Brief Description

In this activity students will use the factual research they have done on a specific dinosaur to create a descriptive cinquain about that dinosaur. This research will have been completed over a period of three weeks as homework with the assistance of an adult. The completed cinquain will then be published on the website http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/poetry/ (Fern’s poetry center).

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

3T-F1. Use prescribed technology writing or drawing tools for communicating and illustrating
3T-F3. Use prescribed technology tools for publishing and presenting information
4T-F2. Use technology tools for individual and collaborative communication activities to share products with audiences inside and outside the classroom

WRITING:
F1.Use the writing process, including generating topics, drafting, revising ideas and editing, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks
W-F2.Use correct spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and word usage, and good penmanship to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks
SCIENCE:
1SC-R6. Communicate observations and comparisons through various means such as pictographs, pictures, models and words
4SC-R3. Recognize and distinguish similarities and differences in diverse species

Academic

• Using the data/information they have gathered about their assigned dinosaur, students will create a simple 5-line cinquian that accurately describes their dinosaur.
• Using their portable word wall as a reference (this is an alphabetized list of words that the students are responsible for spelling correctly), students will edit their cinquians for proper spelling of no-excuse words
• After learning about the characteristics of cinquians (limited number of words used to create a word picture) and the writing trait of Word Choice, students will carefully select meaningful descriptive words to include in their cinquian.

• Given a web address, students will access Fern’s Poetry Center from the web and then type their poem into the website.
• Given a floppy disk, students will save their unfinished work to disk to be continued later.

• Students must know how to keyboard and locate letters.
• Students must know how to save a document to disk.
• Students must know how to log on the computer and get on the Internet.

Teacher made Cinquain form for rough draft
Student made research documents: web, describing words, report, and dinosaur picture (all of these research documents were completed during a 3 week period preceding this activity as a special homework research assignment.)
Pencils, erasers
Computer lab
One floppy disk per child
Student self-evaluation poem rubric
Six Traits Writing Rubric, Word Choice
Teacher made Technology Skills Checklist

Accommodations for Special Needs

A wide variety of materials will be available for students to use to locate information that will be used as a base for their descriptive poems. Students will have both written and pictorial representations for their dinosaur and will also have spent some time searching for information on their dinosaur on the Internet. Students can work in partners or with a parent volunteer and will be able to write the poem down and/or record it into a tape recorder.
SEI and Learning Disabilities: Picture clues will be included on the cinquian form in order to help students understand what type of word they are trying to use. Both SEI and students with Learning Disabilities will be paired with a partner who is a strong reader. These students will also have the opportunity to work with a parent volunteer for further assistance if needed.
ADHD/ADD: Break task into small parts and provide frequent feedback to ensure successful progress towards the completed poem.
REACH: Students will be required to use a thesaurus to locate and consider a wider range of describing words for possible use in their poems. They will also be given the option of using illustrative type to further enhance the hand-written version of their poem. They can do a second cinquain about another dinosaur they are interested in or may spend some time writing dinosaur riddles or rhyming couplets.
 

Procedures

1. Teacher will give writing mini-lesson which addresses:
• Poetry is a special kind of writing in which only a limited number of words are used to create a word picture for the reader
• A cinquain is one type of poem, it has 5 lines and words that follow a particular pattern
• The writing trait of Word Choice is very important when writing poetry, each word must be chosen carefully in order to make the best word picture possible
• Review of parts of speech that are utilized in the cinquain: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and synonyms.
2. Teacher will introduce the Cinquian form on the overhead and model writing a rough draft about her dinosaur on the overhead. During the modeling process teacher will refer to and utilize the same reference choices that will be available to the students: a web, describing word list, and completed dinosaur report.


Following is the cinquan format:

Line 1: a title (NOUN)
Line 2: two words that describe the title (adjectives)
Line 3: three words that tell something the title does (VERBS)
Line 4: a four-word phrase about the title
Line 5: a word that means the same as the title (SYNONYM)
 

3. Students will write their own rough drafts using their previously gathered research items as references (web, report, picture, describing word list). They can work alone or with a partner.
4. Students will read their finished rough draft to another student for feedback and make any changes they decide upon.
5. Students will use their portable word wall of “no-excuses” words to edit their poem for correct spelling.
6. Teacher will do a final editing of the rough drafts to assure that all poems are error free.
7. Student will access the website Fern’s Poetry Center and type their poem and then submit it by following these steps:
• On the homepage click on the notebook labeled “Write a Poem”
• Type title of poem in title box and poem in poem box
• Under Optional Stuff type in first name, age, teacher’s email address, and state
• Click on the Send It! Box.

1. Students will self-evaluate and peer evaluates their poems using the student checklist.
2. Teacher will evaluate the content of the poem using the Dinosaur Cinquain Rubric.
3. Teacher will use a checklist to determine which students were able to successfully log on to the Internet, locate the web address, type in and submit their poem, and save their poem to a floppy disk.