How I Incorporate the “Extras” Part III: Poet Study

Along with Shakespeare, we also do poet/poetry study on Tuesdays.

Again, I referred to SCM’s poetry study recommendations in choosing our poets for the year. We’ve begun with Robert Frost this year, as last year we studied Robert Louis Stevenson and Lewis Carroll. I’ve chosen to study one poet every six weeks, so my list will be much more extensive than SCM’s over the years.

I use www.famouspoetsandpoems.com to choose my poems and obtain a biography if I haven’t picked one up at the library. I choose one poem by the author for each week, six in total. On the first Tuesday, I read about the poet and pass out the poem for the week. Each of the kids take a turn reading it aloud and then we just discuss what it meant to them. This gives them a chance to practice oral speaking, pronunciation of new words, etc.

We read poetry from other poets throughout the rest of the week, just so the kiddos can see the different styles of poetry writing.  Some of the poetry books we’ve read from are: Favorite Poems, Old and New by Helen Farris;  The Earth is Painted Green; A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson; choices from  The Book of Virtues and Everyday Graces; and we have even enjoyed some Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky and Goop Poems!

There your have it-our poetry study.

Enjoy your day!