Poetry - Collection 1

When people fall in love with poetry, they learn language on a new and deeper level. Their vocabulary and overall word usage is never the same. They grow in ways they didn’t know they would grow, and their grasp of the English language is beyond others around them.

Research shows that students who love poetry are overall better readers and writers. The Teach BIG poetry collections bring in original poetry and the classics to show that poetry is timeless.

Collection 1 delves into common poetry terms, and turns them into a human matching game where the entire class can mingle around the classroom to find their match. Mingling and Matching is always a class favorite activity.

The next activity is a cut and paste activity. Enjoy taking a deep dive into the poem “Wake Up” by Randi Whitney. Its meaning is deep and wide – will you be able to see everything that is offered in this poem? Enjoy the kinesthetic element of “Wake Up” as your students are cutting and pasting all of the labels for the different components of the poem.

The “Wake Up” poem brings an element of familiarity as everyone has had the challenge of waking up in the morning and feeling tired. Analyze each stanza to find text features, refrains, and messages. Will your students find them all?

The tough decision of having to wake up in the morning is then compared with the famous poem by Robert Frost, “The Road Less Traveled”. Again, tough decisions are tackled. Bring all of this together, as students write their own stanza to the famous poem.

This collection of activities is designed for higher-level fifth graders all the way through high school. Theoretically, the older and more mature the student, the more depth will be gleaned from the meaning of both poems. 

Check back often for additional poetry collections.