Are you ready for your poetry unit? It’s that time of year. Spring has sprung, flowers are blooming, and it is time for teaching poetry.
Let out that sigh about teaching poetry and dive in. Here are 4 tips for Poetry Unit Success
#1 Get over yourself.
Yep, I said it. I bet you are still hanging on to those college and high school classes where you had a to analyze a poem and whatever the teacher saw just flew over your head. Guess what – your students don’t have that fear background. And while you are at it get over your own interests as well. I bet you own (or wish you did) one of those t-shirts that says “Picture books are my jam,” OR “Chapter books are my jam.” Few if any of you have a desire for that “POETRY is my JAM” one. It’s not our go to. We love those fiction stories that give our read alouds that collective gasp. But poetry reaches your masses. Poetry is great for those ‘bored readers’ “struggling readers’ and those ‘there is no way you read that entire page in 1 minute’ readers.
Poetry lets kids break the rules. It let’s the struggling ones off the hook with the fewer words and more white space.
#2 Fill your classroom with poems.
Put them on the walls, pull the poetry books out from behind all of your other favorites. RUN to the media center and collect books BEFORE everyone else has a chance.
Don’t know which books your students will like? Ask them. Send them to check them out for you. Or grab this go-to list of poetry books kids love!
#3 Design a poetry literacy center.
- Use anchor charts with key terms and types of poetry.
- Celebrate the holidays and other events like Baseball Season, Spring and April Fool’s Day.
Grab monthly literacy centers for the entire school year HERE!
#4 Just teach it.
You will be amazed how quickly that collective sigh becomes a collective YAY when you get out of your own way and let the poems guide your instruction. Below you will find a list of FREEBIES you can add to your lesson plans this month (or basically any time you want to use poetry.) Running out of time, just CLICK HERE and find ENTIRE UNITS (6 weeks of reading and writing plans). You will find units aligned with 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade standards. Additional off grade level lessons have been added to each unit to allow for differentiation.
YES! I WANT AN ENTIRE POETRY MONTH UNIT!
POETRY FREEBIES:
Poetry Close Read for ANY Poem
Happy Teaching!
Jessica
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