"Poem of the Week" Freebies!

At our school, our wonderful reading specialist provides a poem of the week every two weeks for both the primary and intermediate grades. She gathers poems and creates quick-writes to go along with them. The poems often have something to do with the season or an upcoming event/holiday. Each class works with the poems, and students hand in their work by noon on Thursdays. Then, our reading specialist chooses one primary and one intermediate students to share their response on our televised morning announcements. The kids all want to be picked, so they must make sure their responses are well thought out and well written.


 In addition to using the activities provided, I often use these poems for a myriad of other things: comprehension, practicing grammar skills, fluency homework, vocabulary instruction, etc. I have been given permission to share these wonderful poems and worksheets with you. Please see the links below, with topics in bold, to download the poems and activities.


Back to School:
Cleaning House in My Brain (Primary)
Cleaning House in My Brain (Intermediate)


Football:
Nightplayer (Primary)
Victory (Intermediate)


Fall:
Autumn Time is Coming (Primary)
Autumn Fires (Intermediate)
Five Little Pumpkins (Primary)
Haunted House (Intermediate)


On the weeks that we do not have "Poem of the Week," our special educator provides us with "Math Masters." I am not a math teacher, but as soon as I get her permission, I will write about these as well because I believe them to be great resources for everyone...they sure do motivate our kids! 

How do you plan on using these poems in your classroom?


Happy Reading!

Haunted House by Jack Prelutsky

Here is a great poem I used recently to get my kiddos into a spooky writing mood:

Click Here For Images &
Haunted House Pictures - Pictures

Haunted House

by Jack Prelutsky

There's a house upon the hilltop
We will not go inside
For that is where the witches live,
Where ghosts and goblins hide.

Tonight they have their party,
All the lights are burning bright,
But oh we will not go inside
The haunted house tonight.

The demons there are whirling
And the spirits swirl about.
They sing their songs to Halloween.
"Come join the fun," they shout.

But we do not want to go there
So we run with all our might
And oh we will not go inside
The haunted house tonight.

*I used this poem to kick off my Haunted House Real Estate Ads. Click here for more information about this fun and unique writing project!*