As we’re weaving together poems and plans each day this month, today, I bring you an “opposite” poetry lesson plan, a NaPoWriMo response that takes us to an otherworldly Orinico (kind of), and one more extra – an olio of ‘o’ objects!!!

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📚 Poetry Lesson Plan: The Opposite of …

🎯  Objective

Students will write poems using opposites to explore contrast, perspective, and creativity in language.

🔗 Connections

• Learning Connection: This lesson strengthens students’ understanding of antonyms (or opposite words) and descriptive language while encouraging critical thinking and empathy.
• Poetry Connection: Poets often use contrast to create vivid imagery, tension, or meaning—opposite poems give young writers a creative way to explore this poetic technique.
• 📖 Book Connection aka Suggested Read-Aloud Books (with poetic or opposite themes):
  • Black? White! Day? Night!: A Book of Opposites by Laura Vaccaro Seeger — perfect for introducing contrast with visual wordplay
  • They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel — great for showing multiple (and sometimes opposite) perspectives
  • Outside In by Deborah Underwood — explores the contrast between inside and outside in many ways
  • Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer — brilliant use of structure and contrast
  • Opposites, more opposites, and a few differences by Wilbur, Richard.
  • A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein — pick any humorous poem with unexpected twists or contrasts

🧰 Materials Needed

• Chart paper or whiteboard
• Markers
• Paper & pencils
• Books or poems (optional – can use suggested books above)
• Colored pencils or crayons for illustrations (Optional)

✍️ Lesson Outline (~60 minutes)

🧠 Warm-Up Discussion (5–10 min)

Start by brainstorming common opposites as a class: hot/cold, big/small, night/day, brave/scared, fast/slow, loud/quiet.

Ask (optional):

• What happens when we look at both sides of something?
• How do opposites make stories or poems more interesting?

Then, stretch their thinking:

• What could be the opposite of “a secret”?
• What’s the opposite of “maybe”?
• Can “a cloud” have an opposite?

Encourage students to play with opposites that aren’t obvious—it opens the door to creativity and abstract thinking.

📖 Read-Aloud + Anchor Example (10–15 min)

(could skip this and move on to the mini-lesson depending on time, and have students read poems/books of their choice for inspiration on their own)

Read They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel (or any of the books that explores opposites – words or perspectives).
For Wenzel’s book: Discuss how each character’s view contrasts with the others—what does this show us about the cat? About point of view?

✏️ Mini-Lesson (10 – 15 min): Introduction to Opposite Poems

Introduce the concept of Opposite Poems — poems that show two contrasting sides of an idea or experience.

Poets often use opposites to create contrast and surprise. We can create opposite poems in different ways. Here are a few ways to do so:

One Side, Then the Other (Two Stanzas)

Write one stanza for each side of the opposite. For example:

The sun is up — it shines so bright.
I play and jump in golden light.

The moon is out — the world feels still.
I snuggle up, the air is chill.

Line by Line (Opposite Lines – Call and Reponse Style)

Each line has a partner line that shows its opposite. Example:

 Up the hill we go so high,
Down the slope we slide and fly.

Or 🙂

Homework helps me grow and learn!
Homework just makes my brain burn!

 “What’s the Opposite of…?” Abstract-It

Explore opposites differently, or explore opposites for words that don’t really have them

What’s the opposite of a kite?
Maybe something that can’t take flight.

What’s the opposite of hot?
A chilly breeze or a snowflake spot.

Opposite Parade Poem

Use many opposite words throughout in a silly or story-like way. For example.
A little boy went to a big, big town,
Where raindrops fell up and trees grew down!
Where ice cream was hot and cocoa was cold,
And far felt near, but near? Nowhere!

Writing Time (10–15 min)

Students pick (or are assigned) an opposite pair from a word-wall, or they can work with their own set of opposites, and use any of the above different ways to write their poems.

Support options:

• Provide a list of opposite pairs
• Give line starters for students who need a scaffold
• Pair students up for co-writing (each student picks one word of the opposite pair)

Encourage students who want a challenge to invent opposites for abstract or unusual words and write from those. Or to use other ways to write opposite poems if they so choose.

Sharing & Reflecting (5–10 min)

Students pair up to share their poems or volunteer to read aloud.
Reflection prompts:

• Which side was easier or more fun to write? Why?
• Did you learn anything new by thinking in opposites?

Optional: Create a class “Wall of Opposites” to display pairs of poems side by side.

🔄 Adaptations and Extension Activities🎨

Adaptations:

• K-2: Use simple sentence frames and visuals to help students express opposite ideas (e.g., “I like the sun / I like the moon”). Focus on vocabulary development, oral expression, and drawing to support their understanding of contrast.
• 6 and above: Encourage students to explore more abstract or emotional opposites (like chaos/peace or truth/lies) using poetic devices such as metaphor, tone shifts, and structure. Challenge them to experiment with forms like reverso poems or dual-voice poems to deepen contrast and perspective, or to write a poem where the opposite meaning is hidden between the lines.

Extensions:

• Opposite Mix-Up Game: Students draw two random opposite words from a jar and write a silly or serious poem from that pairing.
• Turn a Poem Inside Out: Take a well-known poem or line and rewrite it using opposites.
• Opposite Emotions: Write about a moment and its emotional opposite (e.g., nervous/excited, lonely/joyful).
• Pair-Up-the-Challenge: Students pair up to write and say out their opposite parts at the same time. Student 1 says the ‘summer’ lines and at the same time student 2 says the ‘winter’ lines!
• Illustrate Your Opposites: Draw both sides of the poem as a visual contrast. Like in warm and cool color pens, or in big and small fonts/letters.

Opposite the Orinoco: An Ode to Friendships

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt challenges us to write a poem themed around friendship, with imagery or other ideas taken from a painting by Leonora Carrington, and a painting by Remedios Varo, two surrealist painters who were lifelong friends!

I kind of went overboard on being inspired by these two fabulously creative painters, and used (more than) a couple for inspiration.

From l to r, top to bottom:

• Phenomenon, Abut, Temple of the Word – all three by Varo
• Farewell, Exploring the Source of the River Orinicoco, The Emigrants – all three by Varo
• The House Opposite, Neighborly Advice – both by Carrington
• Star Maker, Star Catcher, Three Destinations – all three by Varo

My Attempt

The House Opposite the Orinoco

Sometimes I wonder,
was I your shadow
or you my reflection?
We seemed to be spun
off the same cloth —
stitched, perhaps, in the Temple of the Word,
where names are sewn into starlight
and whispered into teacups.

So spun together that,
when I opened my box of secrets
to store away one more,
you were right there to hear —
that secret, and the ones that came after.

Do you remember?
Seems a long while
since our last farewell.
But we are connected
through shadows of memories.
And maybe we’ll meet
at the next turn we take —
for though the paths we travelled
seemed to traverse oppositely,
I always hope they’ll converge again
soon..for it was a too-long-ago farewell.

You know I still dream of the Orinoco.
Last night, again —
I stood at the source
of the river of wishes.
I whispered your name
into a ship on wheels
and set it adrift.

I wished that you still
stayed right opposite —
one of us weaving stars
so the other could catch them.
And I could peer through my window,
throw my secrets your way,
or glide across the street
for a cup of sugar or neighborly advice —
like how to keep time
from leaking out the seams of the day.

That candle you once lent me —
it now hums bright
when I speak your name in my mind.
And still, most of all,
I wish for those times
when I was your shadow
and you my reflection —
traveling through three destinations,
and always somehow
arriving
at each other.
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Olio of Oddities

For Thursday Thirteen, here is an olio of ‘o’s for you! (Olio means a miscellany)

1. Ocarina: 🎭 Oddball Object!
   • The whimsical wind instrument from Zelda that creates ethereal music.
2. Ox Horn Mug: (an)Other Oddball Object!🎭
   • This rustic, quirky mug is made from an actual ox horn!
3. Omura’s Whale: 🌊 Ocean Oddity
   • A rare and mysterious whale with its beautiful striped patterns.
4. Oort Cloud: 🪐 Out-worldly!
   • A distant halo of icy objects at the edge of our solar system.
5. Opsimath: 🧐 O Words You Might Not Know
   • Someone who learns later in life. A reminder that it’s never too late to learn!
6. Orb: One-syllable O-word
   • I love this one, for how it sounds and what it is – it is, mysterious and possibly magical!
7. Olive Oil Ice Cream: 🍦Over-the-Top Foods
   • Unusual but delicious — and one my son tried just this past weekend at a place that, according to him, has the best ice cream he has ever tasted in his life!
8. Orrery: 🕰️ Obsolete Objects
   • A mechanical model of the solar system, perfect for anyone fascinated by the cosmos.
9. Ouch, Oof, Ow, Om Nom, Oink: Onomatopoeia Overload
   • O-Onomatopoeic words that add character and humor, perfect for sound effects!
10. Only Option: O-Oxymoron
    • A situation where there is literally no choice, yet we still use the word “option,” making it a bit contradictory.
11. 🎬 Obi-Wan Kenobi: reel-Os
    • The Jedi Master from Star Wars, guiding heroes through the galaxy.
12. Oumuamua: 👽Otherworldly or Outworldly?
    • A mysterious interstellar object that passed through our solar system in 2017. The word means “a messenger from afar arriving first” in Hawaiian.
13. Obelix: 📚book-Os
    • The strong and lovable character from Asterix comics, known for his comical adventures and unshakeable loyalty to his friends.

(copyright: Sage Ross-orrery, CC BY-SA 3.0)

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, what is the first pair of opposites you think of when you think of opposites? Have you ever wondered about opposites of words that don’t really have one? Will you be attempting a poem? If so, do share! And any other comments and thoughts on my post are welcome as always.

I am linking up to A-Z, Blogchatter, UBC, NaPoWriMo.

And you can find all my A-Z posts (this year and previous years’ as well) here:

A to Z Challenge Posts