April is Poetry Month across the United States, presenting the perfect opportunity for educators to create fun and engaging lessons on poetry for their classrooms. Unfortunately, while many educators acknowledge that poetry is an important aspect of language arts to teach, many shy away from teaching it because they don’t know how to approach it. If this is a situation you find yourself in as an educator, the good news is that there are plenty of fun and educational poetry activities that you can easily incorporate into your classroom.
Practice With Haikus
If your students are younger and totally new to the concept of poetry, start with something simple. Haikus are a great starting point for younger learners because they’re only three lines long and their structure is easy to member. Specifically, a haiku consists of three lines. The first line should have five syllables, the second line should have seven syllables, and the last line should have five syllables. Consider presenting some fun haikus on various topics to your class.
Once they seem to be getting the hang of it, assign your students to come up with their own haiku on a subject of their choice. Consider asking for volunteers to read theirs to the class for bonus points.
Create Poetry Bookmarks
Another fun activity to get your students appreciating poetry is that of making poetic bookmarks. Following a unit on poetry, ask your students to choose their favorite line or two from a poem that you read in class. Then, plan an activity where you make bookmarks with each student’s favorite poetic lines on them. You might even consider having students share these bookmarks with the class when they’re done and explaining to the class why they like those particular lines.
Try Poem Illustration
A lot of times, students struggle with interpreting poetry. A great way to practice this that doesn’t involve having your students write out a formal interpretation is that of having your students illustrate the premise of the poem. This is an especially useful exercise for younger students who may not yet have the vocabulary or writing skills to construct a written interpretation, but will feel more comfortable drawing or otherwise illustrating the poem.
Plan a Field Trip
If you have the means at your school, why not look into the possibility of taking your kids on a field trip to a local poetry reading? Many local libraries hold these on a fairly regular basis, so this an be a great opportunity for you and your students to be exposed to live poetry and the emotional reactions poetry readings can evoke.
These are just a few ideas for incorporating poetry into your lesson plans. For more classroom resources or to order quality supplies for your classroom, visit School Specialty today. Here, you can find some excellent deals on everything you could possibly need for your classroom.
