Poetry Lesson Plans

Students examine types of poetry including list poems, haiku, and makes-me-think poems. They create their own poems accompanied by artistic projects such as haiku poems written on kites they make.

Third graders write a funny poem. In this reading lesson students read the poem If School Were More Like Baseball by Kenn Nesbitt. Students use a template similar to the poem to write their own humorous poem.

Students are introduced to various time periods in history in which African Americans wrote songs and poetry to cope. In groups, they travel between different stations to listen or read poems and music from the Civil War period, Civil Rights Movement, etc. For each poem or music, they answer discussion questions and write their own poem appropriate for the time period.

Young scholars explore the concept of concrete poetry. They read and analyze examples of concrete poetry, discuss a handout, and compose an original poem in the form of a concrete poem.

Students examine poems. In this poetry lesson, students list emotions and write short phrases about human nature that can become a poem.

Fifth graders discover how figurative language is used in poetry. They read selected poems and identify the figurative language with handouts and worksheets included in the lesson. They write poems of their own using figurative language.

Students explore what poetry is and certain aspects within it. They write their own knowledge and perceptions of poetry and the expand that knowledge and experience through listening to, reading, and writing poetry and exploring poetic terminology.

Students read and discuss modern poetry. As they explore given poems, students identify parts of speech and the mood of the poem. Students create their own poetry and share their poems with the class. They read and discuss poetry by William Carlos Williams.

Young scholars consider, both as a class and individually, what they like or dislike in poetry. They find a poem that appeals to them and write a reflection paper on why they like their particular poem. They read their poems aloud in class, explain them and discuss what the poem means to them personally.

Learners write poems following the basic formats of a list poem, a makes-me-think-of poem, and a haiku. They create glitter-glue butterflies, poem kites, and watercolor sketches to illustrate poem content.