Blogs April is National Poetry Month, so I wrote you a limerick!
This month is National Poetry Month, which is a perfect time for teachers to introduce poetry to one another and to their students. We encourage you, whatever role you play, to embrace poetry.
Poetry’s lit! 🔥
Below, please note the variety of poem styles and topics about things most children love like dogs, cats, silly words, or songs. Share with students or children!
| Poems with Animations (h/t Billy Collins) |
And please remember another animal kids like to read about: Frederick the mouse, from the imagination of Leo Lionni:
In fact, Scholastic has a guide to playing with poetry side by side with children, using the philosophy, “Children are born poets; they just need your help to know it.”
If that’s not enough to whet the palate, there are some fantastic resources especially for teachers and poetry fans all over the world. Our two favorites are:
- The Poetry Foundation, which allows you to search for the perfect poem (they located 13 poems about hedgehogs!), sign up for a Poem of the Day, and find poetry by school, poet, and age-appropriateness. This site has so much information, just waiting for you!
- Academy of American Poets’ Poets.org/National Poetry Month. Here you can find all the official swag and support to celebrate this esteemed month, including the lovely Poem In Your Pocket Day to spread your poem far and wide.
There are so many strategies and resources for poetry:
- Teacher Jed Bloom’s “Poetry Rap” helps demystify the writing of poetry.
- The Poetry Foundation’s Children section offers tons of articles and videos: all focused on helping children learn about and love poetry.
- Grades 5-12 students especially love studying musical or rap lyrics. Check out, “Musicians Who Are Poets,” by Jamie Atkins, or have a discussion featuring Amy Smolcic’s “Is Rap Music Poetry?”
- Have students use Lyric Notepad to write their own rap, poem, or song lyrics!
Soon, your celebration of poetry will inspire, delight, and ignite the inspiration that poetry can bring.
