Shorelines,

Learning Goals

• Use the title "Shorelines" and details from Ruth Ennis’s text to discuss what a shoreline is and how it connects to the book.
• Identify words, sounds, or line breaks that make the book’s verse different from prose.
• Describe an image or feeling created by a selected passage, supporting the response with words from the text.
• Create and share a short shoreline-inspired poem using sensory language through drawing, dictation, or independent writing.

Activity Steps

1. 1.Introduce "Shorelines" by Ruth Ennis. Ask students what the title makes them picture and record their predictions. Explain that verse often uses carefully chosen words and line breaks.
2. 2.Read the book aloud, or select a manageable passage for younger students. Pause to notice the images and feelings suggested by the words. After reading, revisit predictions and ask which details support or change them.
3. 3.Reread a short passage with visible line breaks. Invite students to identify a vivid word, repeated sound, or interesting pause. Discuss how that choice affects the way the passage sounds or feels; do not assume every poem rhymes.
4. 4.Make a class sensory-word bank inspired by the title and the passage. Clearly distinguish details found in the book from students’ own imagined shoreline details. K–1 students draw and dictate a phrase; grades 2–3 write three or four lines; grades 4–5 write five or six lines with deliberate line breaks.
5. 5.Have students share their poems with a partner. Each listener names one word that creates a strong image. Finish with an oral or written response: "One choice Ruth Ennis makes in the verse is ___; it helps me imagine or feel ___."