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We love to use poetry in our classroom.  Tuesday is usually Poetry Night, meaning the children take home a poem in their binder and do the corresponding assignment on the back.  During the day I introduce the poem to the class.  It's copied on chart paper, large enough for all to see.  After reading it to them, I read a story that complements the poem.  Then I call on volunteers to come to the poem on the easel (see photo above) and circle different words, usually ones that feature our current phonics concept.  The children then take their copy of the poem and place it in their poetry binder, which they'll take home.  There they'll read the poem again with their families and complete the homework on the back.  They return the binder the following day and I check their homework.
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The poems that we use are ones that I've found mostly on the internet, although quite a few I have written myself.  All of the assignments are ones I created to go with each poem.  Poems reflect our topics studied, seasons, holidays and themes.  The assignments vary with each poem and according to the time of the year that I use the poem.  For example, the SCHOOL poem above might have an assignment where children, with their parents, read school-related words and illustrate them.  Later in the year, the assignments will become more difficult.  Sometimes the assignment is language or phonics related, and other times it pertains to a current math topic.

 

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On my former site, I had  many visitors who requested copies of the poetry and assignments, so I began selling sets for $20.00.  Each set contains more than 90 poems with corresponding homework assignments on the back of each sheet.   Please know that all of the poems are not written by me, and I am not in fact selling the poems, as I have no rights to them.  What I am selling is the corresponding homework assignments, and merely providing the poem as a courtesy.  All of the poems I include, with the exception of those written by me, are ones that I have found on the internet and would be available to anyone using a search engine.    If you are interested in purchasing a set of poetry assignments, please email me at [email protected]

Some graphics from www.graphicgarden.com