Spring Has Sprung: A Poetry Blog Hop and a Freebie!

I am participating in a blog hop hosted by Rebecca from Line Upon Line Learning.  It’s all about about Poetry in the Elementary grades!

In my classroom we learn poetry through exposure to a variety of types and styles.  In September, I begin by introducing, “Poem of the Week”. Each week I introduce a new poem to my students.  On Monday, I post the poem either on chart paper or projected from the document camera. I always start with a “guess the covered word” activity to help students with predicting unknown words and to teach them to think about what words would make sense within the context of the rest of the text.

I always make sure to double up the sticky notes or else you can see through them.

After we have uncovered all of the words, we continue to read the poem several times as a shared reading activity.  I make sure to add a copy of the poem to their poetry folders. Their poetry folders are used during Daily 5, Read to Someone time and at other appropriate times. They also take a copy of the poem home to read with their families.

On the other four days of the week we continue to read the poem as a quick shared reading activity to help build fluency and expression, but we also complete related activities to help us build other literacy skills.

The activities vary from poem to poem but some of my staples are: unscramble the poem, fill in the blanks, circle the nouns, verbs and adjectives, visualizing activities, poem reflection sheets, making words, rhyming words, word families etc.

I always try to find poems that fit into whatever curriculum focus we have that week in one subject or another.  I have found that you can teach students important concepts through the rhyme and repetition of poetry.  By the end of the week they have the poem memorized as well as the curriculum concepts so it is a win-win!!

If you’re thinking of trying out a “Poem of the Week”, you can grab my freebie by clicking here or on the image below.  It includes an original poem and 5 activities to go along with poem.  I usually send one of the activities home as homework.

If you’re interested in more poems and activities you can check out my Poem of the Week Activity Pack #1.  It has 4 original poems with 5 follow up activities per poem.  It is on sale for 50% off on March 27 and 28th.

Don’t forget to stop by the next blog in the hop! Head on over to Rebecca’s blog at Line Upon Line Learning to see what she has to say about poetry in the elementary grades!

Thanks for hopping by!