Curated OER
Runny Babbit
Students are introduced to elements of poetry through the book Runny Babbit. In this poetry instructional activity, students learn about the newest Shel Silverstein book, then examine the poem's form, rhythm, and rhyme. Students look for...
Curated OER
Teaching Science with a Smile
Students study science concepts as they are presented in poetic form. They write and present their own science poems to parents during Open House.
Curated OER
Where Math Meets Poetry
Students identify Fibonacci's sequence of numbers and use the pattern to write poetry with one syllable words. In this math and writing lesson, students identify Fibonacci's sequence of numbers and learn about this early mathematician....
Curated OER
Death in Poetry: A.E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" and Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"
Young scholars analyze poems about death. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems from both Dylan Thomas and A.E. Housman and analyze them in groups for common poetic devices. Young scholars present their analysis and...
Curated OER
Forest Poetry
Students explore nature by participating in a poetry writing activity. In this forest investigation lesson, students identify images and feelings they experienced while they were in a forest on a class trip. Students identify poetry...
Poetry Out Loud
Creating "Golden Shovel" Poems
Get even your most reluctant pupils reading, writing, reciting, and maybe even enjoying poetry! A four day lesson, young writers learn about Golden Shovel poems: a poem format that uses borrowed words from other poems as the last words...
Poetry4kids
How to Write a Cinquain Poem
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.
Curated OER
Symphonic Poetry
Young scholars interpret the themes in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, create a 6-line poem based on the themes in the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, and define musical terms related to the study of programmatic...
Curated OER
Picture Perfect Poetry
Do your language arts learners love to draw? Use this lesson to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several different...
Curated OER
Holocaust Studies: Five Poems by Dan Pagis
Teaching a unit on the Holocaust? Consider using the personal statements of Dan Pagis’s poetry to contrast with the more “distanced” historical accounts found in textbooks. Five poems, discussion questions, and background notes are...
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Young scholars examine how Tennyson and Noyes use words to paint vivid pictures. They read and analyze two poems, complete an online scavenger hunt, complete a worksheet, and write examples of alliteration, personification, metaphor,...
Poetry4kids
How to Write a Haiku
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.
Curated OER
War Poetry, Journals and Letters: Viet Nam
Examine letters written during war-time. In this cross curricular history and English instructional activity, middle and high school scholars read letters and poems written by soldiers in the Vietnam war. They will examine the...
Curated OER
Poetry Through Digital Storytelling
Bring digital storytelling to your language arts class! To begin, learners select their own topic, such as a poem that reflects a life experience they had or a historical figure who interests them. Then they work to create a storyboard...
Curated OER
Lesson: Unfolding Water Lilies
Comparing two different artistic mediums can be a welcome challenge. Learners compare Monet's The Water Lily Pond to three nature-inspired poems. They consider how each art form is interrelated, descriptive, and expressive. They then...
Curated OER
Poetry Writing
Students read various examples of poetry and create a poetry portfolio. In this poetry writing lesson, students work at their own pace to complete a poetry portfolio with examples of the different poetic forms demonstrated. ...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Seeing Sense in Photographs & Poems
Learners analyze photographs and poetry as forms of each other. In this poetry and photography analysis instructional activity, students use the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz and poetry from William Carlos William to explore how poetry...
Curated OER
I Spy Poetry
Students identify and interpret the rhythm and form of the I Spy poem.
They then integrate art, music, literature, technology, and writing with poetry. Students also write their own poem based on the picture they printed from the I Spy...
Curated OER
Tricks of the Trade A Collection of Concrete Poems-for writing concrete poems
Students explore concrete poetry. In this lesson plan about poetry, students read A Poke in the I, by Paul B. Janeczko, and are introduced to concrete poems. Students read several different kinds of concrete poems including single-word,...
Curated OER
Japanese Poetry: Tanka? You're Welcome!
Students analyze Japanese tanka poetry. In this Japanese poetry lesson, students identify analyze the structure of tanka poetry. Students complete the activities at the given links for the lesson and compose two tanka poems.
Curated OER
Preparing for Poetry: A Reader's First Steps
Students complete poetry analysis using William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" as a part of a study of figurative language. In this Shakespearean language lesson, students define literal and figurative language and practice paraphrasing and...
Curated OER
Earth Day Acrostic Poetry
In this online interactive language arts instructional activity, students write an acrostic poem regarding Earth Day using the letters EARTH DAY. This instructional activity may also be printed for use in classrooms.
Curated OER
Introduction to the Poetry Unit
Middle schoolers explore, analyze and interpret one form of poetry writing called Poetry Slam. They hear several examples of unexpected poetry and view a video of "Slam Nation." The books, "Hey You! C'mere: A Poetry Slam," by Elizabeth...
Curated OER
I Am Poem
In this poem worksheet, learners fill in the blanks to the poem about themselves. Students complete 19 lines to the poem on this worksheet.