A Poetic Picture

Suggested Activities

In this challenge, students create a poem that illustrates important features of an assigned community. Recall and discuss six features that help shape a community (geography, culture, language, heritage, economics and resources). Provide students with books that contain pictures of the geography, culture, language, heritage, economics and resources of the community they are studying. (A search of Google™ Image Search for "prairie (Canada)," "Inuit (Canada)" and "Acadia (Canada)" will produce many hundreds of colour prints for each region.) If students have completed the activities explained in Powerful Words (Critical Challenge) refer them to the list of describing words developed during those activities. Otherwise, have students brainstorm descriptive words for each community. Explain that these words can be used to write a poem about the land and the people in their assigned community. Encourage students to use words that will help others see and feel the experience of being in this community. Cinquain poetry could be used for this activity.