Poetry Society
How do Poets Use Language?
Why do writers choose the language they do? Here's a resource that has the poet himself answer that very question. Joseph Coelho explains why he chose the words and images he used in his poem, "If All the World Were Paper."
Curated OER
Short Poems Are Scary!
What do all those chairs and pencils do in the classroom once everyone leaves? Allow imaginations to run wild with frighteningly short poems!
K12 Reader
Adventures with Alliteration! - Adjectives
Have hearty humor with a handy, helpful handout! Kids work on their alliteration skills with a figurative language worksheet that focuses on alliterative adjectives and phrases. After kids add nouns to ten adjectives, they create five...
Curated OER
Language Play
Introduce your scholars to onomatopoeia and alliteration using a language elements worksheet. They examine six sound words and match them to four pictures. Next, learners read two examples of alliteration and write one of their own. They...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Hopi Poetry
The Hopi refer to corn as their children, demonstrating its importance to the Native American group. Class members consider the role of literal and figurative language by examining poetry from this indigenous group. The resource includes...
K12 Reader
Adventures with Alliteration! - Nouns
Create poetry with a worksheet based on alliterative phrases. After reviewing ten nouns, kids add an adjective to each based on the first letter of the noun. They then rewrite five sentences to involve more alliteration.
Curated OER
Poems
Thud! Squiff! Create sound effects with words. Introduce your youngsters to onomatopoeia with these fun, rainy-day poems. They write down sound words, discussing rhythm and rhyme. You can also incorporate the author's use of capital...
Harper Collins
The Giving Tree Anniversary Teaching Guide
Celebrate poetry month all of April with a guide that uses six of Shel Silverstein's most famous books as a basis for the lessons. Discussion questions and writing activities are provided for each of Silverstein's books.
Poetry Society
A Conceit Poem
Young writers needn't be self-involved to craft a conceit. Directions for how to craft this form of extended metaphor, models, and a worksheet are all included in the packet.
Curated OER
Poetry Passport
Passport photos are notoriously unflattering but here's an activity that encourages youngsters to create a poetic picture of themselves using each category on the passport as a prompt for a poem.
K12 Reader
Alliteration: It’s a Zany Zoo!
Elephants eat and cheetahs chase in this zany zoo! Kids survey a list of ten animals before adding in an adjective and verb for each to form an alliterative phrase or sentence.
Curated OER
Similes
Second graders explore similes. In this figurative language lesson, 2nd graders read the book Quick As A Cricket and choose a simile to illustrate.
Curated OER
Camels Theme Unit
In this Camel themed activity, learners create an alliteration, an acrostic poem, and work with similes. The unit consist of three pages of language arts work, based on Camels.
Curated OER
All Aboard!
Learners recognize and identify onomatopoeia. They will read the book All Aboard! A True Train Story, by Susan Kuklin. After reading the book, they list and illustrate examples of onomatopoeia. Then they write a poem or...
K12 Reader
Alliteration Animals
Bees buzz, dogs dig, lion laze, and snakes slither! Use alliteration to create sentences about four different animals.
Laura Candler
Bio Poems Made Easy
A creative way bring autobiographical writing to your poetry unit or back-to-school curriculum, this lesson plan guides you through a bio poem activity. Kids use the graphic organizer to describe themselves using adjectives, things...
School District No. 71
Adding Written Detail: Using Jane Yolen’s Owl Moon as a Mentor Text
Access your senses with a worksheet on sensory language. Based on Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, the worksheet prompts kids to find examples of each of the five senses, as well as phrases for inner emotion.
Curated OER
Growing Poems
Students write garden inspired poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students go out into the garden and write poems about how they feel, what they see, and what is going on in the garden.
Curated OER
Invigorate Your Curriculum with the Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Dickinson’s poems enliven the disciplines of language arts, social science, and even math.
Curated OER
Chasing Metaphors
Students use metaphors in order to see commonly experienced objects, events, and people in new and more meaningful ways.
Curated OER
Review Poetry and the Simile and the Metaphor
Learners compile a list of the things they look for in a friend. Then they use that information to create a simple poem. Later they illustrate and display their poems.
Curated OER
Rhyming Word Poems
Students create poetry. In this poetry lesson, students read poetry and identify rhyming words using highlighters. Students may also add rhyming lines to the poetry they read.
Curated OER
Poems and Songs: Rivers and Ponds
Students explore songs and poems related to the animals, habitats, and activities on rivers and ponds. They listen to song clips, explore various websites, read poems and song lyrics, complete worksheets, and define key vocabulary words.
Curated OER
Who Am I?
Get to know a person in your class or a famous figure in history. With questions about the person's birthplace, parents, and what they are famous for. A space at the bottom prompts writers to list three things they have learned.