Young poets use word cards to prompt a metaphor poem comparing to very dissimilar items.

Change, growth, and a sense of belonging are the focus of a unit that uses poetry to explore these themes and the distinguishing features of poetry as well. 

"That man is not truly one, but truly two." The Strange Case of  Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde offers readers a change to craft a poem combining words and phrases from Robert Lewis Stevenson's novella to create a poem...

Young writers needn't be self-involved to craft a conceit. Directions for how to craft this form of extended metaphor, models, and a worksheet are all included in the packet.

Over the course of five periods, scholars create a poetry portfolio. They begin with a reading of the poem, Firefly. With a focus on vocabulary, learners reread the poem then look for sight words and other skills. 

Writers compose an original shape poem. Scholars choose a subject to write about and create a visual representation by forming a corresponding picture using the poem's words.  

FANBOYS will enjoy breaking grammar rules, but they will have to use coordinating conjunctions, gerunds, compound sentences, compound-complex sentences, and even predicates as they craft poems like Shel Silverstein.

Imagine what life might be like in a different galaxy. That's the challenge young scientists take on in a warm-up activity designed to prepare them for a close reading of Ruth Stone's poem "In the Next Galaxy." After class members share...

Honor the great poet, Shel Silverstein with eighteen activities and lessons showcasing his collection of poems from the book, Every Thing On It. Activities challenge scholars to rhyme words, make inferences, recite a poem, and...

The first lesson of a five-lesson unit designed for eighth graders has class members reading and watching a video of Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven." They then craft their narrative poem, illustrate it, and share their work...

The second instructional activity in a five-part poetry unit asks seventh graders to construct a metaphor poem. First, pupils examine Emily Dickinson's "The Railway Train" and identify the metaphor. They then select an object and an...

Did you say a diamonte? Ask your young poets to craft and polish this gem of a form poem. The fifth in a series of ten poetry writing exercises.

Young poets research an animal and use the information they gather to craft and illustrate a cinquain.

A reading of Beowulf: Dragon Slayer, Rosemary Sutcliff's retelling of the classic epic poem, launches an exploration of what it means to be a hero, a noble leader, and a great warrior. A great way to introduce middle schoolers to...

Walt Whitman's "Captain, My Captain" and Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" provide seventh graders with examples of odes. After reading and discussing these and other examples, young poets craft an ode and respond to the ode of a...

The cinquain, a five line, fixed-form poem that features one subject, is the focus of the third exercise in a series of ten poetry writing resources.

How was Edgar Allan Poe able to create "intriguing, memorable, and lasting literature"? To answer this question, learners analyze the syntax, diction, and characterizations in Poe's poems and short stories and compare the impact of these...

A 25-page packet includes eight detailed lesson plans centered around poems by Emily Dickinson. Each lesson begins with a burning question that students attempt to answer by using evidence from Dickinson's poems.

Brighten your third grade classroom with this series of colorful Common Core displays. Including all of the English Language Arts standards and substandards, each with supporting illustrations and examples, this resource provides clear...

The haiku, one of the most popular fixed forms, is the subject of this writing activity, the seventh in a series of ten poetry exercises.

This, the fourth in a series of ten poetry writing activities, asks young poets to craft couplets.

Students write free-verse acrostic poems about themselves using the letters of their names to begin each line. They then write an additional poem about something important to them. Then they recopy and illustrate them.

"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," from The Jungle Book, offers young readers a chance to examine how Rudyard Kipling uses setting and personification to bring to life the brave mongoose who battles cobras to protect his family. Class members...

Who would ever think to go to sea in a sieve? Only Edward Lear's Jumblies! The poem "The Jumblies" is the inspiration for these poetry reading and writing activities that ask learners to think about how strangers are different, consider...