Unit Plan 16 (Grade PreK ELA): Poetry & Sound Play
PreK poetry unit: students explore rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration while learning how poems differ from stories. Through clapping beats, finding rhymes, and performing short verses with visuals and props, they build early phonological awareness and expressive confidence.
Focus: Rhythm, rhyme, alliteration; noticing poems vs. stories
Grade Level: PreK
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Poetry • Phonological Awareness • Performance & Visuals)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session (use two short blocks if needed)
I. Introduction
This joyful poetry week helps children hear language music (beat, rhyme, alliteration) and notice how poems look and feel different from stories. Through chants, movement, and tiny performances with visuals/props, students grow as playful listeners and confident sharers.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Notice and enjoy the sounds of language in short poems and rhymes—beat, rhyme, and repeated beginning sounds (RL.PK.4).
- Tell which text is a poem and which is a story by looking and listening (short lines, repeating words, rhythm) (RL.PK.5).
- Add a simple visual, action, or prop to help share a poem with the class (SL.PK.5).
Standards Alignment — PreK
- RL.PK.4 With prompting and support, attend to words, phrases, and sounds in a text (rhyme, rhythm, alliteration).
- RL.PK.5 Recognize common types of texts and features (poems vs. stories).
- SL.PK.5 Add drawings/visual displays or actions to support sharing ideas.
Success Criteria — student language
- “I can hear a rhyme (two words that sound the same at the end).” (RL.PK.4)
- “I can clap the beat of a poem.” (RL.PK.4)
- “I can tell when it’s a poem (short lines, repeats) or a story.” (RL.PK.5)
- “I can show my poem with a picture, motion, or prop.” (SL.PK.5)