Diamante Poetry FREEBIE

Hi there!

Jessica from "Joy in the Journey" here :)

We just wrapped up a fun poetry unit in Language Arts - and my 5th graders had a blast!

I love introducing the kiddos to new forms of poetry - one of which is the Diamante Poem.

Diamante poems are 7-lined poems that are used to compare and contrast two opposite nouns. It gives students valuable practice in identifying and providing examples of different parts of speech, comparing/contrasting nouns, and writing different lines of poetry.

First, we discussed what words (what part of speech) go on each line. A great grammar review - and reinforcement for those who are still struggling! Then, we did a class example (Cats vs. Dogs). Finally, the students were free to start brainstorming and planning their rough drafts:

Then, once their rough drafts were edited by a classmate, they create their final project. I decided to throw in an art component (decorating the background) to stimulate my artistically-inclined kiddos:

Didn't they do a phenomenal job?!?

If you'd like to try this project, you can download my 

FREE Diamante Poetry packet on TPT. It includes a definition, instructions for writing, brainstorming paper, and a final draft template.

If you download it, please leave some feedback! :)

Happy almost-weekend, friends!

Sentence Type Freebie

This product was recently in the TpT newsletter, but in case you missed it, I'm sharing here. This is an activity that can be used as a review in a center. Students arrange six words to make the given sentence type. Here is a peek:

Click on any picture or {here} to take you to the download!

Incorporating Daily Writing

I don't know about you, but it seems like writing always gets the shaft in my room.  I start off every year with this grand scheme to make sure my students write daily, yet when something needs to go off of my schedule, it always seems that this subject is the one on the chopping block.

Honestly, it just isn't fair to my students.  They will not become better writers unless they are actually writing.  So what I started to do, to ensure that they would write daily, was begin a Paragraph of the Week.

The basic idea is simple.  The students are given a prompt to write a paragraph about and they have the week to do it at home.  However, I knew that if I just gave my students a prompt and let them at it....all heck would break loose.  They *needed* some scaffolding and a bit more accountability to decent sentences than that.

So I thought and thought about what it is that I do to get the kids to proficiently write a paragraph.  I thought about how I scaffold it and how it all works together to form a cohesive, thoughtful, structured paragraph.  I then broke all of that down into four days worth of writing time for my kids and, viola, Paragraph of the Week was born!

It truly is something that has changed my writing block.  Heck, it has changed the way I even view writing.  What makes it so amazing?  The kids just "get it".  They understand how to write now because they see it not as a huge, daunting task, but as a short, systematic structure.

But don't take my word for it.  Here it is just for you!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!