Immersion Into Poetry
Once again, because I want to instill a love of and ease with poetry writing, we primarily enjoy and discuss each poem as a whole. I have learned from experience that kids easily take in all the elements at once—the title, topic, line breaks (where the line ends on the page) and white space (space on the page without print), imagery, rhythm, ending line, and more—so we discuss all of these as we talk about the poem. Rather than overwhelming students, talking about the poem as a whole seems to help them internalize the essence of poetry. In succeeding weeks, we work on the separate elements as necessary . Always keeping in mind that there is no formula, no right or wrong way, to read and discuss kids’ poems as well as other poems. The poem itself will guide you as to what to address.
In Regie Routman's book, Kids’ Poems: Teaching Second Graders to Love Writing Poetry, there are many good examples to read from. I like to read from various sources, but this is a great start.
Below are a few links of various sources to find kid poems.
Once again, because I want to instill a love of and ease with poetry writing, we primarily enjoy and discuss each poem as a whole. I have learned from experience that kids easily take in all the elements at once—the title, topic, line breaks (where the line ends on the page) and white space (space on the page without print), imagery, rhythm, ending line, and more—so we discuss all of these as we talk about the poem. Rather than overwhelming students, talking about the poem as a whole seems to help them internalize the essence of poetry. In succeeding weeks, we work on the separate elements as necessary . Always keeping in mind that there is no formula, no right or wrong way, to read and discuss kids’ poems as well as other poems. The poem itself will guide you as to what to address.
In Regie Routman's book, Kids’ Poems: Teaching Second Graders to Love Writing Poetry, there are many good examples to read from. I like to read from various sources, but this is a great start.
Below are a few links of various sources to find kid poems.