Cinquains provide an excellent and fun refresher and skills-builder in identifying and using nouns, adjectives, verbs, participles, and synonyms. They also reinforce the understanding of syllables.
A cinquain (pronounced: sing-cane) is a 5 line poem that describes a noun. It comes from the French word "cinque", which means "five", or the Latin word "quinque", which also means "five". The number five lies at the heart of the cinquain's charm.
A cinquain can also be considered a kind of shape poetry. Because of the exact number of words required for each line of this poem, a unique, symmetrical shape is created from interesting, descriptive words. This shape can resemble a Christmas ornament. We used the homemade handout below to explore the structure, history, and form of cinquains.
MAKE, DO, AND PLAY
Read "Bubbles", a cinquain supposedly written by Buster from PBS Kids.
Write an instant online cinquain.
Use this printable graphic organizer to practice writing your own cinquain.
Submit a cinquain to Amaze, the cinquain journal.
Browse more cinquains by Adelaide Crapsey, mother of the Crapsey cinquain.
"Teaching a Quintet: The Cinquain Recipe" by Corie Feiner.
Read some global cinquains by Joy Carter Fisher.