photo by Irargerich www.flickr.com
It seems on Wacky Wednesdays that I am on a bit of a poetry kick. Last week, I discussed acrostic poems and how they can be useful tools in the classroom for creative writing skills and assessing subject matter knowledge. This week, I have found this wonderful book at my public library, and I just have to share it and some lesson ideas for poetry with you. Teaching poetry to kids is not always easy. When we find tools, we must share them!
Falling Down the Page is a new book of list poems, edited by Georgia Heard. In her introduction, Ms. Heard shares with the reader that she has compiled a book of list poems, and “the list or catalog poem is one of the oldest and most accessible of poetic forms.” She mentions a famous list poem most of us adults know–”Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman. She also discusses how these poems connect to one another and how list poems can take on many forms; so when teaching poetry to kids, these are important concepts to point out. Georgia Heard also suggests some lesson plans for poems: “After you read a few of these poems, I bet you’ll feel inspired to write one of your own. Think about your day. Jot down what you notice. And let your (list of) words fall down the page.”
Students will love these list poems that you read while teaching poetry to kids. Take for example the very first poem in the book, “Good-byes” by Eileen Spinelli. In her poem, she is discussing how hard it is to say good-bye to summer, and her list in her poem includes, “castles rising from the sand,” “Annie’s caramel popcorn stand,” and “matinees and indoor games.” OR How about Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s list poem, “On the Menu For School Today”?
-an excerpt
“Label planets
in our sky.
Learn how numbers
multiply.
Count coins.
String beads.
Shake bells.
Plant seeds.”
Once you share this book with students during your lesson plans for poems, then allow them to write some of their own list poems as Georgia Heard suggests. They could start with an actual list or a word web to brainstorm ideas, and then put these ideas into poetry form. One thing you will want to do when teaching poetry to kids is point out how these list poems are not simply a list, such as a grocery list, but the poets have chosen their words carefully and put their ideas in a poetic form–there is a reason for each word being where it is. Of course, students will not perfect this in a day or two, but it will be fun trying!
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