April is National Poetry Month, and what better time is there to teach and explore poetry with your students?!?! I love to spend the month of April having students read, write, and share poetry in our classroom. At the beginning of my poetry units each year, I find that my students are often intimidated by poetry, especially when it comes to writing it. Over the years I have tried to find the perfect activities to ease them into writing their own poems. One of my favorite activities is taking my students on a Haiku Hike!! Several years ago I found this book, Haiku Hike from Scholastic. The story and poems in this book were written by a class of 4th grade students. The idea behind the book is that the students in this class went on a nature walk, and instead of taking pictures of the different things they saw, they used the form of haiku to capture different moments and scenes in nature. I loved this idea so much that I decided to implement it in my own classroom. Here’s ho......

April is one of my favorite months of the school year because of Poetry Month.  It's fun to write, fun to read, and the students enjoy all of it!  Below you will find a list of activities that are perfect for celebrating Poetry Month. 1.  Poetry Flip Book With students, study the different types of poetry and create a poetry flip book that students can use as a reference throughout the month. Find the poetry flip book HERE . 2.  30 Poems in 30 Days Using construction paper or cardstock for a cover, have students create a poetry book in which they spend the entire month of April writing and illustrating poems.  We obviously aren't in school all 30 days, so you could double up some days or even assign for weekend homework.   3.  Poetry in Pairs After studying types of poetry, pair students up to write a collaborative poem.  They could collaborate in writing the poem from beginning to end, or one students writes a l......

Valentine's Day and the days leading up to it can be a fun time for lower grades, but why should lower grades have all of the fun? This can also be a fun-filled time for upper grades as well. Here are just a few ideas and activities that your upper grade students may enjoy that will also keep them engaged and learning. Write Valentine's Day Poems Holidays are a great time to read and write poetry, and Valentine's Day is no exception. Poems about love for their parents, grandparents, pets, or even friendship are perfect topics for Valentine's Day. I personally enjoy having students to write a haiku or an acrostic poem (to spell V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E). For years, my students have written these in their writing journals and have drawn pictures to go along with each poem. This year, I'm excited to have my student try this Haiku Poem Interactive   from Read, Write, Think . This is a free interactive page in which students can brainstorm, compose, customize, and publis......

How can you make poetry analysis REALLY fun?    Use lyrics!    Yes, songs and raps are forms of poetry!  Students love to listen to the songs and analyze them.  They will beg you for more!      Keep in mind that all words in a poem have some kind of meaning to poets.  They choose words very strategically to not only include evident meaning, but also implied meaning.  This is the same with song lyrics. Make your lyrics analysis fun by turning it into a detective game!  Give your students magnifying glasses while they examine lyrics!  Give them a copy of lyrics to a favorite song and supply highlighters and colored pens! QUESTIONS FOR LYRIC ANALYSIS 1.  Predict the meaning of the song. 2.  What is the meaning of the lyrics? 3.  What does the title have to do with the song? 4.  What message is the song/lyric trying to convey to the listener? 5.  Who do you think wrot......

I absolutely love teaching poetry!  That explains why I teach it ALL year!  Each month I focus on TWO types of poetry and then during POETRY MONTH, we review all of our work, create poetry portfolios for a review, and have a POETRY SLAM!  Read on for details! 1.  BULLETIN BOARD At the beginning of the year, make a bulletin board to display posters of the different types of poetry.  Leave a space below each one to place a student example.  Review it with your class and tell them by the end of the year, they will have written an example of all the types.  For the time being, put a little sign under each type of poetry that says something like, "Under Construction" or "Coming Soon!"  I place a large 12" X 18" black piece of construction paper under the posters. 2.  MONTHLY POEMS Each month, introduce a new type of poem and teach the rules for that poem.  If you created a bulletin board like above, add a student examp......