Hello and welcome to Teacher Omi's (grama's) favorite month or one of them! April celebrates many things including National Poetry Month. And April's other hat of Earth Month nicely matches her poetry dress! So from the Omschool, where everything's coming up crocus and daffodil, here are free poetry month lesson plans, poem templates and activities for young poets. And you know that everything Omschool comes with free pintables! And, since the Omschool originated as a homeschool (33 years ago!) these poem activities will be geared to all ages, right down to the newest of my dynamic dozen babygrands, Max and Flora (Omi loves you all so much💕)
Acrostic name poems and All about Me poems The best place to begin is with what the child knows. So make an acrostic with his or her name. Juno- Jumping joyfully UnderNeath and Over. All about Me features kids filling in blanks with words to describe themselves. Bonus added use opposites, like " I am____ but I'm also _________. I like ______ and I don't like ______.
Nature Wander and Write. You get the best April has to offer with a BOGO nature walk and poetry slam! The concept is simple and the materials are few. (Mothers of many and teachers of crowds, rejoice!) You basically just find a pretty spot to wander, a meadow, field, by a brook, at the beach, in the woods. Equip each student over 7, Silas, Moses, Lola, that's you, with a pencil and notepad. Or for youngers, Lucian, Henry, Milo, Ezra, Juno this means you, each gets a box with crayons and paper. The mobile newbs, Emmett, Remus and Flora, get a box to collect samples. Max, your task is to supervise and provide commentary. The idea is to note down or draw interesting things you see. Once indoors you can complete your poem or poem drawing (art is poetry just with pictures, just like poetry is art with words).
Gestalt Poetry Ponder Gestalt is a German phrase meaning that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Nowhere do we see this so clearly as in nature. So for this type of poetry, simply bring in one natural element. Might I suggest the humble yet regal pussywillow (called kitty toes, by son Jake) Or Omi's personal favorite, a sprig of dogwood? Arrange it in a simple vase. Or give each his own to explore VAKT (visually, auditorily, kinesthetically and tactilely). Students should note down or draw observations. They should experiment with different descriptor words. This makes a nice language arts-science connection.
Adverbs and Adjectives Adventure After collecting your nature observations, begin your poem by creating a chart. List what you see, hear, taste, smell and touch (nouns) and words to describe those nouns (adjectives). Then list what happened or what the nouns did (verbs) with words to describe how it happened or how they did it (adverbs). Use my poem (free printable, btw) Achy-Lake-y Michigan Scent at the Grama-Grampa House for examples. This is basically just my list of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs about a walk to the lake.
Haiku for You The humble haiku is a perfect poem starter activity for kids. Instead of rhyming, it relies on pattern of syllables. The 5-7-5 pattern is pretty easy to master. But don't let kids get bogged down by strict adherence, either. As with rhyme poems, haiku can be flexible too. It's more important to get a rhythm that flows. And sound byte is king. If kids have a juicy word they just have to weave in, let 'em do it!
Making noise with Edgar Allen Poe-etry Mr. Edgar Allen Poe might have had his dark side but I think he was a kid at heart because he was all about the sound poems called (delicious word!) onomatopoeia! Simply, it's words named from the sounds they make: bang, crash, boom, and such. The Bells and The Raven being two famous poems. So, how to begin? By listening. Even the silence makes sounds of a sort. Describe, in words or by drawing what you hear. What is the wind saying? Or the waves? Or your cat? Use my poem Campfire Songs and Lightning Bugs or Fireflies to explore how sound is used in poems. Look for all the onomatopoeia examples you can find.
Assonance and alliteration in verse Not all poetry rhymes or has a certain number of syllables. Some, like onomatopoeia, relies on sound to create a rhythm or cadence. One way to achieve that is by using repetitive vowel sounds (assonance) and consonants (alliteration). In Campfire Songs and Achy-Lake-y, I used moan-groan, thunder-crumble crunch assonance and "endlessly tameless" alliteration to generate a sound pattern. Can you find other examples? Now write some letter matches of your own.
Farad-ing Poetry Michael Faraday was an inventor who discovered the Farad (electrical unit) which was later named for him. That's what happens when a word is lacking. We make one up. I don't know if Poe invented some of those onomatopoeia, but I do know that I have and you can if you can't find just the write word for your poem. In my Campfire Songs poem I made up (or at least I think I did) the words sklush and sklish. Others like crickle-trickle and worry-hurry I combined from others words. And Dr. Seuss, if the man gave us anything, it was permission to make up fun words! Gardinker and hakken-krakks being two of my favorites.
Rhyme-time So of course, rhyming uses sound to creates poetry. I like writing this kind and you might too. But I prefer the other kinds best. Having to create rhymes can cramp your word choices. You end up discarding words you'd like to use to fit the rhyme. And it takes practice to write in rhyme too. Begin by generating a list of rhyming words and patterns. Use my poem For the Love of Alyssum to go by. You'll see what I mean about how I had to sacrifice certain words for ones that fit. It's good to practice on rhyme poems but the other sound kinds will likely be more satisfying. And then there's
Free verse Fun My grandkids know that I love the poem "This is Just to Say" What they don't know is why. It's just a note on a refrigerator. What's poetic about that? And I think therein lies the crux of poetry. It's a state of mind? Just like how do Jackson Pollack's pain splotches constitute art? Is it okay to just write a list of stuff and call it poetry or throw paint at a wall and call it art? I don't know. But I think with children and new poets especially, it helps establish the habit if there aren't a bunch of rules to bog you down. So for this exercise, just have kids start writing, anywhere. Put a word in the middle of the page and write words around it. That becomes a shape poem. Make a grocery list and look for sound patterns.
"twelve yellow lemons"
"squash to nosh"
"ruby red grapefruit"
"green beans"
It's all about the celebration of words. Oh and for the littles, sorry, forgot to list activities for them. The best exposure is to give them brightly colored and musical toys to explore with all their senses. Not the electronic ones, please. Avoid those. Toys with real bells, shakers and noisemakers that's the kind I mean. Oh and give them cloth books to touch and feel. Mr. Max loves his fuzzy tails book from Omi and Opi.
Ken Nesbitt Poetry4Kids has free printable poetry templates, poem patterns and poem lesson plans. Red Dragonfly on My Shoulder is a great Haiku read-aloud. We are teachers has more free printable poetry frames and templates.