Theme Poems: Writing Extraordinary Poems About Ordinary Objects

Writing poetry enables students to reflect on their everyday experiences, express their perceptions and observations, and craft powerful images. In this lesson, students write theme poems using their content knowledge and sensory awareness of a familiar object. Students first learn about the characteristics and format of a theme poem. They then engage in an online interactive activity in which they select a graphic of a familiar object (e.g., the sun, a heart, a balloon), build a word bank of the content area and sensory words related to the object, and write poems within the shape of the object. Finished poems are printed and displayed in class.