As we approach National Poetry Month, I had the opportunity to teach the beauty of poems to a group of first graders. They learned that poems are small, lyrical songs!
They each were given a miniature poetry book called I’m Glad I’m Me: Poems About You by Jack Prelutsky. Every day, I would feel a tug on my clothes or hear someone whispering in my ear as each asked if he or she could go up to the document camera and read one of the poems to the class.
Their little voices filled the air as they learned to recite at an audible volume. I had to often say, “Use your outdoor voice,” so that they would speak a tad louder and be heard by all of the students in the room.
They learned to locate rhyming words, saw poems written in shapes from other sources and understood that poems do not necessarily have to rhyme all of the time. They saw that poems can bring joy, laughter and thoughts of reflection.
I really enjoyed listening to their voices as they bravely charted the waters and advanced as future courageous orators. They were exuberant and will probably be looking forward to reading more poems to the class though the poetry unit has ended.
Plutarch said it best when he wrote, “Painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks!”
Lynn M. March 25, 2018
