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Thursday, July 7, 2011

Poetry for Fluency

This is another goal I have for the upcoming year. I tried this out with my summer school group and it worked really well. I just hope it's something I can keep up with throughout the year.

We have a poem or song posted that contains sight words as well as new vocabulary (I'm very much looking forward to having a Smartboard in our new school and not having to write these out every week :). The students read it chorally in our whole group reading exercises. Each song/poem stays up for a week-we read it once every day. The first day we identify any unknown vocab to add to our word wall. The last day they  add it to their poetry journals and comment on it. My summer school group really liked the activity and would even do it spontaneously themselves during workstations. I think it really helped them with their fluency and not reading so much like robots. We did songs like the "Grand Old Flag" and "Star-Spangled Banner" as well as one like "Take Me Out to the Ocean" and the poem "My Dog Rags". There are literally hundreds of options out there depending on what you are studying.

Poetry Journals Kinder

Did you like the poem?
What did you like about it?
What is the poem about?
What did it make you see, hear, feel, taste, smell?
Make an illustration of the poem.

1st Grade

What was the main idea?
What were some words the author used to create a picture in your mind?
What sound words did you hear?
What does the poem remind you of?
Make an illustration.

4 comments :

  1. Just found your blog and became your newest follower. I love my poetry booklets and I think poetry is a great way for fluency and making application of hunks/chunks, reading strategies, comprehension, etc.
    BusyBees

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  2. Poetry I am huge believer in exposing young children. At home I have poem of the month. Some of the favorites have been Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens by Jack Prelutsky
    and Smart by Shel Silverstein and I'm Talking Big by Colin McNaughton.

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  3. We read a poem from the "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" book each week. The kids could partner read them after we'd practiced (and we'd read them all together, then teacher and student, then boys and girls, etc.) It was higher than kindergarten, but they're still great poems that kids really enjoy!

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  4. We had a weekly poem that the kids would put in their poetry journals and read, but I like the idea of having them write about the poems. Thank you!

    http://quenchyourfirst.blogspot.com

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