Open Mic Friday

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time now, you probably know that I love teaching writing to my students.  I also adore teaching them how to write poetry!  Awhile back, I posted about how I use poetry every week in my classroom.  I am going to go over it again here, in case you are a newer follower.

Every Monday, I introduce a new phonics chunk or a few new word families.  I select a poem that goes along with the chunk or family.  I get my poems from the following books:

Several years ago, I went through the books and found a poem for each chunk and word family that we learn.  I wrote the poems out on sentence strips and laminated them.  I keep them in boxes like these:

At planning, I can quickly select the poem that I want.  I pull out the strips and have it ready for the next week.  I also photocopy the poem in the book so my students can use it on Friday.

Throughout the week, we read our poem in class.  We echo, choral, boy/girl, etc...read it.  The kids are also allowed to go up and read the poem when they finish their work.  They have free reign with the pointers, which is very fun!  

On Friday, I pass out the photocopies of the poems.  We read the poem together once more, and then children highlight or use yellow crayon to mark the chunk or word family that we're working on.  They can also color the picture that's on the page.  They place their poems into their poetry folders.  The folders stay in their silent reading bags and they are allowed to read those poems any time during silent reading each day.

Next, students wait for a partner to finish their poem and buddy up.  They sit anywhere they'd like in the classroom and read their poems together.  They can choose any of them to read to each other or together.  

On Friday, I select 4 students to sign up for "Open Mic" time.  The kids are chosen at random, but I do keep track on a checklist so that everyone gets a turn before cycling back through the names again.  The kids love doing this!  It's a great way to build fluency and is excellent for the audience to work on their listening skills!  To snag a free copy of the "Open Mic" pages, click below!

We review good listening skills with these free posters that I have.  They are from Jen Jones at Hello Literacy.

This freebie goes great with my "Common Core Based Poetry Unit," which is a HUGE hit among teachers, students, and parents!  Click below to check it out.

xo

Megan