Saturday, December 7, 2013

Oceans of Costa Rica Writing Activity

Lesson:
Oceans of Costa Rica Activity
How do the life cycles of Costa Rica's Atlantic and Pacific oceans fit into its water cycle? In general, do oceans impact the water cycle or does the water cycle impact the oceans? How do you have/play a role in the water cycle of the ocean?


Purpose of activity: To increase expression and intonation in reading fluency while practicing writing through the composition of poetry. By the end of the activity, students will be able to read their favorite poems fluidly and effortlessly using intonation, expression, and punctuation cues.


Materials:
The book Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs, Journal, Pencil, Venn diagram, Sample Ocean Poem Examples
Page 55 from the book Costa Rica by Erin Foley, Barbara Cook
The chapter about oceans in the book Biodiversity by Dorothy Hinshaw
Steps:
1.    Read book Water Sings
2. Refer to page 55 from Costa Rica book and chapter about oceans from Biodiversity book
3.    Pick 2 of your favorite poems in the book and practice reading them aloud several times. Try changing your expression and tone each time you recite the poems. How does the tone change the meaning? Is it better to read in a happy voice, a scary voice, a loud voice, an angry voice, or a soft voice?
4.    Write your own poem about the ocean. Think about the feelings that you wish to portray in the poem and how you would recite the poem aloud. Follow these subsequent guidelines:
Line 1: Choose a title that names an ocean topic
Line 2: Use two adjectives that describe the ocean
Line 3:  Include three verbs related to the ocean that end in -ing
Line 4: Include a phrase that tells about the ocean
Line 5: Include Synonym that creatively names the ocean
5.    Compose your poem using the journal and pencil provided then type your final draft and post it to this blog as a new post.