you think you might feel that way again?
Set your timer for 10 minutes and write, write, write!
About Freewrites: A freewrite is exactly what it sounds like: free! Use a freewrite to practice channeling thoughts from your mind to the paper. Never done a freewrite? Learn more in my Guide to Freewriting
Hello! Welcome to Poetry Tuesday: the day we dip (or dive) into the lovely world of poetry!
Each Tuesday from June 19 to August 21, 2018, I’ll share a Poetry Activity, a Poem Study, plus an Advanced Poetry Lesson. Feel free to enjoy one, two, or all three of these fun resources! (Click on the title links)
Poetry Activity (for kids, adults, and everyone in between): Alliteration Poem
Interested in poetry? Learn about alliteration using this poetry activity for kids, adults, and everyone in-between!
(photo credit: Hannah Spuler)
A. Introduction to Alliteration: Have you ever tried to say a tongue-twister? Can you say this one?
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Think it’s difficult to say this singularly silly saying?
When two or more words start with the same letter or sound, it’s called an alliteration. (I just adore amazing alliterations! Don’t you?)
Here are some more examples:
1.Alexander the armadillo ate absolutely amazing apples and ants.
2. Beehives buzz and babies blow bubbles.
3. Caroline cried because she couldn’t catch cantaloupes.
4. Daryl didn’t do anything daring, did he?
These are silly examples, but alliteration can also be used beautifully in poetry to make it sing.
B. A Sunny Alliteration Poem Our activity today will use alliterations to write a poem about the sun.
Write down all the words you can think of that have to do with the sun. For example:
hot
big
shines
beautiful
etc. Bonus points if you think of “s” words!
Now see if any of those sun words can be changed to a word that starts with “s.” For example, the word “hot” can become “simmering,” and the word “beautiful” can become “spectacular.” Change as many as you can without help.
(optional)Now see if you can change even more by using a thesaurus! What’s a thesaurus?? A thesaurus is a big book full of words that helps you find a different word that means the same thing.If I wanted to find another word for hot, I would look it up in my thesaurus and I might find words like scorching, sizzling, or boiling. If you don’t have a thesaurus on your bookshelf, you can use an online thesaurus. Type in your word and see what you find! http://www.thesaurus.com/
Okay, do you have your list of s words that have to do with the sun?
It might look a little like this:
hotscorching, sizzling beautiful spectacular, superb, stunning big substantial
Now we write the poem! A few notes:
~This poem doesn’t have to rhyme or have a meter. It can just be free-form (See my example if that didn’t make sense. Notice how my poem doesn’t rhyme?)
~In this kind of poem, the first word of each line does not have to be capitalized. Use capital letters the way you would use them in a normal sentence.
~Each line can have one word, or many words. Play with the spacing! You have complete freedom.
~Not every word has to begin with “s.” If you need a few extra words to tie it together, that’s okay!
Below is an example of what your poem could look like. Mine is pretty short, having used a short word list, but feel free to make yours longer! You could make it silly, supersimple, or more serious. Experiment with different groups of words too. The sky’s the limit!
Sun Spectacular,
striking,
sizzling,
stunning,
shining on
my skin,
shining in
my soul—
sun. ~Hannah Spuler
Pleased with your poem? Share it in the comments or post it on my Facebook pageso we can all read and enjoy them!
Not sure how to study a poem? Here are some ideas! Choose one or all of these:
Read aloud and enjoy the poem
Neatly write out your favorite stanza for handwriting practice or…
Copy and paste the poem into your word processor and print it out
Draw a picture about the poem
Circle or underline the alliterations!
Read more about the author’s life
Share with someone you love <3
Bear in There
There’s a polar bear In our Frigidaire–
He likes it ’cause it’s cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He’s nibbling the noodles,
He’s munching the rice,
He’s slurping the soda,
He’s licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he’s in there–
That polary bear
In our Fridgitydaire.
by Shel Silverstein
Hungry for more? Check out this week’s…
Poetry Activity (for kids, adults, and everyone in between): Alliteration Poem
Have you been encouraged lately? Sad? Angry? Embarrassed? Tickled Silly? Our brains work hard every day to help us feel and experience the world. Sometimes it helps to name the emotions we experience and even share them with others. As someone who used to struggle to express my emotions, I understand how important it is. So let’s share! How have you been feeling in the last week?
Write a list with me! Every Monday I will post a fun list. Fill out your list and enjoy it by yourself, share it on my Facebook page or on Twitter (with the hashtag #FunListMondays). Not convinced? Read about how lists encourage better writing here.
Like this activity? See other Fun List Mondays here!
Hannah Spuler 