The Writing Lesson:
Colorful Sensory Poems

This writing and art project was written by Northern Nevada teacher Amy Howe during the NNWP's inservice class on Art & Writing Projects. Amy is a fifth grade teacher in Northern Nevada.

This page contains the writing portion of this two-part lesson. Click here to view the accompanying art lesson plan.

Amy's Lesson Overview:

This lesson allows students to explore color – both in literal and figurative terms. Students will read books about color, discuss the emotion involved with color, and incorporate color metaphors to write poems.

Writing Lesson Materials:

• Mentor Text 1: Micawber by John Lithgow
• Mentor Text 2: I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse
• Poem Graphic Organizer
• Lined paper

Writing Lesson Instructions:

• Have a discussion about “warm” and “cool” colors. Be sure the students understand the difference and where they are in the color spectrum. Talk about instances when you see “warm” and “cool” colors and emotions that are often associated with each.
• Read the book Micawber to the students. Discuss the wonderful vocabulary of the book – pointing out the great word choice for color words.
• Read the book I Love You the Purplest. Discuss how the mother in the book was able to describe her feelings using blue and red. Talk about how blue is a cool color and what the mother associates with it and how red is a warm color and what the mother associates with it.
• Brainstorm a list of unusual color words. Put up on chart paper.
• Remind students what a metaphor is. Give some examples. Tell the students that they are going to be writing a poem using metaphors with colors and the five senses. Give them the graphic organizer to start brainstorming ideas.
• Have the students pick one color to write their poem about. Have them fill in the outline, making sure that they aren’t making literal sentences, but that they are using figurative language to complete the outline.
• Tell the students to write a poem about their color using the graphic organizer as a guide. Your struggling writers can easily copy what they have on the outline exactly, and you can encourage your stronger writers to create a more freeform poem. See samples above and below.
• Final poems should accompany the students final art projects.

We're Seeking Student Poetry Samples:

Teachers: Other than fifth grade, we're looking for student poetry samples for this lesson that we can feature here. Do you have a revised and edited sample to share? Take a photo of the final product, and/or send attachments to us at publish@writingfix.com. Please write "Colorful Sensory Poems/Paintings" in your e-mail's subject line. If we publish your sample here, we will send you a complimentary copy of one of the NNWP's Print Publications for your classroom.