This activity can be used as follow-up of Act Out a Poem!.

Materials: Color pencils or markers, and the poem in the activity "Act Out a Poem!" or
any poem you like)

Instructions: After having presented a poem to your students, explain that poems have a tone, i.e. a poem conveys feelings. Feeling are usually associated with colors. Ask your students what color they associate anger with. ( Red ) What color do they associate sadness with? ( Blue ) And happiness? ( yellow ) What about fear? (Orange ). On the board, draw four faces one next to the other: a red angry face, a blue sad face, a yellow happy face and an orange frightened face.

Can your students tell you which parts of the poem convey anger, happiness, sadness, fear? ( Remember that there are not correct or incorrect answers; this is a question of interpretation.) Discuss the different opinions. Ask your students to draw the four faces in their folders. Then tell to decide which words / phrases from the poem denote happiness, sadness, fear, or anger. They should write them down under the correct. As a round-up activity, have your students copy the poem in their folders using the color markers / pencils to show the different feelings / tones in the poem.

I explain quietly. You hear me shouting. You try a new tack. I feel old wounds reopen. You see both sides. I see your blinkers. I am placatory. You sense a new selfishness. I am a dove. You recognize the hawk. You offer an olive branch. I feel the thorns. You bleed. I see crocodile tears. I withdraw. You reel from the impact.