I love poetry in the classroom! Poetry does not have to be a separate unit of study, confined to one part of the school year. Infuse it into everyday classroom routines to enrich learning!!
This post is about how I use a poem a week in my room. I have been doing my poetry like this for 3 years and it works like a charm!! Very predictable, which both teacher & students like!!
Each week, my team and I selects a word family and word chunk to focus on. I choose my word chunks from my "Chunking Words" pack.
Next, I get out my 2 nifty poem books:
I decide which poem I want to use (wd. family vs. chunk). Next, I go to my sentence strip boxes (where I keep all my poems) and find what I need. I have 2 boxes...one for word families & one for phonics chunks. I love these boxes by Trend, bc they come with dividers. I divide my word family poems by vowels. No wasting time scrambling for a poem!
Once finished, students put their poems into their poetry folders (3-prong folders with about 10 plastic sleeves inside). These are kept in their book baggies and are taken out for practice during quiet reading time. Click here for some free poetry folder labels to slap on the front!
As part of my writing curriculum, I do teach a poetry unit (typically in April). It's appropriate for K-2 and is Common Core-based. Click the cover pic to take a peek!!! I hope you enjoyed my post!!
xo
Megan
This post is about how I use a poem a week in my room. I have been doing my poetry like this for 3 years and it works like a charm!! Very predictable, which both teacher & students like!!
Each week, my team and I selects a word family and word chunk to focus on. I choose my word chunks from my "Chunking Words" pack.
Next, I get out my 2 nifty poem books:
I put up the poem on Friday after school. One of my boards holds this poetry pocket chart all year.
On Monday, I introduce the new poem during phonics and we talk about new vocabulary. We also look for rhyming words with highlighter tape. I like the wide kind for sentence strips. I read the poem aloud to students on the first day.
As the week progresses, we re-read our poem every day. The kids know when they have free time, they can grab a pointer and practice.
On Friday, I give out individual copies (from the poem book) and students "butter" or highlight chunks, word families, sight words, etc...and color the picture. As they are doing this, I walk around and ask students to read their poem to me. *I obviously don't get to hear everyone every week, but that is ok!*
You can purchase all of my writing workshop units in a discounted, bundled set by clicking the cover below.
xo
Megan
Love this ideaaaaa
ReplyDeleteJustwildaboutteaching.blogspot.com
Thanks for posting about this! Poetry is my fav and you just gave me a new idea :)
ReplyDeleteSara
Miss V's Busy Bees
Great post filled with lots of tips. I like that you butter the words. :)
ReplyDeleteI love using poetry too. I use them with every intervention group and have them illustrate them as well. At the end of the year, I bind them all into a book for them to read over the summer. I love how you call highlighting "buttering" the words. Too cute and fun!
ReplyDeleteI used "My Shaggy Dog" with one of my groups last week!
Andrea
Reading Toward the Stars!
This is a great post-- I need to be better about doing poetry on a weekly basis in my classroom. I am your newest follower and would love it if you checked out my blog :)
ReplyDeleteFirst Grade with a TwiSt
I love using poetry too. My favorite books are Sight Word poetry and Phonics Poetry. LOVE them. The kids love them too---and I also use mine according to my phonics dance chunk! :)
ReplyDeleteღDeAnne
First Grade and Fabulous
I love your poetry unit. I used it for the first time last year and each of my student published their own poem book. Thanks for the great idea for all year-long poems!
ReplyDeleteMary M.
Where do you get your poems from?
ReplyDeletei have both of those books and we do the same thing with the poems! except I retype them so tey dont' see the bolded letters...lol. that's cheating (for 2nd graders - ha!) I like the sentence strip idea! Excited for your poetry pack!
ReplyDeleteJen
The Teacher’s Cauldron