Language Arts - Grade 4 TEKS 4.15D - Writing a Poem and Presenting a Dramatic Interpretation by Shalondra Roberts

Category:  Language Arts
Grade Level:  4th Grade
Objective: 

Language Arts TEKS 4.15D  Writing/purposes.
The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes, and in a variety of forms.  The student is expected to: write to entertain such as to compose humorous poems or short stories.

Music TEKS 4.6C  Response/evaluation.
The student responds to and evaluates music and musical performance.  The student is expected to: practice concert etiquette as an actively involved listener during live performances.

Behavioral Objective:
The student will participate in a small group activity and write a humorous (Haiku) poems.

Materials: 
Haiku poem (Mizumura, Kazue, (1977). Snow, Flower, moon, snow. New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, no page numbers). Drums, Bells

Activities/Strategies: 
During group time I will introduce a Haiku poem (Mizumura, Kazue, (1977). Snow, Flower, moon, snow. New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, no page numbers).  I will explain to how to write a poem and how to create movement to represent the “verb” and not the “noun”.  I will also demonstrate how to play the different types of instruments and the students will have the opportunity to play each instrument.  As a class we will spend as much time as needed on writing poems and coming up with exhibitions for concert etiquette during live performances.  When I feel that the class understands what is to be done, I will divide them into small groups of three or five.  Then as a small group they will write their own (Haiku) poem, create movements to represent the “verb” not the “noun”, add instruments and exhibit concert etiquette during live performance in (the classroom) a variety of settings.

Each small group will be evaluated on the following:

• Writing/words spelled correctly

• Appropriate Movements

• Appropriate Instruments

Sample Haiku Poem: 

Snow by Kazua Mizumura
With the frenzied wind	Group members will move their arms up and down (fast).
Snowflakes dancing, whirl and whirl	Group members will jump up in the air in a spiral-like way moving their arms up and down (fast).
Then die at my door.	Group members will all drop to the floor as if their bodies did not have any bones.

Evaluation:
I will observe each group as they write their poem.  The audience will also evaluate each group.  I will observe that all students have exhibited concert etiquette during the live performance (the classroom setting) in the variety of settings.