When I was first introduced to the idea of teaching free verse poetry to elementary students, I felt overwhelmed. Teaching form poetry such as haiku, cinquains, rhyming couplets, limericks, etc. felt safe–there was a formula that was easy to follow. But free verse poetry felt wide open and like it had no guiding principles. Then I found Regie Routman’s Kids’ Poems series:
- Kids’ Poems: Teaching Kindergartners to Love Writing Poetry
- Kids’ Poems: Teaching First Graders to Love Writing Poetry
- Kids’ Poems: Teaching Second Graders to Love Writing Poetry
- Kids’ Poems: Teaching Third and Fourth Graders to Love Writing Poetry
This series de-mystifies free verse poetry writing by providing simple mini-lessons on poetry crafts such as:
- repetition
- figurative language
- onomatopoeia
- using white space
