Poetry

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Home : 2005 : April : 17

Poetry
By Leslie

I teach first grade poetry in the library so it may be a bit different than what would be done in the regular classroom. Our teachers have so much reading instruction to get through that they just don't have time to cover
poetry. THey are overwhelmed with the worksheets they have to get through, unfortunately. We focus on a style or poet per month. I see first grade twice a week for fourty five minutes. I usually use two class periods per month to cover poetry.
I review nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss, I teach Robert Louis Stevenson, Christina Rossetti, Edward Lear and talk about limericks, Couplets,

Shel Silverstein, Douglas Florian, Jack Prelutsky. We also read some books writen in rhyme and always talk about that when we do. Since my school is 100% African-American we also do alot of African American poets mixed in -- we introduce Langston Hughes and they memorize "My People" for the end of school program. Nikki Grimes, Eloise Greenfield, Nikki Giovanni and Joyce Carol Thomas are introduced.

I start with nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss because most of them are familiar with them.

We then move to more funny poems. That way we build upon what they like.

Robert Louis Stevenson and Christina Rossetti are introduced as classic poets. We use a Child's Garden of Verses and many of Rossetti's nature poems.

We finish our year with Langston Hughes -- Visiting Langston is a picture book written in verse about Hughes and is what we use to introduce him to our students. They memorize "My People" They get more in depth in later years at our school.

As for writing poetry, we try writing couplets and stick to that at the first grade level.

Hope that helps,
Leslie