The Bard, Nikki Giovanni, Mos Def? “Sonnet 18,” Ego Tripping,” and “Black on Both Sides”? Sure! It’s the poetics. Class members compare the lyrics, rhythm, and rhyme in classic poetry to hip-hop in a richly detailed resource that...

Students examine examples of literary terms in poetry. Then they choose two songs, write out the lyrics, and decipher what they think the artist is trying to say. Each student presents their song to the class and they cite examples of...

The American Dream is a goal that many pursue, but is it truly attainable for all people? An in-depth lesson explores the plight of migrants in twentieth-century America. The resource includes a video and author biographies and...

Young readers continue to strengthen their fluency skills with a text of their choosing. The teacher first engages the class with an audio recording or read-aloud of a short poem, modeling for children how to read fluently. Next it's...

Students explore Earth Day by creating an arts and crafts project. For this nature appreciation lesson, students utilize nature related vocabulary terms on magnets and put them in different orders to create interesting poetry. Students...

Students create haiku poems. In this poetry lesson, students listen to the sound of the ocean from an audio file and write a haiku poem about oceans.

Enrich a unit on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros with a selection of related activities. The packet contains nine activities that go from pre-reading through wrapping up the novel. Young readers work on studying...

High schoolers find a group of words from an unlikely source and turn them into a poem. They discuss the central image in two well-known poems by Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson. They write their own short poem expressing one...

Students are introduced to various time periods in history in which African Americans wrote songs and poetry to cope. In groups, they travel between different stations to listen or read poems and music from the Civil War period, Civil...

Learners explore writing using literary terms. In this Christmas poetry lesson, students write a poem about a Christmas tree or a snowman using at least one example of each: metaphor, simile, and personification.  

In this acrostic worksheet, students are given one line for each corresponding letter of the words "Chinese New Year". They are asked to write a poem, beginning the first word in each line with the appropriate letter.

Instruct your young musicians on the terms verse and refrain. They listen to two songs, and point out the verse and refrain as they occur. Students then play drums when they hear the verse and the refrain. Note: Song lyrics, sheet music,...

Second graders read the poem together, "Quack Said the Billy-goat" and discuss what makes the poem funny and which words rhyme. They observe the teacher writing a new first verse, changing some of the text, but leaving the original rhyme...

Fifth graders review the terms narrative and classic poetry. They are introduced to SMUGGLER'S SONG and compare the structure to recently read poetry. They join in on the refrain reading the story together as a class.

Fifth graders read several poems by famous poets and identify what about their style makes them unique. They then analyze and compare poetic style, use of forms and themes. Next, 5th graders investigate and collect different examples of...

Students explore fictional text and poetry. They explore the story structures used in the types of texts and examine the language patterns used. Students practice tracking text in the correct manner.

Third graders read and discuss the poem, "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes. After brainstorming examples of vivid verbs, figures of speech, language patterns, and imagery used in the poem, 3rd graders write a poem on a topic of...

First graders respond to poetry through a group activity. They interact with rhythm and tempo in poetry through an oral presentation. They experiment with choral speaking. They discuss Thanksgiving family traditions.

Students explore mountain formation. In this cross curriculum earth science and legend writing instructional activity, students listen to the poem "The Way to make Perfect Mountains" by Byrd Baylor and identify examples of vivid language...

Students create a definition for the term resistance. Once a definition has been created, they create a visual image to correlate with their definition. Working in groups, students read several different resistance poems and classify...

Students study poetry and poets from different countries and time periods. They analyze various poems, present a dramatic reading of a poem and teach a poem they like to their class.

Students examine the process and effects of World War I on different segments of the population, beyond the political, diplomatic and military framework of the war. They analyze the memoirs of soldiers, read poetry of the time, and...

Young historians examine primary sources, including diaries, poems, and photographs, to consider the conditions in the ghettos and how they fit into the escalation of the Third Reich's plot against the Jewish people. 

Nazi policies shifted from deportation and imprisonment to extermination of the Jewish people in death camps in the "Final Solution." Learners examine photos of artifacts, read poetry written by survivors, analyze testimony from...