Poetry Foundation
Dream in Color — Middle School
Celebrate diversity with a toolkit designed to inspire young poets to develop their own voices. After examining poems by African American poets, individuals craft their own poetic stories. The packet features poems by Gwendolyn Brooks,...
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."
K12 Reader
If
Rudyard Kipling's advice to his son in the poem "If" is a resounding message that echoes through generations. After reading the famous poem, middle schoolers work on analyzing specific lines, completing activities based on unfamiliar...
Tiny Mobile
Poetry Creator | Verses
Construct from a canvas of words, lyrical expressions that your budding poets can share and post. Based on refrigerator magnet poetry, creative writers can develop their poetry independently, or from a given prompt from their instructor.
Curated OER
Langston Hughes Was a Dreamer Too
Encourage your pupils to imagine their own dreams for the future. After studying three poems by Langston Hughes and listening to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech, young poets craft their own dream stanza.
Student Handouts
Father's Day Acrostic
Fantastic? Friendly? Funny? What adjective will your youngsters choose for the first letter in father as part of this great Father's Day acrostic worksheet?
Curated OER
Poem in Your Pocket Day: Ideas for Celebrating
First instituted in New York City in 2002 and recognized nationwide in 2009, "Poem in Your Pocket Day" is part of National Poetry Month (April) and celebrates poetry in everyday life. A brief news story includes 9 ideas about how to...
Curated OER
Shelley's Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley
For this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 15 multiple choice questions based on poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Family and Friends: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 4)
Family and Friends is the theme of a unit consisting of English language development lessons. Reinforce language proficiency, particularly in family vocabulary, basic needs, feelings, short vowel sounds, blending, reading high frequency...
Teacher's Corner
Alliteration
Calliope calls kids to craft clever creations in this, the second in a series of ten poetry sessions.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Fabulous Fibonacci and His Nifty Numbers
Fibonacci numbers are not only found in the classroom but also in nature. Explore the concept of Fibonacci numbers through a series of lessons designed to gain insight into the mathematical reasoning behind the number pattern, and spark...
Curated OER
Dali & Desnos: Surrealism in Poetry and Art
High schoolers research the surrealism movement and its primary artists. Language is also analyzed, and students will create their own original poem utilizing surrealistic techniques.
Curated OER
Rhythm and Improv, Jazz and Poetry
Connect the ideas of jazz improvisation and art to writing poetry. Learners collaborate and write different lines of poetry, imitating the jazz styles of improvisation and freewriting. Take a close look at the poems "Tenebrae" by Yusef...
Curated OER
Free Verse Poems
The opening slide in this presentation defines free verse poems. The three subsequent slides demonstrate how personal experience can be used as the basis for a free verse poem.
Curated OER
Dancing through Poetry
Get your class up and moving as they explore how to express movement and dance through words. Designed around two poems by Lillian Morrison about break dancing, the activity truly captures the creative and multi-sensory aspects of...
Curated OER
Writing Review
This presentation provides a series of activities that can be used as morning warm ups throughout the week, or as a writing review. Learners put words in ABC order, learn about alliteration, correct punctuation in a series of sentences,...
Curated OER
Acronyms--Characters in The Hobbit
Have your class create acrostic poems for characters in The Hobbit. First, define acronyms and work together to complete sample acronyms for their own first names. Students then research specific characters in the novel and create...
Curated OER
Writing and Autobiography
Are you working on an autobiographical or narrative writing unit? Bring this lesson to your class, as it takes young writers through the process of drafting and sequencing an autobiography. After observing and demonstrating steps of the...
Curated OER
First Grade Reading
In this reading worksheet, 1st graders complete multiple choice questions about poems, letters, reading passages, and more. Students complete 25 questions.
Curated OER
Civil War Acrostic Poem
In this creative writing worksheet, students use the letters in the words CIVIL WAR to write an acrostic poem. Students write a 8 line poem.
Curated OER
Making Recycled Paper
Students explore the advantages of recycling paper. In this environmental lesson, students produce recycled paper by ripping up paper and putting it into a blender with water to create a mixture. Students use their recycled paper to...
Curated OER
Friendly Poetry
In this activity, students will compile a list of the things they look for in a friend and use that information to create a simple poem. Using a familiar topic may make poetry a little less daunting for some children.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nature: Friend and Foe: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 6)
If readers don't understand key portions of a text, it may seem more like a foe than a friend. The second resource in a series of three ESL lessons designed to accompany the texts in Nature: Friend or Foe makes the texts easier to...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Special Friends: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 9)
Enhance language proficiency with a Special Friends themed English language development unit. Each lesson follows a listen, speak, move, and/or look routine that is guaranteed to get your scholars discussing topics such as animal...