Poems by My Kinder Students

Poetry is something I LOVE to introduce my young learners to. For many, it's the first time they have heard the word. We read Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Shel Silverstein and others. We discuss the vocabulary and how poets need to be very succinct with their language. We watch videos of poems being read by people like Amanda Gorman and Maya Angelou. How poetry can actually change the world.

Then they write their own poems. They choose the topic. We brainstorm adjectives and descriptions of that topic. Then we use our 5 senses to describe. When they are done I type them up and make them into a class book. Here are the final products from this year's class.

Poetry with Littles

I have always been a fan of poetry. I can't always figure out what the poem means (why is that red wheelbarrow important?) but once someone explains it I am floored by the depth and meaning that can be conveyed.

Can you believe the Amplify curriculum we use now has no poetry in it? So I have to supplement.

We read Langston Hughes, Shel Silverstein and my favorite Robert Frost. The students learn new vocabulary and come to love the rhythm and rhyme of poetry. We read and reread the same poem each day for a week. This also helps develop fluency and word recognition patterns.

Some poems I ask them to illustrate. This is Where the Sidewalk Ends:

Eric Carle Author Study

Eric Carle is one of my all-time favorite authors. His books are simple but they are also deep. In the Very Lonely Firefly we can examine themes of community and trying to find a way to fit in . He says "the headlights flooded the night". So we can talk about literary devices as well.

We read several of his stories: Very Quiet Cricket, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Very Busy Spider, Very Lonely Firefly. Then I ask them to create a story using the same Very___adjective____creature format. Here is what my current Kinders came up with: