SmallWorld's WordSmithery Week 7: Writing About the Weather

SmallWorld's WordSmithery is back after an e-x-t-e-n-d-e-d summer vacation. Yes, I know it's October.

If you are brand new here, I recommend that you go back and start at the beginning. My goal with the WordSmithery is to make creative writing exciting for writers of all ages. Here's what we've covered so far:

Lesson #1: Introduction and Journals
Lesson #2: Introduction to Creative Writing, Featuring Good Words
Lesson #3: Using Powerful Words to Create More Interesting Writing
Lesson #4: Similes
Lesson #5: Metaphors and Strong Verbs
Lesson #6: Alliteration and Spring Flowers (or Fall Leaves)

I also have a place for you to share your kids' writing and read other kids' writing to your children: Share Your Writing! I encourage you to share there or link back to your own blog. My kids love to read what your kids have written!

And now for Lesson #7: Writing About the Weather. As always, this lesson is loosely scripted. You might eliminate some things or add others as you go.

As you know if you are a regular here, I try to put the "speaking" parts in regular type and the answers in italics. And remember: parents/teacher: you should be doing the assignments, too! Go back and read the first couple of lessons to find out why. Here we go!

Writing About the Weather (beginning poetry)

(Note: if you don't go through your journal assignments from the previous lesson on a regular basis, this is the time to share your journals! Remember: we only use encouraging words!)

In the past several lessons, we’ve talked about many different tools that writers can use, so we’re going to spend more time writing in the next few weeks. We’re going to start with some weather poems. Weather is great because people react in so many different ways to different kinds of weather. Weather is always with us! Listen to how much people talk about the weather. What are some different kinds of weather? (blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoon, flood, earthquake, etc.) Note: You may want to read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs at this point, if you have a copy or can get one from the library. This gets them thinking about all kinds of weather!

Listen to these poems about different kinds of weather:

Fog
by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

(Ask questions, like: to what is the author comparing fog? what would fog look like if it were a cat?)

Hurricane
by Lilian Moore

All night
The wind
Poured
Through the trees,
Roared
Like a waterfall,
Tugged and Tore.
In the morning light
The stunned
Trees
Looked down on
Tattered leaves
Heaped in
Brown
Hills
Torn twigs
Flung
In barbed wired
Tangles
Battered
Branches
Crossed like
Swords.

Listen to the strong words that the author used in this poem: poured, roared, tugged (go through and read list). The author didn't just say, "There was a big hurricane last night." She chose very strong words to give you the feeling of a powerful storm coming through.

Rain
by Eve Merriam

Dot a dot dot dot a dot dot
Spotting the windowpane.
Spack a spack speck flick a flack fleck
Freckling the windowpane.
A spatter a scatter a wet cat a clatter
A splatter a rumble outside.
Umbrella umbrella umbrella umbrella
Bumbershoot barrel of rain.
Slosh a galosh slosh a galosh
Slither and slather a glide
A puddle a jump a puddle a jump
A puddle a jump puddle splosh
A juddle a pump a luddle a dump
A pudmuddle jump in and slide!

Does this poem remind you of rain? Do you hear how Eve Merriam carefully chose words that sound like rain: spick, spack, fleck, dot, etc. Can't you just hear the rain falling on a roof or on a window?

Let’s try writing a weather poem together. We are going to follow a certain formula. Writing a poem with a specific formula, or pattern, is one fun way to write. Here is the example:

Thunder

Thunder comes in roaring
And rattles your bones
Like a heavy chain
Clanking across the sky
And then stalks back into the clouds,
Rumbling still.

Let's talk about this poem first. How does the thunder come in? (Roaring.) Does that make you think of an animal? What other strong words has the author used to help us really feel the thunder? (rattle, roaring, heavy, clanking, stalks, rumbling) Now let's brainstorm about different kinds of weather. (Write as they say types, such as: tornado, monsoon, earthquake, flood, tsunami, snow, blizzard, ice storm, etc.)

Now let's pick one type of weather and write a poem about it. Here is the formula we are going to follow. (As you go through each line, help them to come up with strong words that describe this kind of weather.)

Title: Form of Nature chosen

Line #1: Title plus how it arrives or begins as an animal would
Line #2: Tell what it does
Line #3: Tell how it does it
Line #4: Tell where it is
Line #5: Tell how it leaves (as an animal would leave)

After they write the poem, let them illustrate the weather.

Do one together and then give each child a form to do his or her own poem. Share these at a later time.

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Below are this week's journal writings. We do one each day and then share them with each other.

Day 1

Think of at least 5 words that, when you say them, might make someone feel thirsty.

[For example: parched]

Day 2

In the spirit of “Jabberwocky,” create at least one original word and tell what it might mean.

[For example: magniflubescent: something that glows in the dark without fading.]

Day 3

Make up a tongue twister.

[For example: a box of mixed biscuits]

Day 4

Stretch this sentence by adding or changing words to make it more specific and more interesting: She ate breakfast.

[For example: After being sick for three days, my ravenous daughter ate three helpings of biscuits and gravy.]

Day 5

List all the words you can think of which are in any way related to trees.

[For example: willow, leaf, bark]

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Hope you have a a cornucopia of creativity this week! If you enjoyed this lesson, let me know!

Missed the previous lessons? Click on the links below for the whole WordSmithery experience!

Lesson #1: Introduction and Journals
Lesson #2: Introduction to Creative Writing, Featuring Good Words
Lesson #3: Using Powerful Words to Create More Interesting Writing
Lesson #4: Similes
Lesson #5: Metaphors and Strong Verbs
Lesson #6: Alliteration and Spring Flowers/Fall Leaves

And don't forget to Share Your Writing! Also, I like link love. If you are using WordSmithery and have a blog, please take a minute copy the WordSmithery logo on my sidebar and point your readers to my blog!

All material on the page copyright 2009-10, Sarah Small.