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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.  
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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 an Apology Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Put a silly spin on making amends with an apology poem. Budding poets think of a time they were made to apologize although they didn't mean it. They then turn their experience into a poem that offers details and ends with an explanation...
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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 Funny Epitaph Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What can happen if you eat too much cafeteria food? Or wear dirty clothes every day? Or talk back to your mother? Use a lesson on humorous poems as a way for students to practice silly rhymes as fictional epitaphs.
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Interactive
ReadWriteThink

Theme Poems

For Students K - 5th Standards
Continue celebrating Poetry Month with an interactive whose focus is writing shape, or theme, poems. Young poets choose from nature, school, shapes, sports, and celebration themes. Then, they brainstorm words that have to do with the...
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Lesson Plan
Little Stones

How Can Poetry Make People Think and Care?

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Can beautiful words change the world? Literary scholars discover how to paint their visions of change using poetry in a series of three workshops. Each independent topic gives participants a chance to examine their feelings about...
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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.
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Unit Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

One Land, Many Trails: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 5)

For Teachers 5th Standards
English is not the only subject that requires its own set of vocabulary words—geography does too! A series of language development lessons designed to be used with Theme 5: One Land, Many Trails helps introduce readers to key vocabulary...
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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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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Poems from Inside Out and Back Again to Develop Criteria for an Effective Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars analyze a model poem to help guide their poetry writing. They use Think-Pair-Share to discuss word choice and meaning in "Papaya Tree" and "Wet and Crying." To finish, they use their discussions to collect evidence on what makes...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Examining a Model Two-Voice Poem and Planning a Two-Voice Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Successful poetry writing requires three P's: planning, preparation, and practice. Pupils read a model two-voice poem and discuss how the author uses evidence to develop the theme. With a partner, scholars use a rubric to analyze the...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Mid-Unit Assessment: Writing Best First Draft of “Inside Out” Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
As part of a mid-unit assessment, scholars draft their inside-out poems and then work on their "Back Again" poems. Learners use a rubric and graphic organizers to guide their writing.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Revision: Best Draft of “Inside Out” and “Back Again” Poems (Final Performance Task)

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars read their poems to their research teams as their final performance task. The teams listen and give feedback on the flow between the two poems. Writers then take the feedback from their teams and revise their poems before...
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Lesson Plan
Columbus City Schools

Poetry Speaking and Listening Standards

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Celebrate April's National Poetry Month or enrich a poetry unit with a wealth of language arts material. Class members develop an oral interpretation of a poem and/or develop a podcast interview with a poet. 
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PPT
Curated OER

Poetry

For Teachers 12th - Higher Ed
Explore the semantics of poetry with this higher-level presentation. With examples from Dickinson, Frost, and Dr. Seuss, the slides clearly explain the details of poetic structure, license, and schemes. You could use this in a language...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Genre Lesson: Poetry

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Hook kids into a study on poetry elements by asking them to bring in the lyrics to their favorite song. Discuss the elements in one or two songs (preferably that demonstrate rhyme, figurative language, or a repeating phrase). Groups do...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Poetry Analysis: Small Group Practice

For Teachers 7th Standards
Howdy partner! After discussion and teacher model reading of Slaveships, scholars pair up for a partner reading of the poem. They then use equity sticks to discuss their thoughts of the poem with the class. Readers talk about allusion,...
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Activity
Poetry Society

Writing a Personification List Poem

For Teachers 6th - 12th
After a close reading of Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" and Flora de Falbe's "Five Things About the Lake," young poets craft their own personification list poem about a very special place.
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Unit Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

All Together Now: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 1)

For Teachers 1st Standards
All Together Now is the theme of this series of ESL lessons. Provide support to your language learners through games, role play, stories, and discussions all about greeting others, giving commands, telling about themselves, and being...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Arabic Poetry: Guzzle a Ghazal!

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners research the evolution and cultural significance of the Arabic ghazal form of poetry. They, in groups, compose an original ghazal poem and read it aloud to the class.
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Poems that Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Dig in deeper with Robert Frost's, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Learners will read and discuss poems by Robert Frost and learn the meaning of terms such as narrative and personal. They journal, collaborate, and present poetry...
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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...
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PPT
Curated OER

Elements of Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Prepare your learners to identify figurative language in poetry. Tips for reading poetry and what to look for are listed on these slides. Rhetorical devices are defined and plenty of examples are given.