Poetry Unit

We have already started our poetry unit and the kids are so excited! They each received a new steno style notebook to write and collect their poems in.

We will be writing poems all through January and into most of February. We will begin publishing our poems at the end of February. Students will produce a bound poem book that will become part of their writing portfolio that they will share in the late spring with their families at our Authors' Tea.

Students will learn to write many different kinds of poems including alliteration poems, haikus, color poems, 5 senses poems, poems for two voices and cinquains.

GRADING:

Students are required to publish 3 of each kind of poem they are taught throughout the unit. Their points drop by 1 for each poem not written (out of a possible 72 points).

Students also receive points for different components of their completed poem book. These points combined will represent a grade for the work completed over the 2 months in class (a total of 107 points)

Separately, students will receive a grade based on rubrics for each for several of the required poems as well as on one selected poem of their choice.

Here is an example of a rubric that will be used for the various kinds of poems for grading at the end of the unit. This particular rubric is for their choice poem.

Poetry Rubric

ALL POEMS	Excellent!	Good	Satisfactory	Needs Work	Not Done
Each poem has a title	4 points all poems have a title	3 points 3 of 4 poems have a title	2 points 2 of 4 poems have a title	1 point 1 poem has a title	0
Each poem is neatly handwritten in pen or is typed	4 points all poems are either neatly handwritten or typed	3 points 3 of 4 poems are either neatly handwritten or typed	2 points 2 of 4 poems are either neatly handwritten or typed	1 point 1 poem is either neatly handwritten or typed	0
Each poem has a colorful illustration (either a border, picture, photo, etc…)	4 points all poems have a colorful illustration	3 points 3 of 4 poems have a colorful illustration	2 points 2 of 4 poems have a colorful illustration	1 point 1 poem has a colorful illustration	0
**Rough draft for each poem is present	**8 points all poems have a rough draft	**6 points 3 of 4 poems have a rough draft	**4 points 2 of 4 poems have a rough draft	**2 points 1 poem has a rough draft	0
Each poem has been peer edited	4 points all poems have been peer edited	3 points 3 of 4 poems have been peer edited	2 points 2 of 4 poems have been peer edited	1 point 1 poem has been peer edited	0
Each poem has been self-revised with 3 content changes (word choice, line break, etc…)	4 points all poems have been self-revised with three major content changes	3 points 3 of 4 poems have been self-revised with three major content changes or all 4 poems have been self-revised with at least 2 major content changes	2 points 2 of 4 poems have been self-revised with three major content changes or 3-4 poems have been revised with at least 1 content change	1 point 1 poem has been self-revised with three major content changes or 1-2 poems have been revised with at least 2 content changes.	0