Write a Poem (At first I give them a fill-in-the-blank type of form and gradually work their way toward free form. One of the “in-between” activities is to use magnetic words to arrange into a poem. They sell these commercially or you can make them yourself. Another “in-between” activity is to write a poem given a picture. I like to use magazine pictures; they are quick and easy, not to mention plentiful.)

Compare Two or More Poems (I usually provide a Venn Diagram for this activity.)

Read About Poets (Usually I find information on the Internet and put out books by the author, and/or individual poems. Often times I have to go to the public library because our school library is limited. I do one poet a month.)

Memorize a Poem (Once a month I provide two seasonal poems to students. This activity is optional, but I have nearly 100% participation each month. Students choose one of the poems and memorize and “perform” it in front of the class. We keep track of who does this each month and at the end of the year anyone who has done all of the poems gets a special award at the school-wide award assembly.)

** Notes – Remember there are a lot of picture books out there that are written as poems. Also, jump rope rhymes, songs, and chants are fun, too! It’s great to make sure some of the poems you are using are written for children or by children. One of the websites I find useful is: http://www.poetry4kids.com/poems is a good place to start.

I hope these activities help! Have fun!!

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I do a station where my students pair read and then work together on a worksheet answering questions about the book. I also have a "cut-up poetry" station that they can do at their desk. I have a poem on the front of a large enveolpe with the poem also cut-up into sentence strips that are inside the envelope (lamenated). The students read the poem, put the poem together, reread the poem. THEN the students cans make their own poem rearranging the sentence strips. (I always put in extra strips that may not be a part of the original poem.) I also have the students do word sort or concentration at their desk.

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Hi...I am a 3rd year kindergarten teacher and I love literacy centers! I would like to know a little bit more of your management system and rotations...how many centers do children go to in one day? How many children are in a center at one time? Are they divided heterogeneously or homogenously? When you do small group how are they pulled out from their centers? Sorry about all the questions...but I love your wiki...and would like to know a little more...Thanks :-)

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