Poetry Made Simple for Little Learners {& a FREEBIE}

Okay maybe writing poetry isn’t my future career, but I love using poetry for kids in the classroom! Poetry is something that I expose my little friends to all the time. Every chance I get, I use it! Science, math, shared reading–all the time. They always love it.

Why Poetry for Kids is Important

One benefit of using poetry in the classroom for kids is that it helps build fluency. When students get to practice reading familiar poems, they learn to read with expression and intonation. They practice reading punctuation correctly and sounding like they are talking. Poetry can really help our students with speaking and listening skills!

Another benefit of using poetry in the classroom is that students get to express creativity and be silly. When they read someone else’s poetry, they are often hearing synonyms for words they hear all the time, new vocabulary, and different ways to phrase ideas. They get to implement creative language that might transfer to their own independent writing. I love it when I see my own students who have tried something they saw in a poem in their own writing!

How to Introduce Poetry for Kids

When it comes to introducing poetry for kids in first grade, we typically start with sensory poetry because it is easy for them to relate to and write. I like to start with something that the whole class can relate to–a lunch eat experience, a field trip, or a game in P.E.

Here are a few examples that we made in class together. They always have so much fun being creative and food is a great place to start because so many of my students are familiar with the same foods. 

We began by be giving them a topic and then we brainstormed how that food looks, feels, sounds, smells, and tastes.  We worked together to write the poem on chart paper.

A FREEBIE to Help You Get Started

Want to try this with your first graders? Go for it! Grab this FREEBIE to get your little ones started.  

You could easily pair students and have them brainstorm for a class topic, then come together and write one poem as a class.  You could also have students use the brainstorming paper to help them write their own sensory poems on the poetry paper.

If you love this freebie, you’ll love this Poetry unit.  It’s perfect for K-2 learners! It is a GREAT place to begin with rhyming and alliteration. It then moves on to sensory, bio, acrostic, and cinquain poetry. This unit is aligned directly with the first grade TEKS. It includes:

• poetry teaching posters for each type of poem
• brainstorming pages
• writing paper for each type of poem

Check it out to help make introducing and teaching poetry in your classroom simple and fun! Head to my TpT shop to pick up yours today!

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