Free Verse
Greenfield, Eloise. Night on neighborhood street. Dial Books: New York. 1991.
Introduction: Discuss free verse with the students.  Tell them it is "poetry that's written without proper rules for form, rhyme, rhythm" etc.  Explain that it is like "free falling".  Have the students line up in a couple of rows standing on the carpet.  Then have them relax their bodies and gently fall down.  Have them stay where they fall and read the following poem.

New Baby Poem
by Eloise Greenfield

sleep coming down
bringing dreams that
swish
like the sound of
warm water
rocking the baby
rocking the baby
swish, swish
swish.

Extension:  Pass out copies of the poem to the students. Have them read the poem silently as you read it out loud.  Talk about how the poem is written in a free verse manner.  Have the students break into pairs and have them read the poem to each other to get a feel for free verse.  Then have the students work together to create a free verse poem.  Review the poems and have students fine tune them.  When complete, have the students display there poems on the bulletin board.
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