National Poetry Month

April is one of my favorite months of the year because we are able to celebrate poetry all month long.   This April each grade level is writing their own poems.  Kindergarten classes are creating I Can Poems.  First Graders are writing I AM poems.  Special thanks to Shannon Miller for the idea. Second Graders are working collaboratively to write a "What's in our Desks" Poem.  Third graders are experimenting with acrostic poems.  4th and 5th graders are writing their own I Spy Riddles.  In order to facilitate some time for me to assist small groups with editing and publishing their work we are trying a variety of Poetry Centers.  These poetry centers are a learning lab that allow students to try out a variety of types of poetry.  Students may choose from 9 different centers:

• Independent Reading-A variety of poetry books are available for students to read.  Students have the opportunity to review a poem or two.  Poem Reviews will be displayed in the library.
• Acrostic Poetry-Students may try to write an acrostic poem.  This center includes a graphic organizer to help students brainstorm a list of adjectives that begin with the letters in their names.
• Found Poetry-A selection of newspapers, glue and scissors are included in this center.  Students are encouraged to find a wide variety of words (different fonts, sizes, colors, etc.). Students cut out the words and then arrange them on construction paper to create a poem.  This center is challenging because students have to come up with an idea and then search the paper for words that will work in their poems.  
• Scavenger Hunt-Students search for Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, Rhyme, etc in a selection of poems
• Poetry Theater-Students work in small groups to prepare a poem to be performed for their class.
• Illustrate a Poem-Students practice visualization and draw a picture to represent the poem.
• Revision and Publishing-Students may bring their poems from the previous week to me for review and suggestions.  Students who have completed their poems may begin typing their poems.
• Spine Poetry-Students arrange book spines so that they create a poem.  This is a fun station as they get to look through all of the recently returned books and find titles that will work together.

Students enjoy the opportunity to choose the poetry activity they would like to complete.  At the end of class, I host a debriefing session where students are given the opportunity to share their work. Students love to read there work or share a poem that they enjoyed from one of our many poetry books.