Kidz Wordz

A Poetry WebQuest

A WebQuest for Elementary Students (Language Arts)
Designed by
Glenna Gustafson, Guylene Wood-Setzer and participants at Virginia Educational Leadership Conference
gsgustaf@vt.edu

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

Introduction

Kidz Words is one of the newest and coolest magazines written for kids.  The people at Kidz Words work to make the magazine fun and interesting for all kids.  It’s important to them that kids learn to read a lot of different things.  They also encourage kids to write their own stories and poems and have them published in Kidz Wordz.


The Task
Your team works for Kidz Workz Magazine.  For the next issue the editor would like to focus on poetry.  He has assigned several teams the job of creating a poetry section.  He will select the best one to be published.  There are specific items that he expects to see in your section.  Using his guidelines and the resources you will create a poetry section to present to the editor.  You may choose to show your section using Hyperstudio, KidPix, or ClarisWorks Slideshow.  Your team wants your section chosen for the issue.  Make it the best!


The Process

First you'll be assigned to a team of 4 students.  Everyone on the team will need to complete each of the activities in the activity list.  Remember that a magazine has deadlines and you will have one too.  You may choose to use poetry resources that can be found in the classroom, the library, or from the internet sites found below.  You need to save all of your work in a safe place.  This might be in a folder or on a computer disk.

When everyone on your team has completed the tasks or when the deadline arrives, you will be assigned a role by your teacher.  If someone on your team is not finished with the tasks, your team will not have as many resources to choose from when putting your magazine together.

v      The roles are:
Editor – In charge of seeing that all of the jobs are completed and your poetry section is completed on time
Layout Artist – Arranges the art work and writing into an attractive arrangement
Proofreader – Checks and double checks are written work for errors and corrects them
Technology Specialist – Utilizes technology for presentation of the project.

On the designated day your team will present their poetry project.  Your team may choose have one person in the group present the section or have all group members participate.  It can be a presentation that uses a slideshow or one that uses pictures to show your work.

The Tasks

v      Who is your favorite poet?  Learn more about your poet and the poems that he/she writes.  Visit Poetry Pals to learn how to write an Autobiographical poem and then write an autobiographical poem about the poet.

v     Nursery rhymes and tongue twisters are very old forms of poetry.  What is your favorite nursery rhyme?  Rewrite your favorite nursery rhyme so that it would fit in the modern world.  Forgotten your nursery rhymes?  Then visit The Realm of Nursery Rhymes and read a few. 

v     Visit this site Poetry Pals and learn more about different kinds of poetry – acrostic, cinquain, color poems, diamonte.  Choose two of these poetry forms and create an original poem for each.

v     Ogden Nash and Doctor Suess wrote much of their poetry in couplet form.  Read some of their poems and look for the rhymes.  Create an original couplet of your own.  It should be at least eight lines.  If your are stuck for a rhyming word, check here  rhyming dictionary on the Internet.

v      At this site, Gigggle Poetry – Read’em & Rate’em you will be asked to choose a poem, read it, and then rate the poem.  Follow the directions carefully.  Make sure that you note the title and author of the poem you rated.

v     Now visit the KidLit Poetry Gallery and read poems that have been written by other kids.  Write a short review of one of the poems that you have read.  You may want to think about the Read’em & Rate’em activity that you completed. Make sure that you name the title, author, author’s age, the type of poem it was and why you liked the poem.

v      Just for fun, visit Poetry Tiles and create your own magnetic poem.

v      Haiku are a wonderful form of poetry.  Visit Children’s Haiku Garden and read several of the haiku found there.  Then write one original haiku.

v     Check out the poetry contest found at Giggle Poetry.  Describe a poetry contest that your magazine might run.  What ages would be involved?  How would they submit their work?  Would there be a theme?  What would the winners get?

v      Your magazine will want a special over designed for this issue.  Design a cover that would make others want to learn about poetry.  It can be drawn or computer generated.

Books
Livingston, Myra Cohn. Space Songs. Illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher. New York: Holiday House, 1988. [ESLC, BBC, BL 4/1/88]

Merriam, Eve. Blackberry Ink. Illustrated by Hans Wilhelm. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1985. [ESLC, BBC, CC]

Moss, Jeff. The Butterfly Jar. Illustrated by Chris Demarest. New York: Bantam Books, 1989. [NYTBR, SLJ 7/90]

O'Neill, Mary. Hailstones and Halibut Bones; Adventures in Color New York: Doubleday, 1961. [BBC, CC, CP, ECL]

Prelutsky, Jack. The New Kid on the Block Illustrated by james Stevenson. New York: Greenwillow, 1984. [ESLC, BBC, CC, ECL, BCCB]

Prelutsky, Jack, ed. The Random House Book of Poetry for Children Illustrated by Arnold Lobel. New York: Random House, 1983. [ESLC, BBC, CC, ECL]

Rogaksy, Barbara, ed. Winter Poems. Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. New York: Scholastic, 1994. [BCCB, SLJ 12/94]

Seattle, Chief. Brother Eagle, Sister Sky. Illustrated by Susan Jeffers. New york: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1991. [CC, BL 11/1/91]

Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends; The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. [ESLC, BBC, CC]

Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child's Garden of Verses Illustrated by Joanna Abrams, 1994. [ESLC, CC]

Worth, Valerie, All the Small Poems. Illustrated by Natalie Babbit. Farrar, 1972. [ESLC]

Magazines
Cricket Marianne Carus, ed. Carus Corp. 315 Fifth Street, Peru, IL 61354. [MFL]

 



Evaluation

 

Beginning

1

Developing

2

Accomplished

3

Exemplary

4

Score

 

Completed

the selected number of tasks

 

Completes 5

of the tasks

Completes 6-7 of the tasks

Completes 8 of the tasks.

Completes 9-10 of the tasks

 

 

Tasks completed neatly and accurately

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worked cooperatively with the group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Completed the assigned job for group role

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Conclusion

Put a couple of sentences here that summarize what they will have accomplished or learned by completing this activity or lesson. You might also include some rhetorical questions or additional links to encourage them to extend their thinking into other content beyond this lesson.



Credits & References

 


Last updated on August 15, 1999. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page