IT'S NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!

 

It's about time, teachers, for National Poetry Month.  So let's create some poetry! 

A fun project for poetry month is to create a collage of spring things.  (It's also a good way to use up construction paper scraps.)

Once the collage is completed, invite your lower grade poets to make a 5 senses poem.  Provide a formula for the poem:

    I see ____________________________

    I hear ___________________________

    I smell __________________________

    I feel ____________________________

    I taste ___________________________

Attach the poems to the collages and display them for the world to enjoy.

Older students could write triplets, quatrains, haikus, acrostics, ... really any form of poetry you'd like. 

If you would like help with types of poetry, you may like this set of Poetry Posters --

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More Springsational Poetry

In my quest to inspire passion about poetry, I have 3 more springsational poems for you to try.

• Engage your students in writing a 5 senses poem about spring.  After identifying the 5 senses, challenge your students to describe spring by writing 1 line for each sense.  You can make it a super easy task by giving them a template for their poems, such as this:
• I see ______________
• I hear ________________
• I smell _________________
• I feel _______________
• I taste _________________         

Here's an example:

• Spring
• I see the bright sun shining.
• I hear the baby birds chirping.
• I smell the garden flowers blooming.
• I feel the warm breeze passing.
• I taste the gentle rain that is falling.

Writing 5 senses poems provides a perfect opportunity to highlight adjectives and present participle verbs.  

• We all know that April showers bring May flowers, so during this month dedicated to poetry, rain seems to be an appropriate subject. Hence, try writing Umbrella Poems about rain with your class. (I suggest you provide an umbrella shape for your students' writings, thereby enhancing the shape poem.) The format is easy:
• Line 1 - Write 1 word related to rain.
• Line 2 - Write 2 words that describe line 1.
• Line 3 - Write 3 words that tell how line 1 sounds.  (Think onomatopoeia)  
• Line 4 - Write 4 words that tell what line 1 does.  (This may or may not be a sentence.)
• Line 5 - Repeat the word in line 1, writing it vertically in the handle.

• Tongue twister couplets are tons of fun to write and even more fun to read aloud. Create the first line of the couplet using spring thematic words that begin with the same sound.  The 2nd line should also be a tongue twister about the same topic, however, it may contain words that begin with a different sound. As per traditional couplets, the 2 lines should rhyme and a similar rhythm pattern is desirable. Provide access to a dictionary and/or thesaurus to assist your students' efforts. Then have students trade tongue twisters, challenging each other to read them without getting their tongues twisted. Here's an example:
• Ten terrible tornadoes tore through the town.
• The storms shattered shelters, shook shops, and struck steeples down.

Have fun!

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