# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poetry Collection Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the Poetry Collection collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kenn Nesbitt’s Poetry4kids.com – Funny poems for children

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
(available in episode 101)

It was wound up so tight,
patiently waiting
for the first signs of warmth to arrive.
Until I walked out my door
to see hundreds of signs
that this world was again full of life.
I saw seeds that were sprouting,
flowers grown from bulbs,
blossom bursting open on trees,
as I breathed it all in
to the singing of birds
and the humming and buzzing of bees.
My heart filled with joy
and a fresh sense of hope
now the season had finally begun.
What a pleasure it was
to look out and see
that Spring well and truly had sprung.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
(available in episode 101) It was wound up so tight,patiently waiting for the first signs of warmth to arrive.Until I walked out my doorto see hundreds of signsthat this world was again full of life.I saw seeds that were sprouting,flowers grown from bulbs,blossom bursting open on trees,as I breathed it all into the singing of birdsand the humming and buzzing of bees.My heart filled with joyand a fresh sense of hopenow the season had finally begun.What a pleasure it wasto look out and seethat Spring well and truly had sprung.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This post features poetry activities for the classroom, including a poem of the week ideas. Read these weekly poems in your class (don't forget to grab FREE poems!).
Today, I am here to share something I am passionate about, and I think that everyone should teach in their classroom. It's using POETRY in the classroom!

The following poetry activities listed in this post are some of my favorites.

Not only do kids find poetry fun and engaging, but they can also learn how to read through the repetition and rhyme it provides.

Poetry Activities & Routines

Start by introducing a poem of the week to your class. Write the verse out on sentence strips and post them in a pocket chart. Then every morning, choral read the poem and add actions.

Talk about the meaning of the poem and look for things like rhyming words.

Provide students with a copy of the poem to put into their poetry folders. As part of their weekly homework, send a copy home to practice and read with their families.

How-To Use Poetry Activities

Introduce a poem each week that suits your theme, the time of year, or celebrations going on. The poem of the week resources features a ton of poems for all your themes, celebrations, and topics of study.

Use the poem to teach and reinforce various language arts skills. These activities are great for differentiation as they meet the needs of many students, on many levels.

Offer different choices (three ideas below) for learning the poem of the week. Differentiate the activities to meet the needs of all learners.

1. Have students re-write the poem out on lined paper. This exercise helps them develop their fine-motor and handwriting skills.

2. Have students sit in front of the pocket chart to copy, use their poetry folders to copy, or try to write from memory.

3. Students only need to finish each sentence. They must be reading and following the poem to complete this correctly.

Poetry Activity Ideas

Encourage students to read the poem as much as possible.

Search for words that rhyme and look for sight words.

Have them draw a picture that goes along with the poem's meaning.

Given a list of missing words, they read the poem and write in the correct lyrics.

Practice their reading skills to figure out which words from the word list go where.

Cut paper strips with the lines of the poem and glue them back in order. The strips are mixed up, and students must figure out the right order using their reading skills and knowledge of the poem.

Using these poetry activities each week to build poetry in the classroom is extremely useful. Children build reading fluency and love the confidence and independence they gain with each week and each new poem.

Resources for Teaching Poetry

FREE Poem of the Week Pack

This FREE Poem of the Week resource includes 2 original poems and 1 nursery rhyme to add to your collection of poems. There are 6 differentiated activities included, as well as sentence strips and a bulletin board banner. Your students will be reading and writing poetry all week long!

FREE Social-Emotional Learning Poem & Activities

This FREE empathy poetry pack includes an original poem and engaging activities. The poem and activities will help you teach the concept of empathy and build important reading skills at the same time.
Click the image below to get the resource.

Poetry Mega Bundle with 3 Complete Resources

Find essential resources for the K-3 classroom with the Poetry Mega Bundle. It includes three complete resources that will encourage a love of poetry in your class!
Click the image below to get the resource.
See the three poetry resources in action!

PIN
Poem of the Week Poetry Mats Poetry Writing unit
FREE Poetry Email Series

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poetry Activities that Inspire a Love of Poetry

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This post features poetry activities for the classroom, including a poem of the week ideas. Read these weekly poems in your class (don't forget to grab FREE poems!). Today, I am here to share something I am passionate about, and I think that everyone should teach in their classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When I was a new-ish driver, back in the late 90s, smartphones were not yet invented and GPS was not the household acronym it is today. Which is to say, I got lost. A LOT. I would call my parents on my giant (unsmart) phone and tell them what road I was on and what the signs said. Often, I was heading in the wrong direction and needed to find the right route home. Fortunately, on Long Island, many roads lead to home and I would find my way ... eventually. I learned that even though I missed the main road I was supposed to travel on, side roads would often lead me to my destination and there isn't only one way to get where you need to go.

In traveling, in life, and in teaching, sometimes there is a direct route and other times, you might find an alternate route. You might make the deliberate choice to take a new pathway that might reveal fresh scenery and experiences. A new pathway might get you to your destination all the same, but you would have a richer experience on your travels.

Poetry can be a pathway. We can make the deliberate choice to lead our students down this road on our way to learning and sharing new information, telling a story, discovering a person from history, persuading others, playing with language, responding to reading, opportunities for collaboration, and alternatives to morning work. Poetry doesn't only have to be shared in April or for a specific window of time. Poetry should be woven into the fabric of your curriculum and, can be the new road you travel down to reach many goals and objectives.

Throughout this post, I will be sharing Poetry Padlets which feature poetry collections. Please add your favorite titles to these Padlets so they can be a valuable resource for our community of educators.
Learning and Sharing New Information
Many poetry anthologies teach facts and information. (Explore collections of informational poetry here.)

As we teach different content areas, we can incorporate poems into our lessons. Instead of just reading an article, a textbook, or even a nonfiction picture book, reading a poem is a way to access a short amount of text on the subject. Students can write a poem to share information they've learned during a unit. List poems, acrostics, cinquains, and found poetry from an article or text are all pathways towards sharing information about a topic. Instead of going down Summary Road or Exit Ticket Avenue, a poem can be the path to expressing what a student learned about a specific subject.

My third grade students have been exploring Mexico as part of our Social Studies curriculum. I found an article about Frida Kahlo on ReadWorks and created a found poem as an example of one option students can have for sharing what they've learned.
Telling a Story
Poems by themselves can tell a story, or poems can be put together to be the pieces that make up a story. Last year, during April's Poetry Month, Amy Ludwig Vanderwater told a story about a boy named John and his dog Betsy. Every day in April she shared a new poem, telling a little bit more of the story. We were captivated. At the end of the month, the story was finished and we had shared an amazing experience. I printed out all the poems and my class illustrated each page and put it together as a book.

How might you weave narrative poetry into your instruction?

For content area, you might ask students to compose a poem that tells the story of a historical scene. You can use a photograph or painting that depicts a historical moment or event and ask students to write the story of what is happening. Poetry can be an option or a pathway into exploring historical fiction. Six word memoirs are a fun way to share your own story or a person in history as well.

Poetry can be used to tell the story of a time in your life. A few years ago, I wrote a haiku a day inspired by a picture of something happening in my life. Looking back on the collection, I can see the story of this particular moment in my history.

Narrative poems can be found here. Please add poems or collections you know and love that tell a story.
Historical Figures & Exploring a Character in a Book/ Responding to Reading
Just as there are poetry collections that teach facts about nonfiction topics, there are poetry books that teach us about famous people in history. Consider sharing a biography written as poetry when highlighting character traits and inspiring people from history. (See some examples here and add to the collection with your favorites!)

Students can write poems about famous people or characters they meet in a book. They can use a structured " I am" poem or a " Where I'm From" poem and write it from the perspective of a historical figure or a character. I've used the "I am" poem as a poem for two voices. In a book like The Giving Tree , some students can write from the perspective of the tree and others can write from the boy's point of view. You can pair students up to read their lines together, which paints a striking contrast. (The tree would read the first line, then the boy would read the first line, etc.)

Students can take a particularly meaningful passage from their reading and create a found poem by choosing keywords to pull out and rearrange. Students can also create list poems about the main characters or an "I am poem." When tracking how a character changes, students might make a list poem at the beginning of the book and then again at the end to notice what stayed the same for the character and what shifted.
Persuasive Poetry
Poems can be the pathway to a persuasive writing unit. Share persuasive poems with students and discuss how the poet was able to seem convincing. This can be an introduction to the idea of argument Students might explore their ideas through poetry before attempting to write a persuasive letter or speech. (Persuasive poetry can be found here.)

Students might also consider writing a persuasive poem as a letter. In the wake of Kobe Bryant's tragic death, many people have been sharing his poem "Dear Basketball." This could be used as a mentor text for students, who might want to write a poetic poem to their passion. Persuasive poems could also be written to people, places or ideas (Like "Dear Honesty" or "Dear Justice").
Weaving Poetry into Writing
Poets use many techniques that make poems interesting and fun to read. Alliteration, metaphors, similes, and personification can all be taught with poetry. Concrete poems, haiku and poems written from the letters in a single word, like in the book , are fun to explore and make language playful and poetry feels possible. You can find more examples of playing with language Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed From a Single Word here.

Consider focusing on one craft move in a poem each week, - such as alliteration. Have students try it out during the week and create a display on the wall or on a Padlet. Students can add to their poetry technique tool box with one simple poem a week.

In my third grade classroom, my students keep a poetry notebook. I share a poem each week and we read and discuss it together. Students illustrate the mental images they make when listening to the poem on the page next to the poem. I think an extension of this could be to have students try their own poem using one of the craft moves identified in the poem. This could step up the poetry notebook and allow students to try out poetic devices based on the model. I was inspired by this post about poetry notebooks.
Opportunities for Collaboration
Students can work together to make a poem for two voices. A class can write a poem together, where each student contributes a line. In some schools, a character trait is shared each month. A collaborative poem is a great way to explore what it means to be honest or persistent. Schools could even take on the goal of creating a school-wide poem to celebrate what it means to be a reader, a writer, a learner or a member of that community.
Morning Work Alternative
Many teachers are re-thinking morning work. When students enter the classroom at the start of the day, poetry can be an option instead of another worksheet to complete. The teacher can set up a box that has poetic inspiration:- photographs, QR codes to songs that might inspire, interesting objects that might go with the season or content area. Students can choose to write a poem based on the poetic inspirations. The teacher could also have poetry books available for students to read. Students can record their favorite poem on Flipgrid or SeeSaw. This is a great way to practice fluent reading and is another simple way a teacher can assess fluency.
Poetry Pathways
There is so much to teach! I've seen poetry often get pushed to the side to make room for test preparation or other units of study that need more time. Poetry can be seen as a short unit that fills the gap between other units, or perhaps several short units that could be placed between other units of study.

Poetry can be the pathway into writing for striving writers who find writing longer texts challenging. Poetry can help students begin to identify as writers.

Some teachers see poetry as the first thing to take out of an overstuffed curriculum. Poetry, however, is powerful and can play a role in every other type of writing we teach. We can use poetry to help teach content area and nonfiction subjects, use it for reading responses, and it can be a warm-up to a longer persuasive writing unit. Narrative poems can help students understand and discuss story elements with short, accessible text.

Why is poetry a pathway? I will let Sarita Sol Gonzalez share her ideas to conclude this post:

How do you incorporate poetry reading and writing throughout your curriculum?

Giveaway Information:

This giveaway is for a copy of each of the following books: Thanks to Craft and Process Studies: Units that Provide Writers with Choice of Genre b y Matt Glover and Focus Lessons: How Photography Enhances the Teaching of Writing. for donating a copy for one reader. (You must have a U.S. mailing address to win a print copy of this book.) Heinemann

For a chance to win this copy of Craft and Process Studies and Focus Lessons, please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Sunday, February 9th at 6:00 p.m. EDT. Betsy Hubbard will use a random number generator to pick the winner's commenter number. His/her name will be announced in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Monday, February 10th.

Please leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so Betsy can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Heinemann will ship the book to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)

If you are the winner of the book, Betsy will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - EXPAND THE POSSIBILITIES. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. A new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poetry Pathways: Expanding The Possibilities of Genres You Teach

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Instead of being delegated to April only, poetry can be a pathway. We can make the deliberate choice to lead our students down this road on our way to learning and sharing new information, telling a story, discovering a person from history, persuading others, playing with language, responding to reading, opportunities for collaboration, and alternatives...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether you're reading Shel Silverstein's poems with your children, using his books to celebrate Poetry Month, or planning a Shelebration event at your home, school, or library, we have the resources you need to engage kids in Shel's extraordinary world. Follow the links below for lessons, event kits, and activities to share with the children in your life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Former Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis grew up in Gary, Indiana and earned a BA at Saint Joseph's College, an MA at Indiana University, and a PhD in economics at the Ohio State University. Lewis taught in the department of Business, Accounting and Economics at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio until 1998 when he became a full-time writer.

Lewis is the author of more than 50 books of poetry for children, which find their shape in both free and formal verse and engage a wide range of subjects from history to mathematics, Russian folklore to the animal kingdom. His books for children include Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving (2018); Let's Celebrate Christmas (2018); Spot the Plot: A Riddle Book of Book Riddles (2009), illustrated by Lynn Munsinger; New York Times Best Illustrated Book The Last Resort (2002), illustrated by Roberto Innocenti and translated into more than a dozen languages; The Shoe Tree of Chagrin (2001), illustrated by Chris Sheban, which won the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators' Golden Kite Award; and A Hippopotamusn't: And Other Animal Poems (1990), illustrated by Victoria Chess. His collaborations with other children's poets have yielded several collections, including Castles: Old Stone Poems (2006), with Rebecca Dotlich, illustrated by Dan Burr, and Birds on a Wire: A Renga ' Round the Town (2008), with Paul Janeczko, illustrated by Gary Lippincott.

His children's poetry has been widely anthologized, and his contributions to children's literature have been recognized with the 2011 Poetry Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and the Ohioana Awards' 2004 Alice Louise Wood Memorial Prize, among others. He edited the collection The Poetry of US: More than 200 poems that celebrate the people, places, and passions of the United States (2018).

His poetry for adults, which includes the collection Gulls Hold Up the Sky: Poems 1983-2010, frequently utilizes metaphor and humor to address themes of family and history. His adult poetry has received the support of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist grant.

Lewis served as the nation's third Children's Poet Laureate, now called the Young People's Poet Laureate, from 2011 to 2013. He lives in Westerville, Ohio.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Former Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis grew up in Gary, Indiana and earned a BA at Saint Joseph's College, an MA at Indiana University, and a PhD in economics at the Ohio State University. Lewis taught in the department of Business, Accounting and Economics at Otterbein College in...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We did not find any results for that search. Please try again.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
rhyming dictionary rhyme rhymes thesaurus spelling spellcheck words songwriting poetry language lyrics shakespeare quotations mother goose quotes rimezone rymezone

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
RhymeZone rhyming dictionary and thesaurus

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A comprehensive rhyming dictionary, thesaurus, and brainstorming tool for the English language. Includes dozens of functions to help songwriters, poets, and anyone else in need of a word.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
More than 40,000 poems by contemporary and classic poets, including Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, Rita Dove, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
At the links below, you may just be able to find the poem you are looking for. I have been collecting poems here for a few years and am always updating! Please visit again as this collection grows...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Poetry and lessons for children of all ages by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for classrooms or homeschools to teach literacy and writing workshop instruction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Free Verse Poetry Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the Concrete poetry collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poems with a theme/central message Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poems that teach Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Simple Rhyming Poetry Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the Simple Rhyming Poetry collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Informational Poetry Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the Informational Poetry collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poem- rhyming story Book Collection on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Poetry and lessons for children of all ages by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for classrooms or homeschools to teach literacy and writing workshop instruction

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
My YouTube channel is home to my popular interactive poetry tutorial videos, which are used by hundreds of thousands of teachers and children across the world each year and have been featured on BBC Bitesize.

You can write an awesome poem right now if you click play on the video to the left - it only takes 5 minutes!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
My YouTube channel is home to my popular interactive poetry tutorial videos, which are used by hundreds of thousands of teachers and children across the world each year and have been featured on BBC Bitesize. You can write an awesome poem right now if you click play on the video to the left - it only takes 5 minutes!

# data[].attributes.headline
Another Epic Poetry Collection Created by a Primary Teacher

# data[].attributes.subject
Another Epic Poetry Collection Created by a Primary Teacher

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started