How to Teach Poetry to Fifth and Sixth Graders

Teaching poetry to fifth and sixth grade students can be joyous, or exasperating. With so many types, forms and styles, where do you begin? Assuming you have a good grasp of the different poetical forms, here is an approach that can help your elementary school students grasp what they need to know.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Various art materials
• Poetry books
• Posterboard
• Magazines
• Creativity
• Time

1. Make lessons fun. If you have enthusiasm for poetry, it will show. Use games like Jeopardy or Mother May I to challenge poetry knowledge and engage students with the material.
2. Hold poetry slams in class. Have students stand up at their will to offer short poems made up on the spot. Alternatively, you can start a poem and have the class add lines to it as it goes along.
3. Be artsy. Using art materials is a great way to target students who learn visually. Use images to represent rhyming schemes and put them on the classroom wall.
4. Use rhyme to teach rhyme. Create mnemonic devices and rhymes using the scheme they refer to. Create a couplet to remind students the elements of couplets, for example.
5. Create sketches with students that they can perform to the rest of the class. Short news reports on different poetry elements can enhance learning by teaching students to look at poetry in a different way.

Tips & Warnings

• Incorporate as many techniques as possible to address students with different learning styles.
• Turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Use your creativity to turn everyday events or experiences into a learning opportunity.