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By Carla

Have you ever read a poetry book called The Important Book? I can't think of the author off the top of my head. However, each poem in the book starts with a topic and is written in the same format. For example:

The
important thing about a flower is that it is colorful. A flower is pretty. It is alive and grows. A flower smells wonderful. But the important thing about a flower is that it is coloful. (not the best example, but you get the idea).
Anyway, I've done this before with second graders and they really seem to like it. You read the book. Then model how to write the poem, telling the

students that the last line needs to be the same as the first. The students came up with some interesting topics, food, animals, sports, etc. You can stick to one topic such as "The important thing about Spring is...". This idea can be used over and over for whatever topic you are studying; "The important thing about fractions is...", "The important thing about magnets is..." etc. After the students have written or typed the copy to publish, I have them illustrate a boarder around the poem and display or make into a classroom book.
Best of luck!
Carla