April is national poetry month, and it is important to know how to teach poetry in order to honor this month. Here are 3 lesson plans that can help you teach poetry to your students.
This first lesson plan is a biographical poem that can be used for children from the age of 3 to the age of 12. It requires only pencils and paper, and can be shortened or expanded depending on age level. In order to explain this idea to the class write your own biographical poem before hand this will give the students an example to follow. List questions that can be answered in the poem such as name, four traits or characteristics, likes, dislikes, dreams, and loves. This will give the students a basic idea of how to write a poem. You can hand out sheets that have the questions already listed, and have the students fill out the answers next to the questions. Then have the students take turns reading the answers out loud.
Another lesson plan that is fun and informative is the questionable poem. This poem is appropriate for ages 3 - 12, and can be shortened or expanded for the appropriate ages. This activity can be enhanced by the teacher or students bringing in random objects. If this is not possible the objects in the room can be used. Have each student pick one object and write a poem that describes it, but does not name it. These poems can be simple or complicated, and they can be used to help teach metaphor and simile.
A fun poem lesson plan that can be used for children of the age 3 to 12 and can help teach rhyme scheme is the growing poem. This lesson plan is a group activity, and can be a lot of fun. Start this lesson plan out by asking a student for a word. Next have another student name a word that rhymes with the first word; next have another student name a new word that does not rhyme, and have a fourth student name a word that rhymes with the third word. Continue with this until every student has named a word. While the students were naming words have them write it on a piece of paper and put it into a hat; make sure to write the words on the board in the correct order. When all the words are in the hat have each student pull a word and write a sentence that ends with that word. Now assemble each sentence in the rhyming order that was stated originally, and write it on the board. Now have each student read their line. This lesson plan can be made more complicated by employing different rhyme schemes.
All these lesson plans are fun and simple, and can help teach students about poetry. This April enjoy teaching students poetry during national poetry month.
