CONTENT
PARTNERS
National Poetry Month
Celebrate Poetry Month with a variety of lessons, interactives and resources from Thinkfinity.org designed to help you become a poet or be inspired by reading the poetry of others.
ACTIVITIES & TIP SHEETS
Reading The Little Chapel That Stood
Use this guide to actively read The Little Chapel That Stood, a picture book about September 11, 2001.
History Explorer |Activity | K-4
The Poets: A Celebration of the Spoken Word
Watch the performances of 15 student-poets to learn how each addresses important issues and topics through the medium of poetry. ArtsEdge, Grades 6-12
ReadWriteThink Poetry Month Activity
Enlist "poets of the day" to help bring poetry into your every day. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-12
Add Seasons to Rhyming Poems and Songs
Choose favorite rhyming songs or nursery rhymes, then replace the rhyming words with seasonal themes. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-2
Write Shape Poems
Who knew that poems could be round or square or even fish-shaped? Shape poems are a fun way to introduce poetry and to use words in new ways. ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-5
Shape Poem Tip Sheet
Learn how to use the Shape Poem Tool to make poems that look like the things they describe. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-5
LESSONS
The Poetics of Hip Hop
Analyze and compare form in Shakespeare sonnets and hip hop music to find common characteristics.
ArtsEdge | Grades 9-12
Music, Poetry, and History
The national anthem describes an actual event in American history. In this classroom activity, students recite the first verse and paraphrase "The Star-Spangled Banner."
History Explorer | Lesson | 3-5
You Too Can Haiku
Introduce students to the Japanese poetic form haiku and guide them to write, illustrate, and publish their own poems.
ArtsEdge | Lesson| K-4
Where in the Wild?
This lesson, based on an award-winning book, introduces students to animal camouflage through poetry, photography, and informative facts.
Science NetLinks | Lesson | K-2
Engineering the Perfect Poem by Using the Vocabulary of STEM
Students research engineering careers and create poetry to understand the vocabulary of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
ReadWriteThink | Lesson | 7-10
Composing Cinquain Poems with Basic Parts of Speech
Students discover the characteristics of cinquain poems through reading and analysis of sample poems. They then use a graphic organizer to write their own cinquain poems, focusing on different parts of speech for each line. ReadWriteThink | Grades 3-5
Compiling Poetry Collections and a Working Definition of Poetry
Exploring poetry about everyday topics or themes is motivating and exciting, and allows you to delve deeply into your own creativity.
ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-5
Shapes and Poetry
Create an illustration of the poem "Shapes" from A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein to explore geometric figures and positional words in this math lesson.
Illuminations | Grades 3-5
One if By Land, and Two if By Sea!
This lesson introduces students to various places associated with the American Revolutionary War. Students use the historical poem, Paul Revere's Ride, and historical and current maps of the Boston area to trace Paul Revere's route and learn about the region and the conflict.
Xpedtions | Grades 3-5
Poetry and the National Anthem
Explore the history behind the National Anthem and express the meaning of the Star-Spangled Banner national anthem by writing poetry about the flag or historical event.
Smithsonian's History Explorer | Grades 6-8.
The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Write journal entries and discuss poems to learn about the qualities that make Hughes's voice distinctive, forceful, and memorable.
EDSITEment | Grades 6-8
Charles Baudelaire: Poète Maudit (The Cursed Poet)
Encounter firsthand the work of 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire as a Decadent poet and the leading influence of the Symbolist movement.
EDSITEment | Grades 9-12
Seeing Sense in Photographs & Poems
Learn how poetry can be a "speaking picture" and artwork can be "a silent poetry."
EDSITEment | Grades 9-12
Six hispanic Literary Giants (English and Spanish versions)
Introduce students to three Sonnet Masters of the SPanish Golden Age and three Poets and Nobel Laureates of the Twentieth Century who are among the most important literacy figures of the Spanish-speaking world.
EDSITEment | Lesson | 9-12 (and ideal for AP Spanish Students)
INTERACTIVES
Acrostic Poems
Use this interactive to learn about and write acrostic poems using the letters in a topic word to begin each line of the poem. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-12
Shape Poems
Use this interactive to learn about and write you own shape poem, a poem about and written in the shape of an object. ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-5
This graphic organizer provides students the opportunity to brainstorm words about a given topic, count and record the syllables, and draft a haiku.
ReadWriteThink | Interactive | K-12
Diamante Poems
Learn about and write diamante poems, diamond-shaped poems that use nouns, adjectives and gerunds to describe either one central topic or two opposing topics.
ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-12
Find out how to turn a letter into a poem using line-breaks.
ReadWriteThink, Grades 3-12
Introducing Metaphors Through Poetry
Use downloadable worksheets for Margaret Atwood's poem "You Begin" and Naomi Shihab Nye's "Blood"; then have your students test themselves on metaphor with the accompanying interactives from this lesson plan. EDSITEment, Grades 9-12
PODCASTS & VIDEOS
Playful Poetry Books to Share
Emily Manning chats about poetry books for kids ages 4 through 11.
ReadWriteThink, Grades K-5
Poetry Out Loud
Consider how poetry changes when recited and accompanied by music as you listen to well-known voices read the poetry of Emily Dickenson, Langston Hughes, and Jenny Joseph.
ArtsEdge | Multimedia | K-12
Celebrating Poetry for Teens
In honor of National Poetry Month, tune in for recommendations of a variety of poetry books for teens.
ReadWriteThink | Podcast | 6-12
RESOURCES FOR POETS
ReadWriteThink Poetry Month Entry
Find resources and a "poet of the day" activity to celebrate National Poetry Month. ReadWriteThink, Grades K-12
National Poetry Month (Poets.org)
Find everything you need to know about National Poetry Month an initiative started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996.
National Poetry Month: Celebrating World Poetry
Learn about major forms of poetry across the world from the epic (the Odyssey from ancient Greece and the Ramayana from India) to the Japaniese haiku to the gazal of ancient Arabia. Link to lesson plans and a literary glossary, too!
Poets and Puppets: Learning English
Encourage students to play with words trying different forms of poems as they build confidence in their speaking and communication skills.
ArtsEdge | Educators How To | K-12, ELL
Flowers from Emily
Pick a spring bouquet filled with poetry of Emily Dickinson and tour the garden where she drew inspiration for her nature poems to discover why she was better known in her home community as a gardener than a poet!
EDSITEment | Resource Activity | 6-12
Emily Dickinson: An American Poet for All Ages
This April 15th marks the 150th anniversary of Emily Dickinson’s first letter to her mentor, Thomas W. Higginson, that asked: “Are you too deeply occupied to say if my Verse is alive?” Celebrate national Poetry Month with Emily Dickinson: A Poet for all Ages.
EDSITEment | Resource | All
Thoreau’s Circle: Who’s Who in Transcendentalism
This resource helps students draw interconnections between members of the small group of American literati that made up Thoreau’s circle based in Concord, Massachusetts, and who spawned the transcendentalist movement.
EDSITEment | Resource | 6-12
