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48 online poetry writing templates for every grade. The site has step by step directions for each poem, examples for each type and then has the student follow prompts to make writing a poem a breeze.

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Here are even MORE things you can do with poems!

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Check out all these examples of "Blackout" poetry - finding poems in written text. They are amazing!

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Up for a challenge? Explore "Reverse" poetry on this site, and try writing one of your own "reverse" poems.

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A few years ago I stumbled across the reverse poem, A Lost Generation, by Jonathan Reed. I was blown away by it. Immediately, I knew I wanted to share it with my class, and they were just as blown away as I was. Over the years, I have continued to use it in my classroom, and every year, the reaction by the students is the same. Many of them even ask to bring a copy home so they can share it with their parents. (If you can't see the video below, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA)

This year, I was finally brave enough to let my students have a go at writing their own reverse poetry. After we watched and read the poem numerous times, I gave each student their own copy, and they went to work with a highlighter, highlighting the phrases that made the poem "work" (I had them work in groups of 2 or 3 for this). They quickly noticed that every second phrase was generic - the fact that it contained no specific references was what made the poem reversible.

Then, we visited the site Budding Poets: Reverse Poetry and read through some more examples of Reverse Poetry before I let the students loose to begin writing their own. I did tell them they were allowed to "borrow" some of the general phrases from the poem if they were stuck. This really helped the students get their poems started. I asked them to try to write at least 14 lines, but many wrote more.

We have been piloting the use of 10 tablets in our classroom - Surface 2 tablets, so we wanted to be able to incorporate this technology into our poetry, as well. We decided that when the groups were finished writing their poems (and after teacher approval) they would use the whiteboards and the video camera on the tablets to make a whiteboard movie or slideshow of their poems. They used one whiteboard per line, stacked them all up, and then got ready to shoot their movies. Most groups chose to make a video of their poems, but a few groups took individual pictures of each whiteboard (slide) and then put them together into a slideshow. Both worked equally well. We didn't read the poems out loud on the videos - the students thought it would be more powerful if the video was silent.

Here is a completed example of one of the poems my students wrote. This group was made up of two 6th grade students. The video you see is one I took on my iPad, standing behind them while they made a video on their tablet. One student took the video, and one student was reponsible for changing the whiteboards. On the video they took, you can only see the one stack of whiteboards (not the stack of removed whiteboards) - mine shows the whole process so you can have a better idea of what we did. When all the groups were finished, we shared the poems with the whole class by projecting them onto the board. What a great project!! (Here is the link if you can't view the movie below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO_B9gS58wg)

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A few years ago I stumbled across the reverse poem, A Lost Generation, by Jonathan Reed. I was blown away by it. Immediately, I knew I wanted to share it with my class, and they were just as blown away as I was.

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We all have things we say "never" to - put them in a poem using the directions found on this site.

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Today, why not have your children write a silly poem?With only a few simple rules to get them started, they should produce some gems in no time at all.

Alliteration

When your children write their "Never" poems, they will need to choose a sound to repeat using alliteration.

al·lit·er·a·tion is the repetition of a consonant sound at the beginning of a word.

To write your "Never Poem," you will write one sentence for each of the following, repeating your chosen consonant sound as many times as possible.

1. Something you would never eat.

2. Something you would never wear.

3. Something you would never buy.

4. Something you would never do.

5. Someplace you would never go.

6. Something you would always like to think about.

7. "And I promise I will never ..."

Once their poems are finished, invite them to choose some words from the poem and write a title.

Of Blue Biscuits and Bouncing Balls

I would never eat blue biscuits.
I would never wear a baggy beaded bonnet with brown buttons.
I would never buy a blind baboon's broken bicycle.
I would never read a book about boat-building in Bulgaria.
I would never go to Brooklyn to get bologna.
I would always like to think about bouncing balls in the bathtub.
And I promise I will never let Bubba's bunny eat barbecued beans for breakfast.

Poetry should be shared! I hope you'll post your kids' "Never Poems" in the comments.

Photo of blue ball © Sharyn Morrow. Used by permission.

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Today, why not have your children write a silly poem?With only a few simple rules to get them started, they should produce some gems in no time at all. When your children write their "Never" poems, they will need to choose a sound to repeat using alliteration .

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Work on similes and metaphors and choose cool colors with this poetry activity.

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I love using paint chips! I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms. I used them last week to write Color Poems. The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color. They came out awesome!

The next thing that the kids did was pick a paint chip.

They used the following sheet to brainstorm their ideas.

The kids wrote similes using their senses.

They picked three similes that fit their metaphor.

(I did conference with them, although the mistakes reappeared!)

Here are some published poems:

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I love using paint chips! I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms. I used them last week to write Color Poems. The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color. They came out awesome!

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Another take on the "I Am" Poem, this Fingerprint Poetry connects thoughts and descriptions about yourself to your fingerprint. Check it out!

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Fingerprint Poetry was an awesome way to start the year. It was an icebreaker, get-to-know-you activity, and a great transition back into writing after the summer off. Plus students get to write about their own favorite topic - themselves!I was inspired with this idea when I noticed how my students never liked to write on...

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This spin on an "I Am" poem includes colorblocking your descriptions for more visual appeal. If you want to try this poem out, make sure to use markers or colored pencils, though, no paint!

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We had our first official art class of the year this week. I decided to start off with an easy one so everyone could feel successful with their project. And the final results couldn't be more beautiful in our classroom!

I think I may be a tad OCD - that empty space in the bottom is driving me crazy!!! I have 23 students this year, so with room for 24 spots on our blackboard, I also plan on making an art project each time we do one. Unfortunately, I am STILL waiting on one student to finish his ...

I plan on turning all our art and poetry projects into books for the students to take home at the end of the year. You can read about the books we made last year HERE. For this reason, most of our art projects will be completed on 8.5 x 11 size paper. I also plan on having the students write a poem to match each of our art projects this year (I didn't do this last year). For this piece, I decided to combine the art and poetry into one.

We started out by discussing the art principles of line and color. We talked about how curved smooth lines draw your eye across the page and give the illusion of movement. We also discussed choice of colors - which I ultimately left up to them. I really like the variation of color on all our art. Using a pencil, students drew 8 - 12 curved lines across their page. Then, they painted each section, often mixing the paints to achieve different color effects. We use paper plates (from the dollar store) for our paint palettes. We let the paint dry out after each use, and then we can reuse them many times.

When the paint had dried, students use sharpie markers to outline each section - being careful to still keep that smooth curved line. I bought sharpie brush markers this summer, and they were perfect for this project! (I included the link below so you can take a peek at these).

I asked the students to fill the spaces with adjectives that describe them. All students started with "I am ...". We started this project on our fifth day of school, so an "all about me" project was perfect timing. Plus, this will be a great first page for our art/poetry books. I am so happy with how they turned out - BEAUTIFUL!!!

Hope you had a fabulous Friday, and are getting ready for a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!!!

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We had our first official art class of the year this week. I decided to start off with an easy one so everyone could feel successful with their project. And the final results couldn't be more beautiful in our classroom! I think I may be a tad OCD - that empty space in the bottom is driving me crazy!!!

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Looking to incorporate art into your poetry? Give one of these poem styles a try :)

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Tells us all about yourself, using the guidelines found on this site:

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I blogged about this activity before. I am using it for an online course for the first time this summer and am so excited about the results, I wanted to report on it again. The I Am Poem is a pop...

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What's your best feature? Your eyes? Hands? Nose? Hair?On this website, you will find directions in order to complete a "The Best Part of Me" Poem. Essentially, write a poem that describes what your best part looks like (size, color, shape), tell what your best part allows you to do that you enjoy, and state the words "The best part of me" somewhere in your poem! Then, get some help to take a picture of your best part to go along with your poem!

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Write a "Selfie" Poem that reflects on all of the things about yourself that make you proud. Then, take a selfie to add to your poem, like this example:

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Do you want more opportunities to write about, and reflect upon, yourself? If so, check out these poetry options below!

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A cinquain is a poem with five lines all about a particular noun.

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A limerick is a silly/nonsensical poem with five lines and a specific rhyming sequence.

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Are you interested in learning about different types of poems that follow specific rules? Here, find examples and activities in order to create Haiku, Limericks, and Cinquain.

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Haiku is a traditional Japanese poetic form focusing on nature, animals, seasons, colors, and contrasts. Haiku are three lines poems that follow a syllable pattern of 5, 7, 5.