National Poetry Month is a perfect time to highlight some of the lyrical and lively writing that Mrs. Cimini’s fourth grade students have created. After attending my “Exciting Writing” program, children practiced techniques provided in my follow-up materials to “make music” and “paint pictures.” These techniques apply not only to poetry, but also to prose. ( For related activities, see Teacher Pages: Making Music with Alliteration and Invigorating Vocabulary. )
Below are some the the wonderful writing samples that Mrs. Cimini sent me.
Students “made music” by generating phrases using alliteration:
Wreck it Ralph
Magnificent Minecraft
Noisy Nancy
big band
puny pig
loud lunchroom
chattering children
stubborn staples
naked noodles
Then they combined phrases to make sentences:
The Noisy nerd threw pumpkin pie at the Big Bad Wolf.
My mom makes marvelous meals.
The Wicked Witch had a puny pig and some chocolate chips.
The Big Bad Wolf played Magnificent Minecraft and then went out for french fries.
Children “painted pictures” by using vivid verbs.
The loud, fat Chihuahua trudged over to me.
The wide horse trotted to his hay and gobbled it down.
The huge pet devoured dinner.
I crunched my food.
The plump Chihuahua nuzzled the other dog to get up.
Notice the descriptive adjectives they used too:
loud, fat, wide, huge, and plump
Another way students “painted pictures” was by creating clever similes:
The cat was as sneaky as a shadow.
The man’s belch was as loud as a BOMB!!!
The kitten is as cute as a toy.
Thank you to Mrs. Cimini and her students! To see more of the exciting things they are up to, visit their classroom blog. 
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Judith Jango-Cohen 