April is National Poetry Month and who doesn’t love poetry? Especially right now, reading and writing poetry (at least for me) comes as a welcome change to the monotony of current life.
With spring, I find myself thinking in haiku, which is why the kids and I will be reading one of my favorite haiku anthologies Stone Bench in an Empty Park.
Try some haiku with your kids this week and use this handout from Scholastic to assist with the teaching portion. I also suggest checking out some famous haiku poetry penned by the Japanese haiku masters.
Another kind of poetry to try with kids, is the Bio Poem. Not only does your child get to share about themselves, but it’s also great opportunity to throw in a mini lesson about adjectives and parts of speech.
Not only is writing poetry important, but reading and analyzing poems is just as valuable. Even young children can explore poetry.
With younger children you can discuss feelings surrounding the poem as well as draw a picture of what they visualized during the reading. You can listen to poems or read some of your favorites, perhaps Shel Silverstein.
With older children, you can dig even deeper into the poetry. Here are some helpful links to get you started:
How to Analyze a Poem in 6 Steps
Readworks has poetry activities for all grade levels.
Or, create a Poet Tree in your house!
THE POET TREE
Underneath the poet tree
Come and rest awhile with me
And watch the way the word web weaves Between the shady story leaves.
The branches of the poet tree
Reach from the mountains to the sea.
So come and sit . . . and dream . . . and climb—
Just don’t get hit by falling rhymes
~Shel Silverstein