Loved That Lesson: Imitating Poetry

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Imitation poem lesson: imitating poetry with students

My class had some serious fun with poetry using Love That Dog.

Imitating Poetry from book Love That Dog with Ideas by Jivey.

If you’ve never read this book, it is a MUST with a poetry unit! Check it out here! It’s a little sad, but even still, my students loved it every year I used it.

Why imitation works

Those of you that already follow me know that I think imitation is a must for kids to learn the craft of writing. I do this weekly through Mentor Sentences. Analyzing the structure and craft of an author, then trying it out: that is the BEST way for students to learn to write!

How we wrote an imitation poem

Sooo… I decided to have my kiddos try out imitating a poem. This one worked perfectly since we had also just done some research on an animal for an opinion piece:

dog

BY VALERIE WORTH

Under a maple tree

The dog lies down,

Lolls his limp

Tongue, yawns,

Rests his long chin

Carefully between

Front paws;

Looks up, alert;

Chops, with heavy

Jaws, at a slow fly,

Blinks, rolls

On his side,

Sighs, closes

His eyes: sleeps

All afternoon

In his loose skin.

First, we broke down each line for structure-

Under a maple tree – prepositional phrase

The dog lies down – what the animal does (subject/predicate)

Lolls his limp

Tongue, yawns, – does something with a (adjective) body part, then another action

You get the idea… we only did the first seven lines because I thought that would be “enough.” They had a bit of a struggle getting started, but once I gave a few of them ideas to start, they really flew… and they BLEW ME AWAY with their imitation poems!