Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Create Book Spine Poetry

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Can you create a poem without writing a word! With found poetry, you can! Practice one version of found poetry with a lesson on book spine poems. Learners create poems by stacking books and reading the lines created by their spine titles.
Unit Plan
Scholastic

Using Poetry to Explore Change and Belonging

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Change, growth, and a sense of belonging are the focus of a unit that uses poetry to explore these themes and the distinguishing features of poetry as well. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Slam!

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Create poems without writing! Young poets create poems using words cut from newspapers, read their poems aloud, and compile them in a book. This lesson allows the teacher to view each learner's creative process and assess their current...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry/Music: Let It Snow!

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students create poems and sound compositions using instruments, sounds, and pictograph notation. After listening Debussy's Children's corner suite, they brainstorm a list of snow vocabulary words. Students write poems and in groups...
eBook
Clackamas Community College

Towards an Open Anthology of Poetry

For Students 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Towards an Open Anthology of Poetry features poets talking about their work, poems by topic, terms to use when teaching poetry, and poems to use for close reading.
Unit Plan
Academy of American Poets

Women in Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Imagine linking poetry to technology! Thirty-three lessons comprise a 6-week "Women in Poetry" unit for high schoolers. Class members research women poets, learn how to respond electronically to discussions, write their poems, create web...
Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Who Am I? Identity Poems

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
A lesson celebrating identity begins with a something-about-me activity, then moves on to writing favorite words. Class members then brainstorm metaphors and comparisons and read a poem to inspire their poetic abilities. Scholars craft...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Found Poetry Finds Popularity

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Writers use non-fiction pieces to craft found poems across all domains for a New York Times writing contest.
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Beyond Words: Creating Poetry with Linguistically Diverse Students

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Models of and directions for how to write 20 different types of poems are featured in an NCTE resource. The introduction to each form highlights the embedded concepts. For example, tongue twisters encourage poets to use alliteration and...
Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

War and Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A band of brothers or the Devil's agents? Nobel warriors freeing the oppressed or mercenaries working for the military/industrial complex? Groups examine poems from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II to determine the poets'...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Writing a Memorable Poem

For Students 7th - 12th
Nascent poets carefully examine a color photograph and then respond to a series of questions. Using these responses, they craft a poem prompted by the image. A link to powerful photos is included so the exercise can be repeated.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Unknown Frost Poem Discovered

For Students 8th - 12th
What? A long-lost poem from Robert Frost? Introduce your class to a poem recently found and published from Robert Frost's personal collection. The lesson includes background information on the author, the poem itself, and a list of...
Printables
Curated OER

Poetry Brainstorm

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Looks like? Sounds like? Smells like? Feels like? Tastes like? Sometimes a white, blank, soulless piece of paper can intimidate writers. Provide potential poets with this template that can serve as a parking lot for words and phrases to...
Writing
Teachnology

Shape (Or Concrete) Poems

For Students 2nd - 6th Standards
Poetry comes in all shapes and sizes. Young writers pick a shape, select words and phrases that describe how the shape makes them feel, and create a shape poem. A raindrop example and step-by-step instructions give your...
Writing
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Teacher's Corner

Shape Poetry

For Students 3rd - 7th
Calligrams, or shape poems, are the focus of ninth exercise in a ten-part poetry writing series.
Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Personification Poetry Lesson Plan

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Scholars take part in two exercises to boost their knowledge of personification. After reading a detailed description and excerpts from famous poems, writers list action verbs and objects then combine words to create a humorous...
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.  
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Poetry of Chinese Immigration

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Numerous people from China immigrated to the US during the era of industrialization and expansion. Provide your class with a glimpse into the life of a Chinese immigrant through the poetry they left behind. They then compose a poem of...
Handout
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Core Analysis Frame: Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Dig deep into any piece of poetry with a set of analysis questions. Ponder the content, form, and language of poetry and provide some question for critique. The first two pages include general questions, and the remainder of the document...
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...
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.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Sound of…Poetry!

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Scritch, scratch, scritch. It's the sound of pupils writing poetry! Focus on sensory language and onomatopoeia with a writing lesson. After listening to some sounds, learners examine a couple of poems that include sound words and then...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Whale Song Acrostic

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
What do whales sing about? Invite your class to imagine the thoughts of whales before writing acrostic poems on the topic. The plan blends together a bit of life science with plenty of opportunities for creativity and writing.