Poetry ideas

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Home : 2004 : August : 13

Poetry ideas
By Tiffany Regan

We start off each lesson with a shared reading of a poem. I let the kids enjoy it and make comments. I will also quickly point out any tool used in the poem, alliteration, etc. Then the kids can go to centers.
Poetry
Table
One is a table with lots of poetry books. They get with a partner and read through the book, marking poems that they like. On the front of the book they will put a sticky note with the title of a poem. They can share these at the end of class, and I use some to make into transparencies for shared reading.
Poetry Window
I put tape around a window and the kids go over

and write down things they see outside. This is to collect "seeds" for future writing.
Doors to Poetry
I have the five doors to poetry center. See Georgia Heard's book Awakening the Heart.
Poetry Free Write
They compose poems
Poetry Copying
They copy down a favorite poem, or even favorite phrases in a poem and illustrate. We recently did "Sunflakes" by Frank Asch and the kids chose the words or phrases that made a good mental picture. They copied them down and illustrated it.
I hope some of these ideas are useful to you. Here are some good titles:
Animalia is great for alliteration
Hailstones and Halibut Bones is wonderful. Pair it up with My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss and Color Dance by Ann Jonas, then the kids can write their own color poems.