At the second grade level you will want to have your students create a rhyming poem. This is the easiest form of poetry to start the poetry unit. Give them the following instructions by writing them on the chalkboard and then explaining them.
- The poem must rhyme.
- Each poem must be at least 6 lines long and should tell some kind of story.
- The poem can be funny or serious. It can even be factual.
- The dinosaur must be given a name somewhere in the poem.
- The poem must have a title.
- Each poem must be illustrated. That means each poem must have one picture to accompany it. The picture should be on topic with the poem. The picture can be drawn by the student or it can be cut out of a magazine and pasted on to the poem page.
- Handwriting counts. All poems need to be neat and legible.
John Foster and Korky Paul have published numerous Dinosaur Poems. It would be extremely helpful for the children to hear a few so they can see exactly what you expect from them. A few of the titles are Dragons, Dinosaurs, Monster Poems, Dinosaur Poems, and Dinosaur Poems (Young Hippo Poetry). You can borrow them from your local library or order them from Amazon.com. Brand new they sell for around $9 and used they start at $2.50.
Grading:
- 50 points should be used for the poem itself. This means that the poem is on topic and that the poem rhymes. The poem must also be at least 6 lines. If anything is missing then deduct some points for the 50 total possible points.
- 25 points should be used for the illustration. The student must have an illustration and the illustration must be on topic. They cannot have a picture of a dog taking a bath if their poem is about a hungry dinosaur. If the illustration is missing you must award 0 points. If the illustration is off topic you must decide how many points to deduct from the possible 25.
- 15 points for an appropriate title.
- 10 points for making sure the dinosaur has a name.
- Add the points up and place the grade at the top of the paper.
