I took pages from some books that were falling apart and passed one to each student. Students read through the page to find words that stood out to them. Once a word was found, I had them try to find other words on the page to make a sentence or thought that made sense. Blacking out the rest of the page, the poetry was all that was left.
The class found this activity somewhat relaxing and challenging at the same time. It was all related to George Washington's spies, and one particular method of passing messages by means of a "mask".