Each year the month of April is set aside as , a time to celebrate poets and their craft. Â¥·ïÌìÌà fosters excellence in children’s poetry by encouraging its publication and by promoting ways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry. For instance, Â¥·ïÌìÌà established its in 1977 to honor a living American poet for his or her aggregate work for children ages 3–13. collects poems by winners of this award.
The ReadWriteThink.org podcast series, , celebrates by recommending a . Featured titles include themed collections of poetry compiled for teens as well as collections of poetry written by teens. Also mentioned is the novel written in verse.
Students examine a letter of the alphabet from all angles, creating image pools of original metaphors that they then turn into poems in the ReadWriteThink.org lesson ““. This lesson is written by John S. O’Connor, author of  and .
In , authors Stephen Dunning and William Stafford offer 20 exercises covering different types or phases of poetry writing. The authors’ humor and nonacademic style will appeal to experienced and novice poets of all ages. Read the chapter on “.” See similar from .
Interested in more lesson plans on poetry? Check out from .
Check out idea: create a basketball tournament-pairing chart using poetry and determine a final winner by reading the poems. Locate 64 poems and pair them off, just like basketball teams. Read two poems each day and let the students vote on the “winner.” Keep going until you have a final four and the final winner!
For more poetry resources, visit the and the .
How are you celebrating Â¥·ïÌìÌà Poetry Month with your students?