Poetry Notebooks

      I love teaching with poetry!  I use poetry to teach everything from parts of speech, to grammar and writing mechanics, to more complex ideas such as similes, metaphors, and imagery. Since our daily schedules are so tight, the poems can relate to themes not only in reading and writing, but in social studies, and even math and science, and can be used to reinforce the concepts and vocabulary from these curricular areas.
      On Monday, I introduce my students to the poem of the week.  We read it chorally and discuss the meaning and any interesting vocabulary words.  On Tuesday through Thursday, we re-read the poem to build fluency and discuss any elements that I would like the students to learn or practice working with.  I highlight these elements on my whiteboard and the students do this on their poem pages.  On Friday, the students add the poem to their poetry notebook, illustrate it, and record themselves reading it for an electronic portfolio.  I also choose a few students to perform the poem in front of the class.  This rotates throughout the year so each student gets the opportunity to do so several times.
     Throughout the year, the students use their poetry notebooks during independent reading time, partner reading time, to extend learning when they finish other assignments early, and in conjunction with mini-lessons in reading and writing.   They use poetry examples to create their own original poems as well as compile some of their favorite poems by well-loved poets.  During April, the students perform poetry for families and friends.  
     See my Poetry Notebook file for sale on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking below: