Poetry

Poetry Lesson Plans
Start planning your National Poetry Month celebration with the following lesson plans and classroom-ready resources:

• Moving toward Acceptance through Picture Books and Two-Voice Texts (E)
• A Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry (E)
• Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season (E)
• Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme (E)
• Polishing Preposition Skills through Poetry and Publication (M)
• Exploring Change through Allegory and Poetry (M)
• The ABCs of Poetry (S)
• Speaking Poetry: Exploring Sonic Patterns through Performance (S)
• Finding Poetry in Prose: Reading and Writing Love Poems (S)
• Put That on the List: Collaboratively Writing a Catalog Poem (S) 
• Discovering Traditional Sonnet Forms (S)  

Authors Stephen Dunning and William Stafford, both widely known poets and educators, offer this delightful manual of exercises for beginning poets. The 20 exercises, each covering different types or phases of poetry writing, as well as the authors' humor and nonacademic style, will appeal to experienced and novice poets of all ages.  Read the chapter on "Found & Headline Poems."

March Madness Poetry Tournament
The idea is to create a basketball tournament-pairing chart like the NCAA does each year in March using poetry and determine a final winner by reading the poems.  Learn about conducting a tournament, selecting poems and view examples from other educators. Start planning your 
March Madness Poetry Tournament today!  

Poetry Themed Journals

"The Road Seldom Taken: Poetry"
Voices from the Middle, March 2009

"Poetry"
English Journal, September 2006

“Teaching and Writing Poetry”
English Journal, January 2002

"Poetry: The Best Words in their Best Order"
Voices from the Middle, December 2002

"The Poetic Possibilities of Language”
Language Arts, March 1999

 2009 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children
Lee Bennett Hopkins has been awarded the 2009 NCTE Poetry Award. A distinguished poet, writer, and anthologist, Lee has created numerous books for children and adults. NCTE, through the Poetry Committee, recognizes and fosters excellence in children's poetry by encouraging its publication and by exploring ways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry through such means as publications, programs, and displays. The NCTE Poetry Award was established to honor a living American poet for his or her aggregate work for children ages 3–13.

Join the POETRY PARTY! Celebrating 2009 NCTE Poetry Award Recipient Lee Bennett Hopkins at the NCTE Annual Convention in Philadelphia. This session on Friday, November 20 at 9:30 a.m. will showcase Hopkins and a panel of poets mentored by Hopkins will join in a celebration of his life, work, and poetry. The audience will also be invited to participate in readings from his poetry collections. Participants include:

• Janet S. Wong, author, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York
• Tradebook Author:  Rebecca Kai Dotlich, author, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York
• Lee Bennett Hopkins, Abrams Books Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York, New York
• J. Patrick Lewis, Little, Brown, New York, New York
• Walter Dean Myers, Scholastic, Inc., New York, New York
• Jane Yolen, Scholastic, New York, New York