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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Exaggeration Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
The best poetry writing lesson of all time is here for you! Learn all about the art of exaggeration with a lesson on exaggeration poems, which instructs students to use wild imagery to convey their message.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 1: Writing Poetry

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Do you wish you could write poetry that makes people laugh? Now you can! Check out the first chapter in a poetry writing series that emphasizes the importance of connecting subject matter to a light, bouncy meter.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a “Favorite Things” List Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
If your students made a list of their favorite things, would writing poetry be on it? After this poetry writing lesson, it might! Young writers make a list of what they like—or what they don't like—before crafting the list into a rhyming...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Heartsongs Poetry by Mattie Stepanek

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...
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Unit Plan
Teaching Matters

Welcome to Writing Poetry

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Your pupils are poets, and now they'll be able to show it with the exercises in this packet. The lessons, designed for beginner, intermediate, and experienced poets, not only feature a variety of poetic forms, but take learners through...
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Writing Riddles

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What's got 60 eyes, 150 fingers, and an endless number of ideas? Your language arts class! Challenge young writers to come up with clever riddles with an online poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Limerick

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Add a little fun and fancy to English language arts with an activity that challenges scholars to write a limerick. Authors follow five rules in order to compose an original poem that contains a specific rhyme scheme. 
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Writing, Critique, and Revising: Two-Voice Poems (Chapter 14: "Las Ucas/Grapes")

For Teachers 5th Standards
Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....
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Writing
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Teacher's Corner

Diamonte (dee-a-MON-tay)

For Students 3rd - 7th
Did you say a diamonte? Ask your young poets to craft and polish this gem of a form poem. The fifth in a series of ten poetry writing exercises.
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Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Unit 7: Poetry

For Teachers 5th Standards
Over the course of a 12-lesson language arts unit, young scholars analyze a variety of poems taking a close look at figurative language and tone. They learn to compare and contrast, improve comprehension, and identify settings. To...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sense Poems

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore 5 senses poetry.  For this poetry writing lesson, students visualize a special day and brainstorm related vivid adjectives and phrases.  Students create mindmaps of the five senses to go with their visualization and...
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Activity
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities

Poetry Lesson Plans

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Need some ideas for poetry lessons? Check out this packet loaded with suggestions for elementary, middle, and high school writers.
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Writing An Acrostic

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Invite learners to introduce themselves through poetry. After brainstorming and choosing details, pupils draft two acrostic poems using their names as the base. They then evaluate and revise their poems.
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Lesson Plan
National Council of Teachers of English

Writing Acrostic Poems with Thematically Related Texts in the Content Areas

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Scholars scour thematically aligned texts to gather a bank of words they can use in an original acrostic poem. 
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 3: Choosing a Topic

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Nothing's better than a really funny poem! Help young writers craft their funny poems with a lesson on one of the most challenging parts of writing: picking what to write about.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 4: Making It Funny

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
You've got your topic—now how do you make your poem funny? Explore ways to make a poem humorous, including puns, exaggeration, silly words, and surprising endings, with a helpful poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a “Backward” Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
If you like poetry, wait till you try backward poetry! Young writers read Shel Silverstein's "Backward Bill" before writing their own funny poems that are full of backward imagery and phrasing.
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Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Simile and Metaphor Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Similes and metaphors are the focus of a poetry lesson complete with two exercises. Scholars read poetry excerpts, underline comparative phrases, then identify whether it contains a simile or metaphor. They then write five similes and...
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Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Onomatopoeia Poetry Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Two exercises boost scholars' knowledge of a onomatopoeia with excerpts from famous poems. In exercise one, participants circle onomatopoeia words. Exercise two challenges writers to choose three words to use in an original poem.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Haiku

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
A haiku is the focus of an activity that challenges scholars to draft an original poem. Authors discover the origin and components of a haiku, read three example poems, then follow six steps to compose their own. 
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Fractured Nursery Rhyme

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Scholars take a popular song or nursery rhyme and make it their own as they write a fractured nursery rhyme. Writers seek out a nursery rhyme's rhyming words and change them to create an original poem.  
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Cinquain Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
A lesson challenges scholars to create a cinquain poem. Writers begin by choosing a topic and brainstorm details, then compose their original poem making sure to count syllables. 
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Concrete or “Shape” Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Writers compose an original shape poem. Scholars choose a subject to write about and create a visual representation by forming a corresponding picture using the poem's words.  
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Apology Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Put a silly spin on making amends with an apology poem. Budding poets think of a time they were made to apologize although they didn't mean it. They then turn their experience into a poem that offers details and ends with an explanation...