Let the Challenge Begin!

Calling all poets.

Apparently, no one is making any money this month, so I decided to keep busy on Medium anyway. One way was to clean up both of my publications, comments, etc. The other was to learn more about acrostic poetry. Look at what I found.

Try one of these ideas to put a fun twist on the traditional acrostic poetry writing activity and help differentiate your lesson or challenge your entire class.

· Alliteration Acrostic Poems: Each word in the line starts with the starting letter of each line. (Say what??)

· Verb Acrostic Poems: Each line is comprised of verbs that can be done in a specific season, holiday, sport, or place.

· Adjective Acrostic Poems: Each line is comprised of adjectives to describe something specific.

· Personal Experience Acrostic Poems: Each line includes a memory of an important event that is the focus word of the acrostic poem. Example: Field Trip, Graduation, Birthday

· Specific Direction: Be specific and narrow when you give directions for this type of acrostic poem. Example: For a “Friendship” acrostic poem, have students write about the characteristics that make a good friend on each line.

· Focus on Nonfiction: Have students research something related to a topic. Example: For an “America” acrostic, students can research Memorial Day or Flag Day, gather information and record what they learned in the form of an acrostic poem. This is perfect for biography and research projects, too. If you are studying endangered animals, have students create an acrostic poem for “endangered” and include all the information from their research in their poem.

· Fiction Book Reflection: These are so much fun to write and offer the students a change in the traditional summary or reader reflection activity. Example: If you are studying characters, have students write the name of a character from their book and fill in each acrostic poem line with character traits, feelings, and actions-all supported by examples from the text. It is an engaging way for students to show what they know! This also works well with settings. Have the students write the name of an important setting from a book and write the acrostic poem with the focus of how the setting impacted the story.

· Mixed Up Acrostic Poems: Each line has a different rule created by you! Be creative and use your students’ ideas and interests to guide you.

I figured besides just admin/maintenance work I could still do some writing. Nothing too long, difficult, or savvy. But something challenging enough to keep the old brain fine-tuned and running smoothly. This list is from a teacher’s plan on Think, Grow, Giggle. It’s as good a place to start as any other!

Let the games begin!

The Maverick Files — chose one, write it, tag the next person.