Poetry
Some resources below are provided as PDF files. To open these files, you will need Adobe Acrobat® Reader™ software installed on your hard drive.
Activities
Grades K-1
Painting Rhymes
Have students colour a picture that accompanies popular nursery rhymes.
Baa, Baa Black Sheep (colour online)
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/Baabaa.shtml
Baa, Baa Black Sheep (colour off-line)
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/rhymes/coloring/Baabaa.shtml
The Itsy Bitsy Spider (colour online)
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/paint/rhymes/coloring/Itsybitsy.shtml
The Itsy Bitsy Spider (colour off-line)
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/rhymes/coloring/Itsybitsy.shtml
Grades K-1
Sequencing Scenes
Have students colour and cut frames of a popular nursery rhyme and then put the pieces in sequential order.
Jack and Jill Sequencing
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/rhymes/seq/jackandjill.shtml
Humpty Dumpty Sequencing
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/rhymes/seq/humpty.shtml
Grades K-2
Who Has Seen the Night?
Have students capture their sense of what night is like by writing a poem.
Night Sounds
http://www.eduplace.com/activity/sounds.html
Grades K-8
Poetry Express
Have students express themselves by e-mailing a poetry greeting to a friend or a family member.
National Poetry Month
http://www.bluemountain.com/eng3/poetry/indexjump.html
Grades 1-2
Early-fluent and fluent readers will create shape poems/stories using word processing or draw and paint software.
ECTLP Lesson — Apple Writing
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/littlekids/archive/lesson_applewriting.htm
Grades 1-3
Sound of Poetry
Have students practice vowel sounds by watching and listening to animated poems.
BBC Words and Pictures — Shockwave Poem Pack
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/fpoem.shtml
Grades 1-3
Acrostic Poem
Have students write an acrostic poem or name poem, a poem that uses a name or word to begin each line in a poem.
Name Poem
http://www.abcteach.com/Writing/namepoem.htm
Grades 1-3
Poetry Writing: Friendship
Have your students write poems about what being a friend means.
Friendly Poetry
http://www.eduplace.com/activity/poetry2.html
Grades 1-8
Poetry Out Loud
Have students discover the music of rhythm and rhyme when they read a poem out loud. Hold a poetry reading in your class. Ask students to select a favourite poem and practice reading with a partner. Students can also use a tape recorder to experiment with different ways of reading the poem.
Grades 1-8
A New Stamp
Students can honour their favourite poet by creating a postage stamp. Have students include the poet's name and important dates on the front of the stamp. Students can also include a poem or a paragraph that tells something about the poet on the back of the stamp.
Large Stamp Outline (PDF)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/stamplg.pdf
Small Stamp Outline (PDF)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/stampsm.pdf
Grades 1-8
Poetry Word Finds
How many poetry words can students find in a word puzzle?
Poetry Month (PDF) (easy)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/poetry_easy.pdf
Poetry Month Answer Key (PDF) (easy)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/poetry_easy_key.pdf
Poetry Month (PDF) (hard)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/poetry_hard.pdf
Poetry Month Answer Key (PDF) (hard)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/poetry_hard_key.pdf
Grades 2-5
Favourite Thing Poem
Have students choose a favourite thing, and then create a poem using models to choose a form.
An Apple A Day: Poetry Samples
http://members.aol.com/Apples2nd/poems.htm
Grades 2-8
Poetry Race
Find out who's the fastest "tongue twister" in your class!
Funny Poetry for Children
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryrace.cfm
Grades 2-8
Me Poem
Have students create a biopoem by describing themselves or another student in an eleven-line poem.
Biopoem Poetry Page
http://library.thinkquest.org/11883/data/biopoem.htm?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0206
Grades 2-6
Put Together a Poem
Students can create poetry by rearranging words on-screen.
Virtual Poetry
http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/funnypoems-wm.htm
Grades 3-5
Writing a Cinquain
Have students use a simple structure to write poems about things that interest them.
Cinquain
http://www.eduplace.com/activity/poem_cinquain.html
Grades 3-5
I Sing My State
Many songs celebrate our country. Have students write poems to celebrate their state.
The Poetry of Power
http://www.eduplace.com/activity/poetry.html
Grades 3-6
Tips from a Poet
Have students view animated tips for writing from poet Kristine George.
Tips for Young Poets
http://www.kristinegeorge.com/for_students.htm
Grades 3-8
Like a Diamond in the Sky
Send students into "space" to write diamond-shaped poems. Have students read several diamante poems about the U.S. space program, and then write one of their own.
Poems
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002762/P20_poem.html?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0206
Grades 3-8
Word Scrambles
Can your students unscramble the hidden words?
Poetry Scramble (grades 2-4) (PDF file)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/scramble_easy_poetry.pdf
Poetry Scramble Answer Key (grades 2-4) (PDF file)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/scramble_easy_poetry_key.pdf
Poet Scramble (grades 5-8) (PDF file)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/scramble_hard_poetry.pdf
Poetry Scramble Answer Key (grades 5-8) (PDF file)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/scramble_hard_poetry_key.pdf
Grades 4-6
Finish the Poem
Here's an easy way for your students to practice being a poet. Each of these newfangled Yankee Doodle Poems is missing a word or sentence. Can your students figure out what they are?
The New Adventures of Yankee Doodle (easy)
http://www.poetryteachers.com/yankeefib.html
The New Adventures of Yankee Doodle (hard)
http://www.poetryteachers.com/yankeefibhd.html
Grades 4-8
What Am I?
Have students read very cool, very funny rhymes and then try to figure out what type of object is "speaking." If there's time, have students write their own "What Am I?" poems.
Guess What?
http://www.angelfire.com/md/byme/guesswhat/guesswhat.html
Grades 4-8
Rap Quiz
Do your students know that "Rap" stands for Rhythm and Poetry? Have students find out more by reading a "Rap" rap and then taking a quiz to test their new knowledge.
What is Rap?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/listenandwrite/raprealm/whatisr.htm
Grades 4-8
Wacky Web Poems
Introduce students to poetry in a humorous way. Have students fill in the blanks to create humorous poems.
Two Cinquains
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/c/cinquains.html
Tongue Twisters
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/t/tongue.html
Grades 5-8
Joy to Odes
Introduce "odes" to your students by having them read one and write one.
On Your Toes with Odes
http://tqjunior.thinkquest.org/4382/odes.html?tqskip1=1&tqtime=0206
Grades 6-8
Do-It-Yourself Epic
Have students turn their own adventures or those of people they admire into ballads and epics.
Ballad Blast
http://www.eduplace.com/activity/ballad.html
Grades 6-8
Civil Rights Ballad
Your students can use Dudley Randall's "Ballad of Birmingham" as a model for ballads about people and events in the Civil Rights Movement.
A Ballad for Freedom
http://www.eduplace.com/activity/freedom_ballad.html
Grades 7-8
Poetry Crossword Puzzle
Have students test their knowledge of poetic terms in a word game.
Poetry (PDF)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/xword_poetry.pdf
Poetry Answer Key (PDF)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/april/pdf/xword_poetry_key.pdf Internet ResourcesKidzPage! Poetry and Verse for Kids of All Ages
This lively site provides classic nonsense poems and sing-along nursery rhymes.
http://www.veeceet.com/
Glossary of Poetic Terms
Here you will find definitions of terms used in poetry.
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ian/glossary.html
Poets Bookshelf
Here are biographies of twelve poets, provided by students from an Arizona elementary school.
http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/poets/poet.htm
Children's Poetry
Classic children's poems are featured at this site.
http://users.aol.com/acious/poems.htm
Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is the primary sponsor of National Poetry Month 2001. They have put together a comprehensive site that features "Find a Poet" (more than 200 poets, including many children's poets); "Find a Poem" (more than 1000 poems); lesson plans, a listening booth, discussion forums, links, and more. The Academy is sponsoring the "Nominate a Poet" project to select poets for U.S. stamps. You can send for a free poster.
http://www.poets.org/
Poetry for Upper Elementary Students
This is an excellent selection of poems for grades 6-8. Students will enjoy reading and reciting them.
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/poemiddle.htm
America's Favourite Poems Project
Robert Pinsky, 39th U.S. Poet Laureate, initiated the America's Favourite Poem Project that includes Americans reading their favourite poems. Here you will find information regarding this project, including links to videos and teaching ideas.
http://www.favoritepoem.org/
PBS Newshour and Poetry
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) has compiled a list of every poetry program they've aired during the past several years. Also featured are lesson plans, links, poems, and "Rules, Tools, and Forms."
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june00/poetry.html
Poetry Post
This is an international writing project that features poems created by students from around the world. In addition to poetry students have included links to sites related to their poems. The Grahamwood CLUE students in Memphis, Tennessee began the site, which is maintained regularly. Here you can easily submit student poetry.
http://www.mecca.org/~graham/day/poetrypost/
Mike's Collection of Nursery Rhymes
This is a collection of more than 500 nursery rhymes organized alphabetically and by subject.
http://www.collingsm.freeserve.co.uk/
The Mother Goose Pages
Here you will find a brief overview of nursery rhymes, ideas for reading, an indexed list of rhymes, and recommended books and resources.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pfa/dreamhouse/nursery/rhymes.html
Fun and practical poetry site for Primary
School children. It has lots of great teaching ideas which will
really appeal to kids.
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.cfm
Monthly Themes
Education Place
Copyright © 2002 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights
Index
