World Poetry Day March 21 and Monthly Theme

Believed to have its origin in the 1930s, World Poetry Day is now celebrated in hundreds of countries around the world. This day provides a perfect opportunity to examine poets and their craft in the classroom. In 1999, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) also designated March 21 as World Poetry Day.

Students learn to read and write when they have an active interest in what they are reading and writing about. This lesson supports students' exploration of language skills as they read and dissect poetry. Through a weekly poem, students explore meaning, sentence structure, rhyming words, sight words, vocabulary, and print concepts. After studying the poem, students are given a copy of the poem to illustrate and share their understanding. All of the poems explored are then compiled into a poetry portfolio for students to take home and share with their families. To further connect home to school, a family poetry project is suggested.

Creative Poetry is a wonderful way to teach reading and writing especially to the emergent, early or beginning readers. By reading and writing poetry children will be able to express their feelings, thoughts, ideas, and use their imagination about silly or serious topics. Our favorite poems are added to our Poetry Notebooks. The children use their poetry notebooks for independent reading during DEAR time as well. At the end of the year, they have a nice collection of poems that we have learned.

Source and Resources:

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/today-world-poetry-20308.html

http://www.teacherplanet.com/resource/worldpoetry.php Resources

http://cybraryman.com/poetry.html Poetry and Nursery Rhymes Page

http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/ Famous Poets and Poems

http://www.cceschool.org/hayes/Poetry%20Page-Home%20Page.htm Monthly Poetry

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems.html Songs and Poems

http://www.readprint.com/books-8/Poetry Read Poetry Online

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/59 How to Locate a Poem or Poet

http://www.mrscjacksonsclass.com/poetrywritingfavorites.htm Poetry Writing

http://sunniebunniezz.com/poetry/poetryactivities/poem_activities_directory.htm Activities

Keep a Poem in Your Pocket
Keep a poem in your pocket
And a picture in your head
And you'll never feel lonely
At night when you're in bed.

The little poem will sing to you
The little picture bring to you
A dozen dreams to dance to you
At night when you're in bed.

So-
Keep a poem in your pocket
And a picture in your head
And you'll never feel lonely
At night when you're in bed.
-Beatrice Schenk de Rogniers