All About Alliteration: Responding to Literature Through a Poetry Link

Poetry offers many opportunities for word play and learning about language. But because poetry can seem inaccessible, many students approach poetry writing with trepidation. This lesson for third- and fourth-grade students is designed to overcome student fears by using a traditional poem to teach students about alliteration. After reading the book A My Name Is. by Alice Lyne, students use a variety of print and online resources to brainstorm their own alliterative word lists. They then create a poetry link that uses the traditional poem they have read together as a framework for their own poems.

Featured Resources

Alliteration Brainstormingsheet: This useful handout will get your students brainstorming about words starting with the same letter, which will then serve as the basis for the poem they write.
AMy Name Is.by Alice Lyne (Scholastic, 1997): Your students will enjoy this well-illustrated jump-rope rhyme built on letters of the alphabet.

From Theory to Practice

A poetry link is a "writing suggestion, statement, or assignment that stems from an original text." Poetry links should be open-ended and should connect to your students' world.
To make poetry links different from traditional writing prompts, class time should be dedicated to helping students brainstorm their own ideas for writing by looking closely at a specific text.
When creating poetry links, teachers can also use concepts such as alliteration.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Materials and Technology

A My Name Is. by Alice Lyne (Scholastic, 1997)
Atlases, cookbooks, catalogues, and baby name and alphabet books
Writing folders
Paper and writing and drawing tools
Chart paper
Overhead projector and transparencies
LCD Display monitor (optional)
Computers with Internet access

Printouts

Alliteration Brainstorming
Task Observation Chart
Alliteration Self-Assessment

Websites

Preparation

1.	Obtain a copy of A My Name Is. by Alice Lyne. You can also use My Name Is Alice by Jane Bayer (Puffin Books, 1987).
2.	Gather an assortment of cookbooks, atlases, catalogues, baby name books, and alphabet books. Put at least one of each type of book into a bin; you will need one bin per table. If your students are not sitting in groups, have them move their desks so that they are sitting in groups of four to six for this activity.
3.	Visit the websites listed in the Alliteration Resources section to prepare to discuss alliteration with your students. All three sites provide definitions and examples you can use with your class; Module 3: Concept Classification and Mrs. Dowling's Literature Terms: Alliteration both include quizzes that you may choose to use with your students, either by copying them onto chart paper or by using a LCD display monitor.
4.	If you have classroom computers with Internet access, bookmark the websites listed in the Vocabulary Resources section. If not, you may want to conduct Session 1 in your school's computer lab and will need to reserve time there as appropriate (you will also need to bring the bins of print resources you have found along).
5.	Make a transparency of the Alliteration Brainstorming sheet or copy it onto a piece of chart paper. Make one copy of the sheet for each student.
6.	Make a copy of the Task Observation Chart for each student and fill in student names; you will use these to take notes during class.

Student Objectives

Learn about alliteration by listening to an alliterative read-aloud
Demonstrate comprehension of alliteration and practice research skills by using a variety of print and online texts to find alliterative words
Practice brainstorming and cooperative work by developing a list of alliterative words and a poetry link with which to write their poems
Apply the knowledge they have gained about alliteration to the creation of their own poem and illustration

Session 1

1.	Introduce the book A My Name Is. to students. After reading the title aloud, ask if any of them are familiar with a similar jump-rope rhyme. Have those students who respond yes share their version. Explain that since these rhymes have been passed down orally, there may be more than one version.
2.	Read the book aloud to students. You may choose to pause before reading a few of the pages and allow students to predict the content of the next page.
3.	After reading the book, discuss the term alliteration with your students. Ask them if they can guess from the book you just read or from their own prior knowledge what alliteration might mean. You want to work toward a definition such as: Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds of a word in one or more closely followed words. Make sure students understand that alliterative words do not necessarily start with the same letter or letters; for example "phenomenal fat fish" is an alliterative phrase. You might want to brainstorm a list of words that use similar consonant sounds with students (phony and full, cider and silly, call and kite). This list should remain on the board through Session 2.
4.	Tell students that authors or poets use alliteration to emphasize certain words or create a specific mood. Tongue twisters also rely on alliteration (for example, rubber baby buggy bumpers). Share the examples you have gathered with your students and lead them through one or both of the alliteration quizzes.
5.	Show students the Alliteration Brainstorming sheet using an overhead projector or chart paper.
6.	Choose a letter to use as an example, preferably one that students are unlikely to choose. For example, if no one in your class has a name that starts with F, it would be a good choice. Print the letter in the center oval of the brainstorming sheet. Explain to the class that they will make a list of names, places, animals, and foods or items that begin with the same sound as the letter you have chosen. Tell students that you would like at least ten words in each category.
7.	Using one of the texts you have brought in for the class, model how to use the index to find ideas. For example, show them the index of a cookbook or atlas and go over the foods or places that are listed under F. You might also look for words that begin with Ph.

Session 2

What types of words did the illustrator use in her pictures, for example, nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.?
What types of nouns are used in the illustrations, for example, food, animals, musical instruments, etc.?
Which letters have the most words illustrated?
Which letter has the fewest illustrations?

___ my name is _______________.

My best friend's name is _______________.

We live in _______________.

And we sell _______________.

Extensions

Compile all completed pages into a class book that includes an index of hidden picture clues. Circulate the book to other classes, staff members, and students' families. Include a page where readers can respond in writing to the authors.
Create another book that uses the same poetry link but includes the names of school staff who have contact with your students. Or have students complete books of their own using the names of family and friends.
Compile the Alliteration Brainstorming sheets into a list and store it in your writing center as an alliteration resource. Move the reference materials you used for this lesson there as well.
Ask students to bring in other poems or literature that demonstrate alliteration and add poems or books that include alliteration to the book center.
Have students visit poetry websites to find other poems and poetic devices that capture their interest. Sites to visit include:

Student Assessment / Reflections

Informally assess student comprehension of alliteration. Did students listen actively to the read-aloud? Did they participate in the group discussion that followed and then in the brainstorming session?
Use the notes you took on the Task Observation Chart while students completed their Alliteration Brainstorming sheets to assess how well they understood the concept of alliteration and how well they were able to use the resources you provided.
Review the Alliteration Brainstorming sheets to make sure that students listed at least 10 items in each category.
Assess student poems and illustrations. These pages should have illustrations and text. Look at how well students used the poetry link to write an alliterative poem and how many objects from their brainstorming lists students included in their illustrations.
Review the completed Alliteration Self-Assessments to see where students might need further work with alliteration and poetry links.