poetry in the primary grades

Poetry in the Primary Poetry in the Primary GradesGrades

Poetry in the Primary Poetry in the Primary GradesGrades

Looking with your Looking with your Poet’s EyePoet’s Eye

Went to the corner Walked in the storeBought me some candyAin’t got it no moreAin’t got it no more

Went to the beach Played on the shore Built me a sandhouse Ain’t got it no moreAin’t got it no more

Went to the kitchenLay down on the floorMade me a poemStill got itStill got it

Things

by Eloise Greenfield

R. Andre Calderon- 1st Grade Bilingual- 4 1/2 years in HISD- Gross Elementary- Demographics:

63% African American 25% Hispanic 8% Native American and Asian/Pacific Islander 4% Caucasian

TAKS and TEKS

• 4.W1.415.A Write to express, develop, reflect on ideas and to problem solve.

• 1.2e Write for personal or creative expression and reflection.

Poetry is the boullion cube of literature.

TAKS and TEKS

• 4.W1.415.E Exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories

• 1.2g Write with a variety of literary devices. Define and provide examples of and use these strategies in authentic forms.

Literary Devices used in Poetry

• Alliteration• Figures of speech (hyperbole, simile)• Description• Imagery• Onomatopoeia• Rhyme• rhythm

Theory• “In the K-1 classroom, children convey

their meaning more easily though drawing than through print. Drawing, therefore, can provide a supportive scaffolding for the writing. Because more information is embedded in the pictures than in the print, drawing provides a horizon and leads the child deeper into the writing. In a sense the goal in the primary classroom is to have writing catch up with their drawing.” -Lucy Calkins

Theory from Calkins’ “Art of Teaching Writing”

• Poetry is also a powerful genre because its condensed nature. Because poems can be very short, every child in every classroom can be a poet. The genre is accessible even to five year old writers who labor over the mechanics of putting pen to paper.

• Poetry offers a powerful forum for teaching young writers to make reading-writing connections. When students read Judy Blume novels, it’s not easy for them to match their writing to their reading, but when they read an Eloise Greenfield poem, reading-writing connections feel far more possible.

More Theory by Calkins• Poetry is powerful because of the ways it can

enrich people’s lived lives. Poems can be read aloud at Thanksgiving dinner or at a baby’s baptism. Poems can be put onto greeting cards or framed and given as gifts. Poems can also be woven into the life of a classroom community-posted next to the aquarium, chanted as a ritualized opening to every day’s math class, hung on the classroom door as a motto for the community.

“Of course, it is true for the writer as for the jeweler and the sculptor that the magic is never in the material alone, but in the artist’s ability to re-imagine it.”

-L. Calkins

Lesson

Looking with your Poet’s Eyes!

Asparagus

by Valerie Worth

Like a nestOf snakesAwakened, craningLong necked Out of theGround: to standWith sharpScaly headsAlert, tastingThe airTaking the sunLooking around

Apple by Nan Fry

At the center, a dark starWrapped in white

When you bite, listenFor the crunch of boots on snow Snow that has ripened. Over it

Stretches the starry sky.

Modifications• For learning challenged: Work in

small group or one on one to orally describe objects before writing.

• For ESL: Provide manipulatives and physical, tangible examples of descriptions to help with comprehension.

Bibliography• Calkins, Lucy (1994) The Art of

Teaching Writing. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.

• Fletcher, R. (1993). What a Writer Needs. Heineman, Portsmouth, NH.

• Ryan, M. (1996) How to Write a Poem. Grolier, Danbury, CT.