Recitation Teacher Resources

Don't just read a poem, recite a poem! Add speaking skills to a poetry unit with an activity that promotes successful poem recitation. Scholars choose a poem then recite it with the help of several tips and videos. 

Reciting poetry is a great way to build oral language skills and build classroom community. Pupils look at the text elements of poetry and choose a poem to read aloud. They focus on rhythm, fluency, and expression. This is a great way to...

Use this model, based on urban youth poetry competitions, to create an engaging venue for your poets to share their work out loud, with expression. Build class community, have fun, and celebrate your authors' original verse....

Engage your class while learning about the US Constitution with this fun primary grade social studies lesson. After viewing a picture of the US Constitution, young learners piece together a US flag using stars and...

Students complete a poetry analysis unit. In this poetry analysis lesson, students study poetry by reading, reciting, and analyzing poems and their poets. Students study poetic devices, write their own poems, and complete hands-on...

Students listen to sample poetry recitations. They discuss times when poetry might be used in real-life situations to move/motivate other people or audiences. They identify particularly moving passages and then quote them effectively to...

In this alphabet recitation learning exercise, students cut out the pieces of the alphabet strip and glue the pieces together to make one strip. Students then use the strip to sing the alphabet song and point to each letter as they sing.

Relate literary works and authors to the major themes of English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period through the 20th century. Working in groups, high schoolers will evaluate period philosophy, religion, and politics that influenced...

Leaners will recite "Cross Patch" and examine its related emotions and vocabulary. They chant "Cross Patch", participate in listening games and identify rhyming words. Afterward, they place the rhyme in their "My Very Own Nursery Rhyme...

Use Shel Silverstein's poem "Batty" to introduce poetry to young readers. This instructional activity is not formatted well, but the plan does suggest learners memorize a poem, recite the poem individually, and then recite the poem as a...

Have your scholars ever known someone who was a copycat? Approach this issue as you study vocabulary in context by reading Peggy Rathmann's book Ruby the Copycat. Proposed focus words are: recite, murmur,...

A series of four lessons encourages learners to engage in all sorts of artistic activities. They participate in creative movement, serve food, sing songs, recite poems, and create a bust of themselves. What a fun and exciting series of...

Scholars practice rhyming and phonemic awareness using trade books and poetry. They will listen to the book Mouse Mess several times throughout the week, identifying rhyming words, and matching words that begin with the same sound. Then...

While sitting in the park, Big Bird recites a Language Arts poem about all of the things that can whistle. It turns out that everything can whistle except Big Bird.

Are your blooms doomed? Not if you plant your seeds in the proper condition! Cartoon character teenagers explore seed-bearing plants, germination, and seed dispersal. They compare gymnosperms with cones, angiosperms with flowers....

Following in the tradition established by John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton, the Inauguration Ceremony of Joseph Biden  featured an Inauguration Poem. National Youth Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman's powerful recitation of her...

First graders will learn the words to two American ideals songs: "My Country 'Tis of Thee" and "America the Beautiful." They will also learn the Pledge of Allegiance and what it means to recite it. This is a great resource for your...

Students sing songs, recite a poem, share what they can now do that they couldn't before and explain how they see their accomplishments. They read "Leo The Late Bloomer" and create graduation hats.

The students listen to a book about being different and investigate that everyone is different, but special in their own unique way. The students draw a picture of themselves using multi-cultural markers. Along with the drawing, the...

If you're teaching your class about the cycle of life and want to include a poetry element, consider this exercise. It provides a link to a Found Poem (a poem created from others' words, but an original idea) that includes words...

Get even your most reluctant pupils reading, writing, reciting, and maybe even enjoying poetry! A four day lesson, young writers learn about Golden Shovel poems: a poem format that uses borrowed words from other poems as the last words...

Put on an eight-actor show based on Pan Munoz Ryan's When Marian Sang: The True Recital of Marian Anderson. The resource comes with a color-coded script that includes some images from the picture book.

Fifth graders observe video of poem recitations of a person reciting a poem. In this language arts instructional activity, 5th graders discuss rhythm and rhyme of poetry as well as pauses within poems. Students choose a poem, in a small...

In this opera worksheet, students read the description of what opera is including the use of recitative, sing at conversation speed. They read a conversation and put it into recitative form. They write an introduction to a popular song...