Adventures in Literacy Land: poetry ideas for students

Showing posts with label poetry ideas for students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry ideas for students. Show all posts

Poet-Tree with Words, Wit, and Wonder


April is the perfect time to celebrate one of my favorite topics, poetry. I had the opportunity to observe my intervention students in their regular classroom this week.  In both reading and writing they are studying poetry.

Poetry Mentor Text


Miss Reisinger launched the unit with the book, Words, Wit, and Wonder: Writing Your Own Poem

Author, Nancy Loewen
Words, Wit, and Wonder is recommended as a poetry mentor text by Lucy Calkins and The Reading and Writing Project.

  • In the first part of the book, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia are explained in kid-friendly terms.
  • In the second half of the book, six poetry forms - acrostic, cinquain, concrete, free verse, haiku, and limericks - are introduced.
  • Each of the twelve tools presented is accompanied by an example poem.  

Writer's Workshop

As the unit progressed, students began writing their own poetry.  They referred to the mentor text during writer's workshop.

Words, Wit, and Wonder
Pictured here is Tool 7 - Acrostic Poems from the mentor text.  The explanation of an acrostic poem is given in the purple box on the left-hand side of the page; to the right is an example poem, "Spelling Test".


The student above is drafting his own acrostic poem, "Hobbits," while referring to the example from the text.

Words, Wit, and Wonder
Pictured here is Tool 9 - Concrete Poems.  


The student pictured above is drafting a concrete poem in his writer's notebook.

Publishing:  The Poet-Tree 


As students complete a published piece of poetry, it is added to a class book and hung on the Poet-Tree. 

A close-up view of the "concrete" branch of the tree.
A close-up view of the "couplet" branch of the tree.
Students are working on other types of poetry that will be added to the interactive bulletin board as they are published.  What a great way to celebrate National Poetry Month!

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day.  If you would like to learn more about it, Lauren wrote a great post about it {here}.

Would you like to read more about poetry across the grade levels? Andrea has an awesome post {here}, freebies included!

Do you have a favorite book or activity you use when teaching poetry? Our readers would love to know.  Please share your ideas in the comments.  :)



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Poem In Your Pocket Day!





A few years ago, I was working with a teacher as a literacy coach with her third grade class.  It was the month of April and to celebrate National Poetry Month, I introduced the students to numerous authors and forms of poetry.  A favorite of the class was working with Scholastic's Poetry Idea Engine.  This engaging and interactive site is appropriate for younger students as well!  Project onto your interactive white board and it makes for a fun shared writing activity!

Also on Scholastic is the "Writing with Writers" section where students in grades 1-8 can listen to poets such as Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin, and Jean Marzollo read their poems.  As well, these authors offer writing tips and mini writing workshops.  You can check out this activity here.

However, one of the highlights of our poetry study was celebrating "Poem in Your Pocket Day".  After students had read various poems from diverse authors, we were ready to prepare for our celebration.





Poem in Your Pocket Day is celebrated this year on Thursday, April 24.  Started in 2002 in New York City as part of the the city's National Poetry Month celebration, the idea quickly spread across the country.  This is a day when people of all ages select a poem that they have written or one by a published author and carry it (in their pocket!) with them to share with others throughout the day.  Click the picture below to visit the Poets.org website for more information and resources.


Poem In Your Pocket Day




  • A few days before April 24, introduce students to Poem in Your Pocket Day.  See here for a poem by Beatrice Schenk de Regnier for which this day was named after.  Have them select one poem to keep in their pocket.  This could be an original poem that they wrote or one of their favorite poems. Many of my students selected poems by Jack Prelutsky and Kenn Nesbitt.
  • Have students copy their poem.  Scholastic has a free printable stationery sheet that you can use. Click here to view and download.
  • I had students write two copies of their selected poem.  One copy they kept in their pocket to share with others throughout the day and the other copy we displayed in the hallway for all the students and staff in the elementary wing to read. Many of my students chose to illustrate their poems as well!
  • read.write.think has an extensive lesson plan including a stapleless writing tool that students can use.
  • Make an accordion book that is perfect for students to keep in their pocket.  Click the picture below to download a free template.
 http://jimmiescollage.com/downloads/languagearts/poem-in-pocket-template.pdf






  • Children's Poet LaureateKenn Nesbitt
  • Bruce Lansky- founder of Giggle Poetry
  • Shel Silverstein
  • Jack Prelutsky (I love all his works, but his book, My Parents Think I'm Sleeping) is one of my favorites.  
  •  Jon Scieszka
  •  Loris Lesynski- Check out her hysterical poetry book Dirty Dog Boogie
  • Roald Dahl
  • Brod Bagert- His Chicken Socks and Other Contagious Poems is a hoot!
  • Be sure to visit this site for a wealth of poetry resources that includes the classics as well as modern poetry~ Rainy Day Poems
  • And finally, for the younger crowd, Dr. Jean has many ideas for you to use with kindergarten and first grade students.  Click here to visit her blog post for Poem in Your Pocket Day. 





 Hopefully, this is a good start for you to begin planning for your own classroom celebration.  What poem will you be keeping in your pocket on April 24?  Please share your favorite poem or author in comments.






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