April is Poet-Tree Month

Hi Chicklets,
This is going to be quick - I'm home with a sick boy who is on the mend so it's taking some doing to keep him on the couch.  I've got report cards to do and a messy house to tend to.  I wanted to show you what I'm cooking up.

April is poetry month - I love sharing poems with my kiddos all year long.  Kids love poems and you can work on so many skills when studying a them{spelling patterns, word wall words, inferencing, mental images, etc.}.  My kids LOVE the ones that make us giggle {Douglas Florian is a funny favorite}. 

Each year we create a "Poet-tree".  It ends up looking something like this...

I found this one on Pinterest which brought me to this blog {here} such AWESOME stuff!!!!

Once I get it all together I'll share mine with you.  I end up copying a leaf  for them to write their own poems on - either when they finish something early, during Daily 5/Work on Writing, or they can take one home with them and write one there.  When they complete a poem we attach it to our "poet-tree".  SOOOOO adorable!

Like I said, we work on poetry throughout the year by doing a poem every couple/few of weeks. I used to do a poem a week, but I have a hard time keeping up with that now that our curriculum is so FULL. So sad because we all know poetry is such an important literacy experience. 

One way we work on poetry is with our "Poetry Collection".  During the summer I copy the packet of poems, the cover, and put it all in a duotang folder.  I also have each poem on chart paper.  When I first introduce the poem we read it together, look for words we know, spelling patterns, etc.  We read the current poem as often as we can and they keep their collection in their "bookshelves" {where they keep their just right books for Daily 5}.  Then the kiddos are sent to their desks to illustrate their poem.  I have about one or two poems for each month.  I'm in the process of re-typing them right now.  Here's a teaser...

Cover

First Poem - Beginning of School Year

I'll make them available for you once I'm finished with the entire collection.  

One more thing and then I REALLY need to get to gettin' on my house cleaning and report card doin'...

Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle is hosting a linky party for you to link up, find new bloggers, and maybe get a few more followers yourself!  Once the linky party is over she plans on putting all of the linked up blogs onto a Pinterest board - what a great idea!

Go link up or just head on over and find yourself some more fantastic blogs to follow!

Click {HERE} if you haven't entered my giveaway yet...winners will be announced this Wednesday!