A 3rd grade teacher near Akron, Ohio shared this idea with me. She uses a lot of poetry as part of her reading and fluency instruction. One day she led her students into another classroom where they circled the students in that class. They announced, “Poetry Attack!” and broke into a choral recitation of a practiced poem. Then they quietly left the room. They began randomly “attacking” other classrooms on subsequent days. One day one of these classes entered her room and announced, “Attack back!” A spark was ignited. At the end of the year they had a whole school assembly where classes took turns reciting favorite poems. Imagine the enthusiasm! I love this idea!
