Word Wednesday: Adjective Acrostic

This activity stretched us in more ways than our understanding of adjectives; words that describe.
With the help of an online adjective dictionary, we looked at lists of words that might describe each of us, to use in an Acrostic Poem spelling out nicknames.
 http://adjectivesstarting.com/

More importantly, this activity was a study of perception and a reminder not to label others as we see them.
We learned to see:
How each child perceives themselves
How that varies from our preconceived notions of who we think they are
How people change over time with age/maturity/experience
How siblings describe one another
How we perceive meanings of words differently.
(for example, Miss C did not want to be described as 'Tiny'. To a child, that is an insult.)

As I rhymed off several words pertaining to a letter in their nickname, we clarified meanings before they would let me know if that adjective applied to who they believe they are.

Me: "Idyllic?"

Miss O: "To YOU I am."

Me: "Entertaining?"

Miss C: "For Milo? Yes!"

Me: "Vigilant?"

Miss O: "Yep! Looking out for dogs!"

 

A teacher in LA put together this book of students favourite part of themselves with a photograph and the childs poem.