National Poetry Month Classroom Ideas

1. Tape students reading their own poems or poems by others; encourage them to share the tapes with parents and friends.

2. Organize a student poetry reading at the local library or bookstore.

3. Decorate the classroom or the school with illustrated poems and pictures of poets.

4. Hold a poetry exchange day with poems wrapped as gifts.

5. Invite local poets to your school for readings, workshops, or discussions.

6. Create a poetry book display in the school library.

7. Have your students write lines on small pieces of poster board and make them into poetry mobiles.

8. Encourage your local newspaper to sponsor a contest for student poets.

9. Read a poem over the public address system each morning.

10. Create and send poetry greeting cards to celebrate National Poetry Month.

11. Have your students write short poems, put them in balloons, and set them free.

12. Xerox a different poem for each day in April and hand them out at lunchtime.

13. Publish student poetry in your school newspaper or magazine, or on your website.

14. Publish a special anthology of student poems.

15. Create a school poem and ask each student to contribute one line.

16. Give students a list of words and ask them to create a poem using those words.

17. Invite students to write poems in response to their favorite poems (or to songs, TV shows, or artworks).

18.Encourage students to write in the voice of someone else -- a parent, friend, or teacher.

19. Hold poetry workshops where students discuss one another's work.