Bio Poems. What are Bio Poems?

What are Bio Poems? A bio poem is a simple poem written about a person, and it follows a predictable pattern. Bio poems generally don’t rhyme, and they can be autobiographical or biographical. Begin by having your students write bio poems about themselves, and later they can write about other people or characters. In this packet you’ll find two ready-to-use graphic organizers, a sample poem, a planning page, and decorative writing paper. Bio Poem Topic Ideas • Back to School - Write and share autobiographical poems • Holiday-Themed - Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, President’s Day • Book or Movie Characters • Historical Figures - Scientists, Inventors, Explorers, Politicians Suggested Lesson Sequence 1. Before the lesson, write your own bio poem following the example on the next page. You’ll need this to share with your students when you start the lesson. 2. Begin by telling your students that they are going to create simple poems about themselves called “bio poems.” Display and read your example to the class. 3. Distribute copies of the brainstorming boxes graphic organizer on page 4. As a class, brainstorm a list of positive character traits that could be written in the first box. Then ask your students to record ideas for each topic in the other 7 boxes. 4. After students have spent 10 to 15 minutes brainstorming ideas on their own, encourage them to pair up with a partner and discuss their ideas. 5. Next display your example again and show students how to use the ideas from the brainstorming boxes graphic organizer to create a bio poem. Younger students may need the planning page template (page 6), but older students can usually do this on lined paper if you display the template in front of the class. Let them arrange the lines in any order they wish. 6. After students write a draft on the Bio Poem Planning Page, ask them to confer with a partner and check each other’s work for spelling or grammatical errors. Ask them to copy their final poems onto the decorative paper on page 7. Or they could type their poems and print them, or simply copy them onto plain paper. 7. Provide time for students to share their poems. You might also want to create a class book of their work or display them on a bulletin board. Wordles Extension Activity To integrate technology, have students create “Wordles” of their poems. To do this, students type their poems into the “create” page on Wordle.net at www.wordle.net/create. They can manipulate the size of the words by repeating the important words more than once; the more they repeat a word, the larger it will be in the final Wordle. If you have never created a Wordle yourself, experiment with the techniques yourself first.

Sample Bio Poem. Laura. Dedicated, creative, caring. Lover of black cats, great books, and warmchocolate chip cookies. Who wonders if there is life on other planets. Who fears that we may be destroying ourown planet. Who feels happy and peaceful when she’skayaking the Lumber River. Who cares about rain forest animals andplants losing their homes. Who dreams of hiking up beautiful mountainsin far away places!

Bio Poem Brainstorming Boxes. Name ______________________ Person or Character ___________________________________Adjectives that Describe Person. Who enjoys . . . Who cares about . . . Who fears . . . Who wonders . . . Who feels . . . Who dreams . . . Who is able to . . .

Bio poems planning page Name __________________ 3 Words That Describe You ________________________________________________________________________ Who enjoys _____________________________________________________________________________________ Who is able to ___________________________________________________________________________________ Who feels _______________________________________________________________________________________Who wonders __________________________________________________________________________________ Who fears ______________________________________________________________________________________ Who cares about _______________________________________________________________________________ Who dreams of _________________________________________________________________________________