1. Writing Workshop in the
Primary Grades - Poetry Unit
These poems were written
by my second grade
class last year. The
students’ range of
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abilities was from high
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are needed to see this picture. academic ability to
those receiving
resource room, ESL,
and/or reading support
services.

2. Writing Workshop in the Primary
Grades - Daily Overview
Time: Component:
5 minutes Read Aloud
10 minutes Mini-Lesson
25 minutes Independent Writing and
Conferring
5-10 minutes Share

3. Writing Workshop in the Primary
Grades - Poetry Unit Overview
Week: Phase:
1 Immersion
2 Collect and Generate
ideas
3&4 Writing, Editing,
Revising
5 Publishing, Celebrating
a 2-5 week unit of study

4. Read Aloud
Create a poetry-rich environment.
Nurture the love of poetry in your students by immersing
them in poems from the very first day of school.
When can you read poetry aloud in the classroom?
To begin and end the school day
In songs and nursery rhymes
To notice word/spelling patterns
Celebrating special occasions
Studying the content areas of science, social studies
and math

5. What to read aloud?
Share your favorite poems, poets, nursery
rhymes, poetry books, and poems you’ve
written or collected.
Read silly poems, sad poems, happy
poems, and poems that make you
wonder.
Read poems written by students.
Use poems that will teach a particular craft
technique.

6. How to Read Poetry Aloud
Remember that when
you are reading poetry
aloud to your students,
the way the poem
sounds will be
inspiration to them in
their writing.

7. Reading Aloud through
Shared Reading
Display poetry on large chart paper in your
classroom.
Make it a multi-sensory experience:
get your students involved in reading, clapping, and acting
out poems.
Have them visualize pictures in their head.
Distribute student copies of shared poems to
put in their poetry notebooks to read and
illustrate.
Notice white space and line breaks.

8. Shared Reading
Put poems on chart paper Illustrated copy in
all around the classroom students’ poetry
and provide individual notebooks.
copies for students.

9. Offer opportunities for
independent reading.
Encourage students to choose to read poetry by:
Displaying favorite poetry books in baskets and bookshelves for
students to read during independent reading time.
Laminating copies of familiar poems to place in theme baskets.
Create class books of poetry and keep in a basket.
Use poems on sentence strips in pocket charts in your poetry
center for students to play and experiment with.
Highlight poets as part of your spotlight on “Authors of the
Month.”

10. Talking about poems
Begin to notice elements and structure of
poems
Poetic language
Imagery
Craft technique
Rhythm/rhyme
White space, line breaks
What poems are about

11. Spotlight on the Poet
Share quotes “I love finding the right
from poets you love.
word. The stupendous, the
magnificent, and the
ordinary words. I collect
them.”
~ Rebecca Kai Dotlich
“Poetry is really everywhere-especially surprising
places-where most people wouldn’t think of looking.” ~ Georgia Hurd
“…a good poem contains both meaning and music.” ~Eve Merriam

12. The Mini-Lesson
Keep mini-lessons short and to the
point.
Think of it as planting the seeds of their
future poems.
This is the part of the workshop where
you help students generate ideas and
they collect these ideas in a writer’s
notebook or writing folder.

13. Ideas for mini-lessons
Noticing poetry in our words.
Finding poetic inspiration in our own lives.
Reading line breaks and discussing white space.
Recognizing rhythm and rhyme.
Becoming aware of craft techniques-metaphor,
simile, alliteration, repeating lines, onomatopoeia.
Introducing different types of poems: concrete
poetry, free verse, acrostic, haiku, sensory, etc.
Identifying poetic language.

14. Highlight student work
Make a student
“famous” by
showcasing her
poem and having
her assist in the
mini-lesson.

15. Celebrate the Power of
Words
Create a poetry word wall.
Word detectives can look around the room
to find vivid verb, imaginative adjectives,
and knockout nouns!
Collect wondrous words in a Word Jar
Create a Poet-Tree
Use a poetry notebook for further
exploration of the way language works
(word study)

16. Getting their feet wet:
Mini lesson-Where Do I Find Poetry?
Inspiration for poetry
comes from so many
places. Ideas for poems
come from:
Other poems and poets
Observation of the
world around us, big
and small
Inside our hearts and
our own feelings.

17. Mini lesson-Where Do I Find
Poetry?
Using the poem, Where Do I Find Poetry?
To prepare, send home parent letter and homework
assignment.
In the classroom, have students brainstorm a list of
ideas about where poetry hides.
Have each student choose their best one and create
a class chart using interactive (shared) writing.
Re-write the chart as a list poem.
This poem may also be used for a mini-lesson on
metaphor: “when sky is wrinkled and elephant gray.”

18. The actual process of writing
Students in the primary grades often need a boost to
begin writing their own poetry. Once they develop
their writing confidence, they are happy to write lots
more poems!
Offer a template
Have them write a poem “off” of previously
written piece
Buddy-up with younger or older students to
write poems in two voices.

19. Writing “off” another piece
of writing
Aiden wrote a book
about turtles in our non-
fiction unit of study. He
then wrote his Turtle
poem “off” of the facts
he learned about them.

20. Independent Writing and
Conferring
Offer support as needed
Provide templates of different poem structures
Conferencing should be only a few minutes per
student
Ask writers to “tell more, say more”
Keep notes about your conference
Use the share as an opportunity to conference

21. Editing and Revising
Editing is simpler in a poetry unit
since rules of conventions may be
broken.
Capitalization and punctuation are
not the focal point of a poetry
writing unit.
Revising may be done with a peer
or a writing buddy in an upper
grade.
Revision ideas are often best
offered by classmates or older
students.

22. The Share
Use the share as a way to offer comments and
suggestions by peers
Highlight students who incorporated the topic of your
mini-lesson in their writing that day

23. A Sensory Poem
Using a template, your
students can choose
any topic about which
to write. Encourage
them to write about
their passions!

24. Publishing
Celebrate the unit!
Invite parents in for a
Poetry Publishing Party-
prepare a keepsake and
have parent/child illustrate
Have students recite their
own poems for students in other grades
Display poems on a Poet-Tree
Create a poetry podcast

25. Evaluation
Students reflection:
Even primary students should be encouraged to
reflect upon what they’ve learned in a poetry unit
Teacher assessment:
Rubric for student achievement

26. Helpful Websites for Reading
and Writing Poetry and More!
http://poemfarm.blogspot.com
http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry
http://www.poetspath.com
http://proteacher.com

27. Ready to have a go?
Choose any type of poem from your packet
and using it as a template, write your own
poem. Or, simply write a poem from your
heart. We will have a brief share if there is
time left!