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Activity
Poetry4kids

Forced Rhymes and How to Avoid Them

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Ready to take your poetry writing to the next level? Use an independent lesson to iron out all those forced rhymes, wrenched rhymes, and near rhymes from first-draft poems.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Silly Song Parody

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery—and it's a great way to learn about poetic structure! Young poets use familiar tunes to write a song parody based on straightforward guidelines.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an “I Can’t Write a Poem” Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Ever have students complain that they don't know how to write a poem? Turn those complaints into magnificent works of writing with an independent poetry lesson about not being able to write poetry.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Funny Epitaph Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What can happen if you eat too much cafeteria food? Or wear dirty clothes every day? Or talk back to your mother? Use a lesson on humorous poems as a way for students to practice silly rhymes as fictional epitaphs.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: Okie Dokie, Here’s the Trochee

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Iambs and trochees may seem intimidating to some learners, but after reading a straightforward online lesson, they'll be masters of poetic feet! The lesson includes examples of trochaic poems from Edgar Allen Poe and William Blake.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Writing Riddles

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What's got 60 eyes, 150 fingers, and an endless number of ideas? Your language arts class! Challenge young writers to come up with clever riddles with an online poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Traditional “Mother Goose” Nursery Rhyme

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
There may be some little lambs, itsy bitsy spiders, and pumpkin eaters in your language arts class! An online poetry lesson takes learners through the steps of writing a nursery rhyme with easy-to-follow steps and explanatory examples.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: More Than Two Feet

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Want to put some feet in your head? Check out an online lesson about spondees, dactyls, and anapests to bring new structure to your poetic forms.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: I Am the Iamb

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
It's fun to write a poem with iambs! Practice using iambs in all types of different poems with an online poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a “Favorite Things” List Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
If your students made a list of their favorite things, would writing poetry be on it? After this poetry writing lesson, it might! Young writers make a list of what they like—or what they don't like—before crafting the list into a rhyming...
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Exaggeration Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
The best poetry writing lesson of all time is here for you! Learn all about the art of exaggeration with a lesson on exaggeration poems, which instructs students to use wild imagery to convey their message.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a “Backward” Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
If you like poetry, wait till you try backward poetry! Young writers read Shel Silverstein's "Backward Bill" before writing their own funny poems that are full of backward imagery and phrasing.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Tanka Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Take your haikus to the next level with tanka poems, another form of Japanese poetry that regulates the length and rhythm of each line by syllables. Young writers read the explanation, examples, and tips for tanka poems before writing...
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write a Clerihew

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Writing funny poems is the best part about learning poetic forms! Young poets learn all about clerihews—humorous four-line poems about people—with an explanatory lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Create Book Spine Poetry

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Can you create a poem without writing a word! With found poetry, you can! Practice one version of found poetry with a lesson on book spine poems. Learners create poems by stacking books and reading the lines created by their spine titles.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 2: How to Rhyme

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Funny poems don't have to rhyme—but it helps! Learn how to use rhyming words to add humor to funny, clever, or just plain silly poems.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 4: Making It Funny

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
You've got your topic—now how do you make your poem funny? Explore ways to make a poem humorous, including puns, exaggeration, silly words, and surprising endings, with a helpful poetry lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 3: Choosing a Topic

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Nothing's better than a really funny poem! Help young writers craft their funny poems with a lesson on one of the most challenging parts of writing: picking what to write about.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Rhythm in Poetry: The Basics

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
What makes a great poem sound so good? Learn the rhythmic secrets of poetry with an explanatory online lesson.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write Funny Poetry — Chapter 1: Writing Poetry

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Do you wish you could write poetry that makes people laugh? Now you can! Check out the first chapter in a poetry writing series that emphasizes the importance of connecting subject matter to a light, bouncy meter.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

How to Write an Acrostic Poem

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Acrostic poems are perfect for any topic! A quick tutorial guides learners into writing acrostic poems with the basics and key examples.
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Activity
Poetry4kids

Five Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Every writer knows how terrible writer's block can feel. Use these five writer's block-busting techniques to help young writers get out of their rut and into a better state of mind.
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 3: Essay Organizer

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
A three-minute exercise warms-up scholars' writing abilities in order to follow a writing process that ends in an essay. The essay's topic is a barrier and the values used to break it. Four steps include choosing a topic, jotting-down a...
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Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson 1: What Are Barriers?

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Scholars discuss the concept of a barrier with a short passage on Jackie Robinson. The writing process begins with a paragraph and several other sentences about Robinson's unique traits that made breaking a barrier possible.