Poetry is an important part of our literacy program. Poetry is a unique genre that is highly accessible to children as well as adults. It encourages higher level thinking skills; students become more aware of the metaphorical, or inferential, meanings of text.

In class, we study poetry through discussion. Students spend some time reading and listening to poetry, then are encouraged to react to structure, sound, and meaning of the poems. Lessons are incorporated into the discussion. For instance, a student may notice a lot of "s" sounds in a poem, and this will present an opportunity to teach alliteration, which is the repeating of consonant sounds in writing. The goal is to create a stress free, risk-taking environment in which students can explore the genre of poetry.

Here are two examples of poems discussed in class. You may also download others at the bottom of the page.

Long Trip


The sea is a wilderness of waves,
A desert of water.
We dip and dive,
Rise and roll,
Hide and are hidden

On the sea.
Day, night,

Night, day,
The sea is a desert of waves,
A wilderness of water.


---Langston Hughes

Mushroom


The mushroom pushes
Its soft skull
Up through the soil,
Spreads its frail
ribs into full
pale bloom,
And floats,
A dim ghost,
Above the tomb
Where an oak’s
Old dust lies
Flourishing still.

---Valerie Worth
Other Poems (.pdf file requires Acrobat Reader)
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud My Rock
Blind Man's Vision O Captain, My Captain
A Narrow Fellow in the Grass Runaway Slave
Child on Top of a Greenhouse Dream Keeper
Theme in Yellow Precious Stones
Conch Shell