Amy Anderson
April 7, 2010
 Maybe
you've heard before that poetry is
magic, and it made you roll your eyes, but I
believe it's true. Poetry matters. At the most
important moments, when everyone else is
silent, poetry rises to speak.
 Ralph Fletcher, Poetry Matters, 2002.
 Alternative
to traditional writing forms
 Requires fewer words to make a meaningful
message
 De-emphasizes mechanics
 Focus on careful and creative word selection
 Uses imagery
 Express feelings with a personal voice
 Incorporates all five senses into writing
 Inspires a love of poetry
 Regie Routman, Kids’ Poems: Teaching First Grades to Love
Poetry, 2000. (7)
 Children
have a natural talent for writing
poetry and anyone who teaches them should
know that. Teaching really is not the right
word for what takes place: it is more like
permitting the children to discover
something they already have.
 Kenneth Koch, Wishes, Lies and Dreams: Teaching Children to
Write Poetry (25)
I am the kind of writer who writes
in peace and quiet.
I am the kind of writer who really feels
the rain and the wind
That feeling makes me want to sway from one
way to another.
It’s all in the heart.
Written by a five-year-old kindergartener from the Bronx
 “…the
emotional climate of the classroom is
one of the most important factors in setting
up an environment that will nurture the poet
inside all of our students.”
 Georgia Heard, Awakening the Heart, 1998.
A

Poem in Your Pocket
Chorale poetry readings
 Read




Alouds
Honey, I Love and Other Poems by Eloise
Greenfield
Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia
Heard
Moon, Have You Met My Mother? By Karla Kuskin
All the Small Poems and Fourteen More by
Valerie Worth
Seeing with Poets’ Eyes
 Listening for Line Breaks
 Hearing the Music in Poetry
 Showing, Not Telling
 Hearing the Voices of Poetry
 Word Choice (Using Honest, Precise Words)
 Patterns/Repetitions
 Using Comparisons/Sustained Metaphors
 Strong Endings
 Poem Shape/Use of Blank Space

 Lucy Calkins Stephanie Parsons. Poetry: Powerful Thoughts in Tiny
Packages. 2003.
Pencil Sharpener
by Zoe Ryder White
I think there are a hundred bees
inside the pencil sharpener
and they buzz
and buzz
and buzz
until my point
is sharp!
*Observation Activity
Went to the corner
Walked in the store
Bought me some candy
Ain’t got it no more
Ain’t got it no more
Went to the beach
Played on the shore
Built me a sandhouse
Ain’t got it no more
Ain’t got it no more
Went to the kitchen
Lay down on the floor
Made me a poem
Still got it
Still got it
Things by Eloise Greenfield
A child wrote a letter to poet Naomi Nye asking “How do you make
a poem?” The poem “Valentine for Ernest Mann” was her
response…
Valentine for Ernest Mann
You can't order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two"
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.
Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, "Here's my address,
write me a poem," deserves something in reply.
So I'll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

Tiny Topics Notepads
 By
sharing kids’ poems, the message is: “Kids
just like you wrote these poems. You can
write poems too.”… “They don’t see
themselves as poets until they see other
children as poets.”
 Regie Routman, Kids’ Poems: Teaching First Grades to Love
Poetry, 2000. (11)


Using poems of children from previous years
Kids’ Poems examples in folder
Splash Mountain
I was shivering
and closing my eyes.
Squeezing
my dad’s hand.
My heart
is beating
very
fast. Just
before
the drop!
It was like
I couldn’t breathe.
By Leah
Start with a feeling, Talk to the object you are writing
about…
The Moon
Please
moon
come out.
I smile
when
you
come
out.
I want
to go
to bed.
I like
to
snuggle
when
I go to
bed.
By Sean
Go Wind by Lilian Moore
Go wind, blow
Push wind, swoosh.
Shake things
take things
make things
fly.
Ring things
swing things
fling things
high.
Go wind, blow
Push things - wheee!
No, wind, no.
Not me Not me!
My Cat
My cat
is trying
to catch
the deer.
The deer was running
but my
cat was
still
chasing him
still
chasing
him but
my cat
was finally
close
to him.
He found out it is
too
big
for him.
By: Kenny
Inside My Heart by Zoe Ryder White
Inside my heart lives
One birthday party
Two jazz bands
Three wrestling puppies
Four dancing birds
Five laughing babies
Six blasting spaceships
Seven lucky fireflies and
A sky full of stars.
I couldn’t go to my friend’s house
I saw in my heart
2 wrestlers punching each other
3 kids stomping very loud
4 kids shutting the door loudly
5 teachers moving desks
6 giants playing the drums
7 people throwing 5 books at a time
8 babies crying loud
9 classes screaming loudly
10 bands playing the horn
But my dad called my friend and now they are home
and I jump up and down and say “yay”
By: Aneri
Me and My Brother
Me and my
brother
played in the
playroom very
loudly.
That makes the
playroom wake
up and shout.
The playroom looked
very surprised
and very
woken up
from its sleep
and very glad
to see me and
my brother
playing in it.
It was
so
happy that it
shouted and
danced and it
sang and it
spinned and
spinned all the
way to the
car and brought
toys for me
and my brother.