I'm a Poet, And I Know It! Celebrating National Poetry Month!

I love National Poetry Month! I used to write poetry, maybe I will again some day.  But in the meantime, I like to give my kids a chance to grow to love writing poetry as much as I do.

There was a time, pre-standardized testing, when we would gather up all our original poetry, pair it with two really funny pieces of poetry, and have Poetry Day. We would invite the parents, and each child would share  one of their poems. We would read the two poems we chose as a group, one in the beginning, one at the end. Afterwards, we would have snacks and juice, provided by the parents. Aaaah, good times. :)

But, even though Poetry Day has gone the way of a teacher being able to think for themselves, I still incorporate poetry into April. This year, I chose formats I thought the kids would enjoy, (and they did). We wrote a Pi poem, a Spring acrostic, a cinquain," I Made a Mistake" ,and "I Am Sorry" (they apologize to an inanimate object). Tomorrow I am letting them write an original poem, any topic, any way they choose.

After they wrote the poems, they posted them on Kidblog. If you have a sec, check out the ROOM 8 Page and comment.. (Have to get in that authentic audience). I also allowed them to create a Voki for the poem of their choice.(Still working on those). I am going to create a Poetry Symbaloo, (Voki provides you with a Symbaloo link), and post it on our Weebly.

Check out one of our Voki poets below. I love National Poetry Month, and now, so do my students! :)

photo credit: Enokson via photopin cc