5 Ways to Focus on Reading During National Poetry Month

Listen to the full episode to hear how to focus on reading during National Poetry Month:

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? This is a genre that your students will love to explore! This week, we are going to dive into ways that you can incorporate poetry into your school day that promotes reading.

These ideas can be embedded into your daily schedule or you can give Poetry Month its own special block. If you’re anything like me you love any and everything that promotes reading! 

National Poetry Month truly comes at the perfect time of the year. Routines are established, they’ve recovered from the holiday break, and they’ve worked hard learning literacy skills for more than six months now.

Let’s be honest, it’s testing season and there’s truly no better time for them to be able to explore their creativity. There’s no better time to make reading fun while still practicing those important skills you’ve been teaching.

I find it so important for students to be creative and engage in literacy activities other than read alouds or independent reading. My ideas involve illustrating, peer reading groups and connecting with other classes. These activities can be done while truly focusing on strengthening their understanding of vocabulary, comparing and contrasting, figurative language, and more. 

There are many reading skills that lend themselves well to poetry, so do not miss the chance to go deeper on those skills, or spiral them into your teaching throughout that specific month. Poetry has so many unique characteristics compared to novels that can create a motivating atmosphere for your students. 

One important thing I have to mention is that the best part about these tips and ideas are that they are not only simple to organize but also free or low-cost to teachers. That’s always my mission! I will share times of the day you can try these activities as well as options for materials. There are so many ways to make poetry interesting and most importantly fun! 

In this episode on National Poetry Month, I share:

• Five ideas that focus on reading when aligned with poetry
• Tips for finding poems that you want to share with your students
• Ways to make reading poetry fun for your students
• Ideas that cultivate community and interaction with other classes

Related Resources:

• Free Poems
• Poetry Month Informational Texts
• Episode 25: 5 Tips for Teaching Poetry

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About The Literacy Dive Podcast:

Do you find yourself seeking new ideas when it comes to literacy instruction in elementary classrooms? The Literacy Dive Podcast was created to offer actionable steps and to share information for teachers, like you, who are always looking to improve their craft! ELA is our jam and we are excited to dive into all things reading and writing with you!

Your host, Megan Polk, is the creator and owner behind The Literacy Dive and loves to support students and their teachers with curriculum, literacy instruction, best practices, and engaging literacy activities.

Dive in with us every Monday for a new episode from Megan! She, and her guests, will chat about various literacy topics and will bring you tips and tricks that can easily be implemented in your classrooms. You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more! If you find value from listening to this podcast, please rate this show, leave a review, and follow!

You can tune in wherever you get your podcasts! Listen to The Literacy Dive Podcast on platforms like Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Google, and more! If you find value from listening to this podcast, please rate this show, leave a review, and follow!