Peacock Feathers by Effie Lee Newsome POETRY Unit Study 2nd-4th Grade

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One of my favorite animals at the zoo has always been the peacock. I cannot get enough of watching these incredible birds fan their feathers around the park, showing zoogoers all of their beauty. There is an old saying, "Proud as a peacock." It tends to mean a vain or self-centered person when it is used in our everyday language. Kids can't help but get excited with these interesting birds.

When I first read the poem by Effie Lee Newsome entitled, "Peacock Feathers," I thought the poet did such a delightful job of describing the feathers of these amazing birds.  It is a wonderful poem to talk about adjectives and how to describe something to someone who has never seen an object before.

A fun science experiment to do with this unit is to take a CD, a sheet of white paper, and a light source and help students create rainbows.  This science experiment can be used to help students understand how the peacock gets its brilliant coloring.

Integrating art projects with reading, language arts, creative writing, and science will help to bring the project to life for your students. Students will learn how to blend primary colors to create many different colors.

This would be the perfect unit to do for National Poetry Month, a study about birds, or a simple lesson plan for a substitute teacher.  The unit is designed to last for one week but can be adjusted to be shorter or longer depending on your classroom needs.

Students are encouraged to copy the poem and memorize it.  Students with learning disabilities benefit greatly from memorization and reciting poetry will help them immensely when it comes to understanding language.  It will also help them to develop strong public speaking skills and help them to feel good about their accomplishments.  Like the peacock enjoys showing off its beauty, your students will enjoy sharing the work they do on this unit.

The worksheets come in color and in black and white.  There are answer keys included as well as a Teacher's Guide.

This unit is available in my Teacher's Pay Teachers store. I hope that you and your students enjoy this fun unit study.