Poetry is, let’s be honest, not easy to teach at times. I feel it’s the hardest genre to teach to my second graders. But it doesn’t have to be something you dread to teach. And it doesn’t have to be something your students dread either! Using engaging, funny poems while introducing the elements of poetry will lead to a love of this genre for all your students!
Anchor Charts!
Anchor charts have been around for a long time. I love them and I make one for every single unit I teach. My school has a great poster printer that I use so there is no need to make them on my own. However, they are so easy to make if you don’t have a poster printer. Many teachers project the design onto a wall or dry erase board and trace it!
In my new Poetry Elements pack, I’ve included an anchor chart that has all the vocabulary words you need for your unit!
How To Get Your Students Hooked!
I have a pretty fun and amazing team teacher! Lori Z. Scott is not only my team teacher but she’s also a published author! She was so kind to collaborate with me in writing some pretty fun poems to help with introducing poetry elements. And my students had so much fun reading them!
Each poem focuses on one of the elements–rhymes, alliteration, repetition, stanza, lines, and imagery.
Lori and I collaborated on some really fun poems to teach each element and they really kept my students’ attention. For each element, I included a page that can be added to a reading journal (or writing journal) that they can use to refer back to. The next page is a poem that focuses on a specific element. I use this as a guide to help me students write their own!
A Fun Assessment
An assessment doesn’t always have to be a test. There are so many great ways to assess your students that aren’t intimidating. For my poetry unit, I like to assign a poetry flower and display them in the hallway before we start our animal research project!
You can print these flower templates on colored paper to save time on coloring. However, I love coloring so you can also print it on white paper and have your student color first. One flower is to assess your students on poetry element vocabulary and the second flower is where students can write their favorite poem they created during the unit.
Fill your hallway with all the things your students learned during your poetry unit! My students absolutely loved this unit and when your students are engaged they learn so much more!