Teaching Ideas

Explore jumping-off points that deepen discussions, inspire reading interest, and support connections to books and authors. Easily share and include in your instructional plans, newsletters, and social media.


National Poetry Month

Connections to Picture Books

  • Preview some of the poems in Thanku: Poems of Gratitude using Google Book Preview, then write tricube poems using this activity guide!

  • Use the poetic elements chart on page 5 of this activity pack for Wave to explore similes, shape, line breaks, rhythm, and more in any poem.

  • Watch this complete video reading of Bubbles....Up!, then have students write poems about their favorite fun activities, using the verses in Bubbles as a model.

  • Try turning a poem into a song like the author does in this video reading of "Fifty Ukeleles" from A Hatful of Dragons: And More Than 13.8 Billion Other Funny Poems.

  • Rhyme with rhythm using the activity from these teachers' notes for Honey for You, Honey for Me: A First Book of Nursery Rhymes. Watch this video book reading for more fun with rhymes with the author!

  • Amuse with alliteration in this playful complete video reading of "The Flippy, Floppy Flappers" from A Hatful of Dragons.

  • Find figurative language activities, a poetry assessment, a verb-hunt chart, and other printable activities in this teachers' guide for In the Wild, and hear David Elliott share some of his poems in this video reading.

Connections to books for older readers

  • Create a collage using materials from the classroom or home, then write a poem based on your art form, as described in this guide for Out of Wonder, which features Ekua Holmes’ collages.

  • Write haikus using this haiku writing guide from Maria Gianferrari for Whoo-Ku Haiku: A Great Horned Owl Story.

  • Learn all about haikus and how to write them using this haiku lesson plan for Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku.

  • Examine prose poetry together using ideas in this teaching guide for Ain’t Burned all the Bright, then encourage students to write their own prose poems.

  • Find tips for teaching novels in verse in this educators' guide for The Poet X.

  • Follow along and write a poem with author Mahogany L. Browne in this "Writing Class" video for Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice. Listen to her recite and discuss many of the poems in the text and guide a poetry writing activity.

  • Listen to this Meet-the-Author Recording with Kwame Alexander for Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. Ask each student to choose a poet whose work they admire and write a poem inspired by one of their works or in celebration of that poet.

  • Explore audio readings of Edgar Allan Poe’s poems and find many activities on this lessons page.

  • Gain insight into poet Safia Elhillo’s writing experiences and poetry creation process in this Meet-the-Author Recording for Home Is Not a Country.

  • Lead students on this Invitation to Imagine from Naomi Shihab Nye. Discover additional poetry writing prompts in this educator's guide for Nye’s Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems.

  • Analyze and reflect deeply with your students about poetry using the “poetry for teaching, healing, and resistance framework” starting on page 5 of the educator's guide for A Seed in the Sun.

  • Hear the author of The In-Between detail a pivotal moment in her life that inspired her memoir in verse in this Meet-the-Author Recording. Have students reflect on a moment in their lives that affected them in some way and write their own memoir poems.