Poems, Poems Everywhere!

Immerse children in language and decorate your room with a poem!

Language Experience Charts – Write poems on language experience charts and hang them around the classroom. If you hang them on a pants hanger or attach with book rings to a regular hanger, you can move them around the room to different locations.

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Posters – Write poems that relate to seasons or holidays on posters. Let children decorate them with markers, crayons, paint, or other art media.

Bulletin Board – Create a special bulletin board for displaying favorite poems or original poems that children write.

Classroom Door – Post poems on your classroom door. Have children recite them as they are waiting to go out in the hall.

Pocket Chart – Write poems on sentence strips and use them in a pocket chart.

Chalk Board – Write favorite poems on your chalkboard or dry erase board and use them for shared reading activities.

Teacher’s Desk – Post poems on the front of the teacher’s desk, a file cabinet, etc.

Picture Frame – Place poems that children enjoy in a picture frame and hang on the wall. A picture frame could also be used to display original poems by the children.

Poetry Tree – Use an old Christmas tree, or make a poetry tree by sticking several dry branches in a pot of dirt. Write poems on index cards, then attach to the tree with clothespins. Encourage children to “pick a poem” and read!

Pocket Poems – Write poems on index cards and keep them in your pocket (or on a book ring) to use during transitions.

Poetry Tapes – Make tapes of favorite poems. (Parents, children, the principal, and other “celebrities” could read them.) Have children follow along with a printed copy.

Hint! These could be used at a listening station or with a walkman.

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