1. Students will recognize the rhythm and form of the I Spy poem
2. Students will integrate art, music, literature, technology, and writing with poetry.

1. Chart paper
2. CD or music for the song "Sweet Betsy From Pike."
3. CD or tape player
4. Computers with Internet capability
5. Colored overhead pens (four different colors)
6. Demo monitor for teaching in the computer lab or classroom
7. Digital or regular camera
8. I Spy books by Jean Marzollo: I Spy Mystery, I Spy Super Challenger, I Spy Schooldays, available in the Teacher Store.
9. Markers
10. Overhead of one of Jean Marzollo's poems and pictures (color is best)
11. Rhyming dictionaries
12. Rough draft paper

• Chart paper, markers
• Mark page 8 in the book I Spy Super Challenger,
• Have the computer specialist bookmark Scholastic's I Spy Online Activity on your computer lab computers.
• Computer with sound; CD player and disc; or tape recorder and recording of the music "Sweet Betsy From Pike"

• Make colored overhead of a page from one of Jean Marzollo's books
• Colored vis-à-vis pens
• Rhyming dictionaries

• Rough draft paper

Step 2: Ask:

Are you familiar with the I Spy books?

What do you like about these books? (Colors, rhyme, challenge of the riddle, the theme of each?)

Would this be considered a picture book?

Why would a 4th grade teacher want to study a picture book with 4th graders?

Let's look at some of the poems that I've picked out especially for you. (Choose several pages such as page 8 in I Spy Super Challenger and read them aloud. Ask children to help find the items that are mentioned in the poem.)

How do you think Mrs. Marzollo got the idea to do these pages? (Discuss and record their ideas on chart paper.)

Step 3: Tell the class:

We are going to publish our own classroom book using the I Spy poem format. We're going to spend some time in the computer lab learning how Mrs. Marzollo constructs an I Spy poem. Then you will construct your own page and write a poem following the I Spy format. It's not as easy as it looks!

Day 2
Step 1. Take students to the computer lab or use computers in your classroom. You will need a monitor or T.V. hooked to a computer to show the entire class what you want them to see when they are on the computer.

Step 2. Go to Jean Marzollo's I Spy Online Activity on Scholastic.com.
(Hint: Bookmark this site on your school computers so it's easy to get to.)

Step 3: Read "Meet The Author" aloud with the students. Note that "Sweet Betsy From Pike" is a song her grandmother taught her as a young girl. This is the tune she keeps in her head when she writes each of her poems and forms the rhythm for the poetry. If your computer system is capable of this, the students can listen to the tune. If not, check with a music teacher to get a copy of "Sweet Betsy From Pike," a traditional folk tune. Give the students a few minutes to sing the song and get the tune in their heads.

Step 4: Continue with the online activity by clicking "Next" to see an example poem and picture. Have the children read the poem together and find all of the objects in the picture. Discuss alliteration. Then click on the "Write Your Own Riddle Online" button on the left.

Step 5: On the "Write a Riddle Online" page, there are featured pictures of the month in the left column. The children each pick a picture that they'd like to write about and drag it into a Word document. In the Word document, they can enlarge the picture and "Save As" I Spy #1. Each child prints his/her picture. No writing goes on at this point. Return to class.

Day 3
Step 1: Have students start writing their own poem based on the picture they printed from the I Spy Online Activity. They need to keep the rhythm in mind. (Play the song in the classroom. Let them sing. You might find the melody difficult to get out of your head!) At this point, the children realize that they don't understand enough of the form to actually write the poem yet.

Step 2: On the overhead, show one of Jean Marzollo's poems and pictures. The class should scrutinize the format of two rhyming couplets (a, a and b, b).

They should realize:

• Each line begins with a capital letter.
• There is a comma at the end of the first line, a semi-colon at the end of the second line.
• The last words in lines 1 and 2 rhyme with each other, while the last words in line 3 and 4 rhyme with each other.
• There is double space between lines 2 and 3. There's a comma after line 3 and a period after line 4.

On the overhead, emphasize each point with a different color of underlining. It's important that the students "discover" these points, rather than have them taught. When they need to know, they learn quickly and retain the information longer.

Day 4
Step 1. Briefly review the overhead from Day 3. Then, have the children write the rough drafts of their poems. Walk around, monitor, and encourage them. Students who finish and have met all the criteria are allowed to go to the computer and type their poems.

Step 2. Have a variety of poetry books, including the I Spy books, so that those who finish quickly will be able to peruse them. Quick finishers can also help those that are still writing by singing the writer's poem to the tune of "Sweet Betsy From Pike." Some children are quick to recognize rhyming words and can help others come up with them. At this point, it becomes important for students to use the rhyming dictionaries. (Now, they really want to use them.)

Step 3. Each student now understands the process of writing an I Spy poem for one of Jean Marzollo's pictures. The poems can be compiled and bound into a class collection.

Part Two: Making an I Spy Book

Day 5
Step 1: Read aloud the class collection students have just completed. Compliment them on their creativity. Tell them that they will find it easier to do another I Spy poem now that they have had some experience. This time however, they are also going to compose their own collage picture and photograph it. They will be collecting three-dimensional items, not pictures of things. The new poems will go with the collages they design and photograph themselves.

Step 2: Remind the students that each of Ms. Marzollo's books has a theme. Before the collages can be started, we have to decide on a theme so that all of the pages in our new book will be connected. This takes a good 15 minutes for 4th graders since it requires some discussion before a vote is taken. The theme should be something everyone can live with.

Step 3: Brainstorm different topics for each page. For example, if the theme is summertime, the topics might include: the beach, swimming, hot weather, foods you eat in the summer, etc. Students then need to come up with a specific topic for their own page.

Step 4: Make a list of each topic for each child in order to refer to later. Make sure that each page is different and topics are not repeated.

Assignment:
At home start gathering items for your collage.

The rules are:

1. All items should fit easily on the top of your desk.
2. All items should have some connection to your topic.
3. Set a date for the items to come in.

Day 6
While you are waiting for all the items to be gathered, do a mini-lesson on alliteration. You can use the I Spy books and point out the alliteration that is actually used. Then practice writing alliterative sentences.

Day 7
Once the children are ready with their materials, follow these steps.

Step 1: Children cover their desks with their choice of colored construction paper or bulletin board paper. White is a great background if the items they use are colorful.

Step 2: Children arrange their collages on the top of their desks.

Step 3: Take at least two photos of each child's collage. If you use a digital camera, load the pictures directly onto the computer. If you use a regular camera, have the developer put the pictures on a disk. Make sure that the entire top of their desk fills the screen when you take the picture, so that only the collage is in the picture, not the desk, rug, or fingers.

Step 4: The teacher or the computer specialist will need to download each child's picture. Put them in a shared folder so that every child can access the pictures. When they find their own, they can then drag it into a word document just as they did with the first poem.

Step 5: A copy of each child's picture needs to be printed so they can use it as they compose their poems.

Day 8 and 9
Step 1: Children compose rough drafts of poems to go with their pictures.
Step 2: Peer edit poems.
Step 3: Teacher conference on poems.
Step 4: Children rewrite their poems with revisions.

Day 10
Step 1: Go to the computer lab. Access the shared folder with all students' pictures.

Step 2: The students open a Word document, name it I Spy #2, drag their picture into the document, and save it.

Step 3: Students are given the font and type size to use so the book will be uniform.

Step 4: Students type their poems and names onto the document, using the correct format and spelling. (This doesn't take very long. It's only four lines).

Step 5: The teacher checks for format, spelling, punctuation, etc.

Step 6: Everybody prints. Collect all the pages.

Teacher Days
Step 1. Let the pages sit for a day and then go back to proof for errors. Have students correct any errors.

Step 2: (You can do this step at your convenience). The book is now ready for binding. Make a cover using Printshop™ or PrintExplosion™ or another program that you feel comfortable using. Type a table of contents with each poem title and the child's name. You might want to scan a class photo and add an "About The Author" page to the back of the book. It's nice to make a copy for your school library. Our librarian added it to the collection and it circulates. The children are very proud.

Assess Students:
Teacher observation:

• Did the student learn the song and the concept of rhythm?
• Was the student able to write an I Spy poem using the Jean Marzollo picture with the appropriate punctuation and rhyme scheme?
• Did the student bring in items for a collage?
• Did the student write an original I Spy poem to go with the photograph of their collage?
• Was the work age appropriate?

A copy of the class book will be available for the next parent conference.

Evaluate Lesson:

• Were most students able to pick up the rhythm?
• Did the rhyming dictionaries give students new ideas?
• Was I able to keep most students motivated during this two week session?
• Did students feel good about their work?
• Do students have a new appreciation for the work of Jean Marzollo?