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Notes for Using Poetry with Children

Reasons for using poetry

provides enjoyment

expands knowledge about the world

encourages an appreciation for language, expands vocabulary

helps identify with people and situations

expresses moods familiar to children

gives insights into themselves and their feelings

Children prefer

rhyme, humorous narrative, and content based on familiar experiences

enthusiasm declines as children get older

favor contemporary over traditional

least favorites are complex imagery and subtle emotion

Criteria for selecting poetry

1. Poems that are lively, with exciting meters and rhythms, are most likely to

appeal to young children.

2. Poems for young children should emphasize the sounds of language and

encourage play with words.

3. Sharply cut visual images and words used in fresh novel manners allow

children to expand their imaginations and see or hear the world in a new

way.

4. Poems for young children should tell simple stories and introduce stirring

scenes of action.

5. The poems selected should not have been written down to children's

supposed level.

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6. The most effective poems allow children to interpret, to feel, and to put

themselves into the poems. They encourage children to extend comparisons,

images, and findings.

7. The subject matter should delight children, say something to them, enhance

their egos, strike happy recollections, tickle their funny bones, or encourage

them to explore.

8. Poems should be good enough to stand up under repeated readings.

Listening to poetry

1. Before reading a poem aloud to a group, read it aloud to yourself several

times. Mark the words and phrases that you want to emphasize.

2. Follow the rhythm of the poem, reading it naturally

3. Make pauses that please you, pauses that make sense.

4. When reading a poem aloud speak in a natural voice.

5. After a poem is read, be quiet.

Developing choral speaking

1. When selecting materials for children who cannot read, choose poems of

rhymes that are simple.

2. Choose material of interest to children.

3. Select poems or rhythms that use refrains.

4. Let children help select and interpret the poetry.

5. Let children listen to each other as they try different interpretations within

groups.

Elements of selecting poetry

rhythm

rhyme

repetition

imagery

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Shape

Types of Poetry

lyric

narrative

ballads

limericks

concrete poems

free verse,haiku,cinquain,diamante

parody

After teaching them about a kind of poetry, work with the students during the

writing process on developing motivations. Let them begin by sharing ideas. Studies show that teachers in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades pay little attention to poetry. Notes from Through the Eyes of a Child by Donna Norton p. 356-400

http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#limerickhttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#limerickhttp://mikan.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/Start-Writing.htmlhttp://mikan.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/Start-Writing.htmlhttp://mikan.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/Start-Writing.htmlhttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#cinquainhttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#cinquainhttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#diamantehttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#diamantehttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#diamantehttp://www.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/parodies/jpjargontalk.htmlhttp://www.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/parodies/jpjargontalk.htmlhttp://www.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/parodies/jpjargontalk.htmlhttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#diamantehttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#cinquainhttp://mikan.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~shiki/Start-Writing.htmlhttp://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html#limerick

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Write a cinquain

Line 1:A word for a title

Line 2:Two words to describe the title

Line 3:Three words to express action

Line 4:Four words to express feeling

Line 5:The title or word like the title

title

describe title

action, action, action

feeling about the title

title

Example:

Ferdinand

Happy, strong

Sitting, smelling, growing

Loves to smell flowers

Independent

second grade class

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Write a diamante

Line 1:Noun

Line 2:Two adjectives

Line 3:Three participles

Line 4:Four nouns or phrase

Line 5:Three participles indicating change

Line 6:Two adjectives

Line 7:Contrasting noun

noun

describing, describing

action, action, action

transition nouns or phrase

action, action, action

describing, describing

noun

Example:

Toy

Stuffed, velveteen

Sitting, lying, riding

Love made him real

Walking, running, leaping

Real furry

Rabbit

fourth grade class

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Write a Limerick

A limerick:

1. is usually funny

2. has five lines

3. the first, second and fifth lines rhyme

4. the third and fourth lines rhyme

5. the first, second and fifth lines have 8 or 9 syllables

6. the third and fourth lines have 5 syllables

Examples:

There was an Old Man with a beard,

Who said, 'It is just as I feared! -

Two Owls and a Hen,

Four Larks and a Wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!'

by Edward Lear

There was a young lady named Bright,

Who traveled much faster than light.

She started one day

In a relative way,

And returned on the previous night

Anonymous

http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/belinda/poetry.html

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