Writer's Workshop: Pumpkin Personification Poem

During Writer’s Workshop we started our first Picturing Writing project. Using this writing approach, students drew and painted a picture on special watercolor paper, and then used this visual to write poetry. Early this week, we created a colorful picture of a jack-o-lantern on an autumn night. 

We read and shared professional author's words to help influence our writing, and we brainstormed strong verbs, adjectives, and color words to describe what our jack-o-lantern could see, hear, taste, smell and feel on a graphic organizer. Paintings, graphic organizers, and manipulatives are great visual and kinesthetic tools to help motivate students and incorporate multiple intelligences in the classroom. The students are enjoying this approach! This hands-on method was also a great way to encourage the use of rich, descriptive language. This first Picturing Writing poem was a 'pumpkin personification poem' where we gave the jack-o-lantern human qualities. The poems are beautiful and will be on display in our classroom until Halloween.