CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

BEST-GUESS POETRY SQUARE

Students increase their vocabularies and strengthen their math skills with cinquain poetry.

Poetry and Project Materials
• Draft paper
• Pencils/pens/markers
• Scissors
• Art supplies (paint, stickers, fabric pieces, carpet samples, etc.)

Poetry Writing

Cinquain Poems

A cinquain poem is composed of five short, non-rhyming lines:
Line 1 – One-word title
Line 2 – Two descriptive words
Line 3 – Three action words
Line 4 – Four feeling words (how I feel when I think about the title)
Line 5 – Another word that describes the title.

In this particular project, the last line will be the number or concept the poem describes – the answer to the riddle.

Triple
Few, Tres
Tripling, Trio, Triangling
Happy, Special, Great, Friends
Answer: #3

Bronze
Tricycle, Triangle
Winning, Wheeling, Angling
Happy, Friendly, Fun-loving, Learning
Answer: #3

1. Have the class vote to select the concept they will use as the subject of their guessing poem. This number or concept will become the last line of their poem, the one the readers must guess.

2. Next, invite students to think of clues (descriptive words, action words, etc.) to use in their poems. Record these words on the board.
3. Have your class write a group poem about the concept they chose following the structure outlined above.

4. Break the class into groups of four or five. Then invite each group to select a new topic and work together to write a draft of a group poem – leaving the last line off so readers can guess the answer to the poem.

Teacher Hint

Because the project is somewhat complex, you may want to write one cinquain poem with the whole class before having them work in smaller groups, with partners, or individually.

Project Steps

1. Distribute a piece of paper to each group and have students cut out the poetry square.

2. Next, show students how to fold each of the square’s corners into its center, making a hard crease on each dotted line.

3. Using the project, help students write each of the first four lines of the poem on one of the folded triangles, working clockwise so that the first line goes in the upper left-hand corner, the second in the upper right-hand corner, the third in the lower right-hand corner, and the fourth in the lower left-hand corner. Write the fifth line on the back of the poetry square.

4. Have students lift each triangle and draw pictures or paste stickers on the inside of each one to represent the words on the outside flap.

5. When everyone has finished their cinquain squares, have students exchange them to see if they can guess what each other’s poems are about.

Submitted by Ludmila Davidova