Oh my! I just had my annual Poetry Night at our local Barnes and Noble bookstore. First, don't wait until April to do poetry. I love poetry because there is NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWER and it can be a great comprehension tool! I teach first grade and I have a WIDE range of ability levels and poetry makes everyone equal. My poetry program.. 1. I send home poems beginning the second week of school for students to keep at home and memorize. 2. During the year I select poems and I copy them and put them on the overhead and we use these poems to try to determine what do you think the author meant by this or that, based on this poem can you imagine who the author might be, etc. I've gotten some great discussions from this activity that led to COMPREHENSION DISCUSSIONS! 3. Four years ago I went to the local Barnes and Noble and ask them if my class and their parents can have an evening where they come and recite the some of the poems I sent home and some of the poems they wrote during the year. 4. This evening has been one of the highlights of the year every year. I wrote a script and I select one girl and one boy to be like the MCs. I work it out where each students gets 3 times at the mike. Once as a group and two times as an individual. 5. To get the students excited about poetry I introduce poetry using Regi Routman's poetry book and then we eat snickers candy bars and we write poetry about the experience. We do the same for Pepperidge Farm goldfish. 6. During poetry night after we finish our snickers and goldfish poems we give each parent a goody bag containing a book of all the poems that I have made at Office Max and we give each parent a bag of goldfish and a snack size Snickers bar. Then we recite at least one poem that they wrote on their own. 7. I have all my students wear white shirts and blue jeans and I buy each student a black cap with I (heart) poetry on the front in white letters. 8. I video tape the evening and I burn a DVD for all the parents that is given to them at our district Portfolio Night.
9. NO YOU DON'T HAVE TO SPEND ALL THE MONEY I DID. You can do the same thing FREE! The most important thing to remember that you should do poetry all year long and tie it into your reading so it just becomes a part of the curriculum. DON'T FORGET THAT POETRY CAN BE A POWERFUL COMPREHENSION TOOL.! Get Regie's book because it is an easy read and it will give -----Original Message----- From: mosaic-boun...@literacyworkshop.org [mailto:mosaic-boun...@literacyworkshop.org] On Behalf Of Maureen Robins Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 10:47 AM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Poetry Coffee House A coffee house is really fun but requires some planning and rehearsal with kids. One year I appropriated space in school and had kids bring in table cloths etc and for the event I had milk etc and snacks. Students prepared by writing a poem and bringing one of their favorites in. I had an mc who created an order for readers. After that was established the mc (s) took over making sure they had copies of the poems and that the kids could read them with expressio). Of course there were some kids who didn't want to write anything or bring anything in. For those kids I used Joyful Noise (Fleishman) and had kids rehearse reading those poems (the voices alternate then join together at times, the line breaks provide not just visual but aural cues). I must say when those kids read those poems in their sweet voices I was knocked over. So, plan plan plan, Rehearse rehearse rehearse and on the day, let the kids do it and enjoy the show! Maureen Robins On 4/4/09, W.Robertson <w...@shaw.ca> wrote: > > > I'm writing for advice. At last week's staff meeting, I was telling the > staff that April is poetry month and all of a sudden I had the idea to wrap > up the month with a POETRY COFFEE HOUSE. I've never arranged one or even > been too one and because I said I would organize it, I think I better get > some advice and direction. Can anyone give me any suggestions on having a > coffee house? Format, set up etc.. > Thanks, > Wendy > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. **************************************************************************************************** This e-mail message contains information that may be privileged or confidential and is the property of the Board of Education of Deerfield Public School District No. 109. It is intended only for the person(s) to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy, disseminate, distribute, or use this message or any part thereof. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all copies of this message. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.