Chapter 10: Exploring Poetry

1. How does having students play with words prepare them to write poetry?

As children experiment with words, they create images, play with words, and evoke
feelings. They laugh with language, experiment with rhyme, and invent new words. The
activities provide a rich background of experiences for reading and writing poetry. The
children can gain confidence in choosing the “right” word to express an idea, emphasizing
the sounds of words, and expressing familiar ideas with fresh comparisons.

2. What are the three types of poetry books published for children?

The three types of poetry books published for children are: comprehensive anthologies,
picture-book versions of single poems, and specialized collections.

3. What are formula poems?

They provide a skeleton for students’ poems. They include: acrostics, apology poems,
color poems, concrete poems, found poems, haiku, limericks, list poems, mode poems,
odes, and poem for two voices.

4. Why are formula poems recommended over rhymed verse?

Rhymed verses are the most common, but they are less likely to write rhymed verses.
However, it’s important that teachers try to prevent the forms and rhyme schemes from
restricting students’ creative expression.

5. What’s the difference between similes and metaphors?

A simile is an explicit comparison of one thing to another—a statement that one thing is
like something else. Similes use like or as. A metaphor compares two things by implying
that one thing is something else, without using like or as.

6. What is onomatopoeia?
Onomatopoeia is used by poets. It is sound words, to make their writing more sensory
and more vivid; sound words include crash, slurp, varoom, and meow.

7. Look back at the vignette in the beginning of this chapter and point out five ways Mrs.
Harris taught students about poetry.
First, he holds a class meeting on a book talk about a new poetry book. Second, he holds
an independent reading of poems in the classroom. Third, students share in small group
the poems that they read and discuss their favorite ones. Fourth, they conduct a mini
lesson on how to use poetic devices, arrange lines in a poem, reviews, and poetry
formulas. Fifth, they conduct the writing where students write lots of rough draft poems
and choose their best to take.

8. How do teachers assess students’ learning during poetry workshops?

First, teachers do the planning of what they will be looking for. Next, they will monitor by
observing students as they participate in poetry activities. After, they evaluate assessing the
quality of students’ poems. Last, the reflect and ask students to assess their own poems.

Chapter Summary:

The chapter was all on poetry and the way that it helps students deepen a connection. It
allows students have a creative expression. Poetry is a way to get to know our students and
see the complexity that they might have within them. It is more than just rhyming words, its
about sharing a story, inspiring, and creating what is on their hearts. Poetry is a great
language arts lesson for students.

Chapter 11: Language Tools: Grammar, Spelling and Handwriting

1. How do teachers teach grammar using a novel during a literature focus unit?
Teachers focus on the grammar construction concepts: parts of speech, parts of sentences,
types of sentences, capitalization and punctuation, and usage.
2. What are the most common types of usage errors that students make?
The most common types of usage errors are: Irregular verb forms, past-tense forms,
nonstandard verb forms, double subjects, nonstandard pronoun forms, objective pronouns
for the subject and double negatives.

3. Why is reading an important part of grammar instruction?

Students learn about the structure of the English language through reading. They learn
more sophisticated academic language, a more formal register than they speak, and
sophisticated ways of phrasing ideas and arranging words into sentences.
4. What is the alphabetic principle, and how does it relate to English spelling?
The alphabetic principle suggest a one-to-one correspondence between phonemes and
graphemes, but English spelling is phonetic only about half the time. If English were a purely
phonetic language, words would be easier to spell, but at the same time, the language
would lose much of its sophistication.
5. What are the three principles of English orthography that students learn as they become
conventional spellers?
The alphabetic principle, which explains that letters represent sounds. The pattern principle,
which explains that letters are combined in predictable ways to spell sounds. Last, the meaning
principle, which explains that related words have similar spellings even when they’re
pronounced differently.

6. Analyze this kindergartner’s writing sample to determine his current level of spelling
development: The student is at a letter name-alphabetic spelling level. Children are learning to
represent phonemes in words with letters, indicating they have a rudimentary understanding of
the alphabetic principle—that a link exists between letters and sounds.
 2 da is mi mom brda. I hf a prt 4 hr. A nkls. E wl love at. [Today is my Mom’s birthday. I
have a present for her. A necklace. she will love it.]

7 What spelling instruction do you recommend for the kindergartner in question 6?

I recommend that: they sing the ABC song and name letters of the alphabet with children, show
children how to form letters in names and other common words, use Elkonin boxes to segment
words into beginning, middle, and end.

8. What is D’Nealian handwriting?

D’ Nealian handwriting is an alternative manuscript and cursive handwriting program

developed by Donald Neal Thurber, a teacher in Michigan, to mitigate some of the problems
associated with the traditional manuscript form.

Chapter Summary:
Grammar, spelling, and handwriting are important language tools. Students need to have these
skills mastered if they want to be successful in the classroom. As teachers, we need to help
students have these tools unravel in a productive way. We need to help them recognize these
tools and know what is going to help them become better spellers, readers, and literature
comprehension.