Spring into Poetry!

There are so many poetic forms to share allowing not only creativity and student choice, but the continued use of the writing process. Brainstorming, drafting, editing, and peer conferencing are a very important part of a poetry unit. I love to hear the hum of my young poets allowing their thoughts to spill out onto the paper during a brainstorming session. The use of syllables and rhyme patterns create the rules of this form of writing. My favorite poetic forms to teach are Acrostic, Diamonte, and Haiku.

Acrostic poems are a student favorite! They decide on a word or phrase on which to focus and write it down the left side of the paper. Each letter begins a thought and the sentence created is related to the main word or phrase. I like to start my poetry unit with the Acrostic form because it is so kid friendly and offers the student choice in their poem.

Diamonte is a form of poetry that was created for children by Iris Tiedt in 1969. It is an unrhymed poem with a short form consisting of only seven lines. The rules of a Diamonte poem are actually word counts per line, each line consisting of nouns, adectives, verbs. Starting with one word increasing for three lines then decreasing down to one word the poem forms a diamond shape. This poetic form is also a great way to review parts of speech!

Finally, Haiku is a Japanese poem traditionally with a nature theme, but today can be about any topic. A Haiku is a three line poem that follows syllable rules. Line one consists of five syllables, line two seven syllables, and line three five syllables.

Below are some resources to use to share poetry and writing poetry with your students:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digital-Poetry-Journal--6768773

Ken Nesbitt  -  Here you will find lots of funny poems for kids, classic children’s poems, games, poetry lessons and activities, plus a rhyming dictionary, videos, author visit information, and lots more.   https://www.poetry4kids.com/

Read.Write.Think.- International Literacy Association- https://tinyurl.com/ru2hrfmw

New York TImes Learning Network-  https://tinyurl.com/877fccva