5 Minute Activities
What are 5 minute activities?
I like to call them as 5 minute activities as they take not more than 5 minutes. They are small, fast, interesting and exciting to get your students’ attention and focus instantly.
The 5 minute activities come in all varieties with endless tasks. These 5 minutes will make your students ask for more.
These can be done in the beginning or the end of the class. They can be used to pep up sagging interest.
Any topic can be introduced and revised, any concept revisited and strengthened.
5 minute activities can be done as individual, pair or group work.
Seize those 5 minutes of your class to make the most of every class.
Also read : 5 Minute Activities : Cryptograms
What is a Diamante Poem?
A
Diamante is an unrhymed seven-line poem. The lines are structured to form a diamond
shape. ‘Diamante’ is the Italian word for diamond. So stylishly it is named as
Diamante pronounced dee-uh-MAHN-tay.
Writing Diamante poem is
a 5 Minute activity guaranteed to bring fun and joy to any class room.
What is the history of diamante poems?
Diamante
poem was invented more than half a century ago. This form was developed by Iris
McClellan Tiedt in an article ‘A New Poetry Form: The Diamante’ in 1969.
How does it get the diamond shape?
The seven lined poem
follows a specific structure which gives it a unique diamond shape.
Line 1: one
noun - the beginning subject of the poem
Line 2: two adjectives that describe the subject in
line 1
Line 3: three -ing verbs related to the subject in
line 1
Line 4: four nouns: two about the subject in line 1,
two about the subject in line 7
Or
two
phrases : one about subject in line 1, one about the subject in line 7
Line 5: three -ing verbs related to the subject in
line 7
Line 6: two adjectives that describe the subject in
line 7
Line 7: one noun - the ending subject of the poem
Word count on each line: 1,2,3,4,3,2,1
Where
Line 4 is the link between the two nouns in line -1
and line - 7
What are the two variations of Diamante poems?
1. Synonym Diamante –
begins with a noun and ends with a synonym of the noun.
2. Antonym Diamante – begins
with a noun and ends with the antonym of this noun.
What can Diamante poems be used for?
1. To reinforce
definition and use of Noun, Adjective and –ing verbs / Gerunds
2. To compare and bring
out the similarities between two nouns
3. To compare and bring
out the contrast between two nouns
4. To enhance
vocabulary
How to begin the 5 Minute Activity of writing Diamante Poems in class?
5 minutes to prepare:
1. Recapitulate the
various parts of speech – Noun, Adjective and Verb
2. share examples
of diamante poems
3. brainstorm the
common points of the Diamante poems such as
a. number of lines
b. parts of speech used in each line
c. the 4th line which links nouns in line 1 and
line 7
d.
the shape of the poem and the relevance of the name – Diamante
5 minutes to engage:
4. Construct a Synonym Diamante poem using simple nouns like sports, cricket
5. make a list of
adjectives and verbs (-ing form) related to sports, cricket
6. students can
construct the Diamante poem using the list of words
The same process can be
used to construct Antonym Diamante Poems
Example : Sun, Moon
Many more 5 minutes to explore and engross
What are some topics for Synonym Diamante?
Spring – flower
Summer – sunshine
Winter – snow
Autumn – leaves
Sports – cricket / football
What are some topics for Antonym Diamante?
summer – winter
mountain - valley
water - land
mountain - valley
shrub - tree
city - village
How to make writing Diamante Poems more fun?
Use topics which are
funny –
1. pizza, dosa / pasta
2. dosa, parantha
3. flats, heels
4. motorbike, bicycle
5. books, movies
6. deepavali, Holi
7. Marvel, DC
8. Coffee,tea
9. Ice cream, Cold drink
10. junk food, healthy food
As can be observed, many of the above are excellent topics to be debated.
Students may pick up good debating and
public speaking skills and techniques when they are set to debate/speak on the above topics.
Also Read : 5 Minute activities : Vocab Bingo
Pair work
Students can be paired and the noun in the 1st and 7th line taken up by each one. Setting a time limit they may construct their portion of Diamante and the resulting poem can be read out in the class.
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2 Comments
Excellent information. Very comprehensive and step by step detailing.Thanks for this. I would also like to share it with my students.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the wonderful feedback.
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