The group of third graders I am privileged to work with this year are an amazing group of kiddos. They are thoughtful, mature, generous, and strong. For a year that is challenging in so many ways, I am exceptionally grateful to be spending it with these people as they make it easier and better on a daily basis.
As we’ve been wrapping up a nonfiction unit and getting ready for our poetry unit, I’ve shared a poem a day with them for the past two weeks. I made a conscious decision to choose poems that aren’t typical for young children. I didn’t go with Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky.
This was yesterday’s poem.
I’ve never used this poem with elementary students before and it was the first one in two weeks that I can say that about. So I wasn’t sure how it would go. The routine is that I read the poem aloud to them twice. As I did, there was a lot going on in the chat.
As I continue to plan the poetry lessons for the next few weeks, I’m searching for more poems that will stretch my students as readers, writers, thinkers, and people. They’re clearly ready for it.
Leave a Reply