Styles Of Poetry To Teach Your Students
Immersing your class in poetry can be lots of fun. It can be great for your student’s imaginations, descriptive writing, and identifying structure. It also gives an opportunity for your students to express their emotions and opinion.
Poetry can often be seen as an addition as something else to fit in, yet it doesn’t have to be.
Ways that you can incorporate poetry into your classroom include;
selecting poems to read to your class
have them recite their favourite poem or invite parents into the classroom to
do a poet study
study a particular style of poetry
write their own
have poetry books on your shelves on offer to students
select an image or a scene to write a sensory poem on
There are many types of poems you can introduce;
nonsense poetry - are poems that intentionally don't make a lot of sense. Instructions on how to write one can be found here
shape poems - is a poem that is shaped like the thing it describes. See examples here
acrostic - a poem in which the first letters of each line spell out a word or phrase. Watch the Acrostic Poems For Kids video to learn more
limerick - a humorous poem consisting of five lines. The first, second, and fifth lines must have seven to ten syllables while rhyming and having the same verbal rhythm. The third and fourth lines should only have five to seven syllables; they too must rhyme with each other and have the same rhythm. Watch this video with your class to learn more about limericks
haiku - a Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. Watch this video with your class to learn more.
senryu - a three-line Japanese poem that focuses on human nature, generally with an ironic or darkly comedic edge
tanka - an unrhymed Japanese verse form of five lines containing five, seven, five, seven, and seven syllables. How to write a tanka poem can be found here
cinquain - an unrhymed, five-line poem defined by the number of syllables in each line—the first line has two syllables, the second has four, the third six, the fourth eight, and the fifth two (2-4-6-8-2). Learn more about simple cinquains here
ballad - a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas. More information about bush ballads can be found on Kiddle
diamonte - are diamond-shaped poems that are often on two opposing topics. They follow a specific format that uses nouns on the first and last lines, adjectives on the second and fourth lines, and verbs in the third and fifth lines. Watch this video to learn more about the format
For some fun with poems, try;
cloze poems with missing words that students can fill in with their own choice words
provide a poem with a missing title – students must come up with a new one
choral reading in class
reading rhyming picture books - students must guess what the rhyming word will be
exploring a poem a week
In what ways do you use poetry in your classroom? We would love it if you joined the conversation and left a comment below.