Are you looking for a writing resource for Black History Month in February?
I’ve got you covered!
I love launching lessons with a story!
So we are going to start with a story…..and read on to what we will end with!
Your students will read and reflect on the life of Rosa Parks and then create a cinquain poem to give a ‘Snap Shot’ of her life
A cinquain poem is a perfect format for creating an autobiographic snapshot of anyone’s life.
What is a Cinquain Poem
The cinquain is a five-line poem the follows a word pattern:
Line 1: a one-word subject
Line 2: two adjectives to describe the subject
Line 3: three verbs (ending in -ing)
Line 4: four-word phrase about the subject
Line 5: one synonym
Students come to understand a person’s life on a deeper level as they fill in this graphic organizer.
How Do We Do This
Start with a story – any autobiographical book on Rosa Parks you may have… or maybe you have a great Close Reading resource about her…
You can do this activity whole group, with partners, or individuals – depending on your students.
I prefer to fill in the the first page of ‘Cinquain Poem Snapshot’ page together. As the students brainstorm together they are able to generate an abundance of words for the boxes. It’s good to have many words in each box, even though they will only choose a few.
Students refer back to the story to show evidence of the their choices of adjectives, verbs, and synonyms to describe Rosa Parks.
After they complete this page they are ready to publish their autobiographical poem!
Don’t you just love using a story to launch a lesson?!
Notice how we crossed so many subject areas with this activity!
- Social Studies
- Reading
- Summarizing
- Grammar
- Poetry Writing
Click on the image below to get your copy of this activity – so you can ‘start with a story and end with a poem’.
Additional February Writing Resources
Are looking for additional writing resources for February – check out these paragraph ‘Writing Resources for February’.
This packet includes Valentine’s Day, Black History, and Presidents’ Day resources.
What stories do you like to use to launch your lessons?
My name is Peggy Means. I am a child of God and a retired elementary teacher. I loved teaching and creating engaging resources for my students. Now, I love sharing my resources and ideas with busy teachers around the world.
8 Comments
You always have such great ideas and lessons, Peggy! This one is no exception. Thanks for sharing.
Anita
Great post, Peggy! Thanks for sharing your ideas and very useful writing templates!
Linda at Primary Inspiration
I love reading your posts! What a great way to incorporate SS and Poetry! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
Brinca Into Bilingual!
You are so sweet, Anita! Thanks for stopping by and leaving some love!
Thank you, Linda! You are so encouraging! I love using the cinquain template for responding to literature!
Hi Brinca! I love using that cinquain template for almost any topic! Thanks for stopping by and leaving some luv! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your awesome ideas and for participating in our collaborative linky. 🙂
Nicole and Eliceo
Thank you, Nicole! I so appreciate being able to be a part of these links! <3