Monday, April 18, 2011

3rd Grade Poetry Share

My third graders have spent a lot of time lately learning about library organization and how to use the online catalog, so I thought they'd enjoy a journey back into the wonderful world of literature.  April is Poetry Month, and I filled their tables with volumes of poetry and invited them to explore the pages.  The room was truly filled with "joyful noise".  I told them to let me know if they found anything they'd like to share aloud with the class, and they really got into it!  So many students were disappointed that we ran out of time that they volunteered to stay after school to get another opportunity.  A group of 10 stayed after for "Poetry Club" last week, and another 10 plan to stay after next week!

I was really impressed with the variety of poems that the students selected.  I must admit that I expected most of the students to go right to the familiar collections by Shel Silverstein!  His work was represented (and rightfully so), but we also heard poems by Judith Viorst, Emily Dickenson, and Jane Yolen.  If you would like to see some examples, videos are available here: http://ashlib.wikispaces.com/3rd+grade+poetry.