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Activity
Poetry4kids

Writing Riddles

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What's got 60 eyes, 150 fingers, and an endless number of ideas? Your language arts class! Challenge young writers to come up with clever riddles with an online poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Traditional “Mother Goose” Nursery Rhyme

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
There may be some little lambs, itsy bitsy spiders, and pumpkin eaters in your language arts class! An online poetry lesson takes learners through the steps of writing a nursery rhyme with easy-to-follow steps and explanatory examples.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: More Than Two Feet

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Want to put some feet in your head? Check out an online lesson about spondees, dactyls, and anapests to bring new structure to your poetic forms.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: I Am the Iamb

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
It's fun to write a poem with iambs! Practice using iambs in all types of different poems with an online poetry lesson.
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Lesson Plan
National Council of Teachers of English

Writing Acrostic Poems with Thematically Related Texts in the Content Areas

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
Scholars scour thematically aligned texts to gather a bank of words they can use in an original acrostic poem. 
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a “Favorite Things” List Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
If your students made a list of their favorite things, would writing poetry be on it? After this poetry writing lesson, it might! Young writers make a list of what they like—or what they don't like—before crafting the list into a rhyming...
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Exaggeration Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
The best poetry writing lesson of all time is here for you! Learn all about the art of exaggeration with a lesson on exaggeration poems, which instructs students to use wild imagery to convey their message.
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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.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Tanka Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Take your haikus to the next level with tanka poems, another form of Japanese poetry that regulates the length and rhythm of each line by syllables. Young writers read the explanation, examples, and tips for tanka poems before writing...
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Clerihew

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Writing funny poems is the best part about learning poetic forms! Young poets learn all about clerihews—humorous four-line poems about people—with an explanatory lesson.
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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.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 2: How to Rhyme

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Funny poems don't have to rhyme—but it helps! Learn how to use rhyming words to add humor to funny, clever, or just plain silly poems.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 4: Making It Funny

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
You've got your topic—now how do you make your poem funny? Explore ways to make a poem humorous, including puns, exaggeration, silly words, and surprising endings, with a helpful poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 3: Choosing a Topic

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Nothing's better than a really funny poem! Help young writers craft their funny poems with a lesson on one of the most challenging parts of writing: picking what to write about.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: The Basics

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What makes a great poem sound so good? Learn the rhythmic secrets of poetry with an explanatory online lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 1: Writing Poetry

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Do you wish you could write poetry that makes people laugh? Now you can! Check out the first chapter in a poetry writing series that emphasizes the importance of connecting subject matter to a light, bouncy meter.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Acrostic Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Acrostic poems are perfect for any topic! A quick tutorial guides learners into writing acrostic poems with the basics and key examples.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Five Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Every writer knows how terrible writer's block can feel. Use these five writer's block-busting techniques to help young writers get out of their rut and into a better state of mind.
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 3: Essay Organizer

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
A three-minute exercise warms-up scholars' writing abilities in order to follow a writing process that ends in an essay. The essay's topic is a barrier and the values used to break it. Four steps include choosing a topic, jotting-down a...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier possible.  
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

A Tale of Two Men

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores were both born in 1858, and both came to the Dakota territory in 1883, but they influenced the developing country of America in different ways. Elementary and middle schoolers apply written and...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Hillary Conquers Everest

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...
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Activity
Pleasantville Public School

Summer Reading Project

For Teachers 3rd - 4th Standards
Summer means sun, fun, and a good book! Boost scholars' enthusiasm and proficiency in reading with a summer project of their choice—a book jacket, collage, or shoe box diorama. A variety of titles and authors from every genre offers...
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Organizer
Mr. Nussbaum

THE Founding Father

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Who is the founding father—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin? Scholars decide which of three early Americans, should be crowned the founding father of America based on research. Then, they compose a persuasive...