Concrete Poetry

Today, my classmates presented us with a lesson on trees by means of concrete poems. The lesson came from our new Project Learning Tree book. They started the conversation by asking the class about memories they've had with trees. I thought this was a great way to have students form a personal connection with the subject matter before digging in.

Then, we went outside and observed a tree and were asked to write a poem about our tree. I totally biffed it and had trouble switching from a scientific view of the tree to a more creative view and barely got a line out of a poem, but my classmates totally rocked it! I hope some of them post their creations on their blog (hint, hint ;)

I found some concrete poems online, here are a few examples:

 I like how the o's are apples!  

  But a raindrop is not shaped like this!

        MISCONCEPTION BUST!

I like how there don't have to be any rules with these poems (other than staying in the lines) so students can explore creatively however they'd like.

A great way to integrate ELA into a science lesson, or science into an ELA lesson.