Poetry Notebook

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Home : 2008 : May : 26

Poetry Notebook
By HailGail

I love using poetry notebooks with first grade. I have my children bring a 1 inch 3 ring binder. By the end of the year, we have well over 100 poems in the notebook. I use a scholastic publication that uses sight words
in poems and use these as the words come up in our reading material. I use thematic poems for every subject and some classics. I get my poems on line by googling mostly.

It takes a bit of work to train the kids how to number and insert the poems in the notebook, but they do get proficient.

I read it line by line and they repeat. I then read it and leave out words for

them to fill in. I emphasize one to one correspondence as we read along for those who are struggling with it. I introduce the poem and we read and reread it during the day. The children illustrate them and place into their notebook. The notebook stays in their desk but goes home every Friday as their weekend homework.

When we have reading buddies with the 6th graders, the children often choose to read from their notebook. Some of those 6th graders will say, "Oh I remember this one from when I was in first grade!" The best thing was when I got to write a dedication page for a poetry notebook that a parent was having professionally bound for her daughter! She had read and reread it so much that the pages were coming out of the notebook. So it became a Christmas gift one year.
Gail