Poetry Center

[pwhatley]

I want to have a poetry center/workstation this year (in a VERY small classroom), but have no real idea where to begin. Any suggestions?

[Lynnnn725]

Well, I am starting on the first day of school. Before I jump into reading big books for shared reading, i like to read poems I've copied onto chart paper. We read them and notice certain things about them (vowels, consonants, pointing and reading one word at a time, left to right reading, etc.). They will also get a copy of it and put it in their poetry folder. I can tell them to highlight/underline all the vowels or rhyming words or whatever.
I tape a hanger to the back of my big copy of the poems and hang them on an old chart stand. It is in a corner of my room along with a box of their poetry folders.
We just do a shared reading of the big poems and they get copies in their folders and by the time we start doing literacy stations, there is a selection to choose from.
They can pick whichever poem they wish and I have a little basket that has pointers, pencils and sticky notes. They have options on what to do their - they can read the poems, change their voices, use sticky notes to cover up words, change words, change punctuation, or whatever. They love this station.
I gradually add stuff to the station throughout the year to keep it fresh. I'll have writing paper so they can write the poems down and/or illustrate them. They love share time - they can choose one poem they've worked on and share with the class after stations.
Each week we add a new poem to the station. Most of my poems are science or social studies related. Some are songs.

[luv2teach1st]

Originally Posted by Lynnnn725

Well, I am starting on the first day of school. Before I jump into reading big books for shared reading, i like to read poems I've copied onto chart paper. We read them and notice certain things about them (vowels, consonants, pointing and reading one word at a time, left to right reading, etc.). They will also get a copy of it and put it in their poetry folder. I can tell them to highlight/underline all the vowels or rhyming words or whatever.
I tape a hanger to the back of my big copy of the poems and hang them on an old chart stand. It is in a corner of my room along with a box of their poetry folders.
We just do a shared reading of the big poems and they get copies in their folders and by the time we start doing literacy stations, there is a selection to choose from.
They can pick whichever poem they wish and I have a little basket that has pointers, pencils and sticky notes. They have options on what to do their - they can read the poems, change their voices, use sticky notes to cover up words, change words, change punctuation, or whatever. They love this station.
I gradually add stuff to the station throughout the year to keep it fresh. I'll have writing paper so they can write the poems down and/or illustrate them. They love share time - they can choose one poem they've worked on and share with the class after stations.
Each week we add a new poem to the station. Most of my poems are science or social studies related. Some are songs.

What an awesome idea! I will definitely have this as a center next year.

[luv2teach1st]

Lynnnn725,

Where do you find your poems?

[love_reading]

I have a pocket chart on the wall that has the poem of the week on sentence strips. The sentences are cut and mixed up and students have to fix them to match the copy of the poem on the wall. From there they read the poem, then if there is time they can sort the words in the poem. They also have poetry journals where they illustrate and highlight words/patterns of the poem--but I do this whole group. This is always done before I add the poem to the poetry station.