Teacher Treasure Hunter Spring 2015 | Page 15

April Poetry Month National Share the gift of poetry with your students this month! April is the perfect time to share a poem with your class - or even write one! It's National Poetry Month and April 30th is Poem in Your Pocket Day. I'm not sure what inspired my love for poetry, but I'm sure a big influence was Anne (with an e) Shirley. I absolutely loved these books and thought the movies were so fun - and romantic! Is it possible to hear Anne quote The Highwayman (Alfred Noyes) and not be captivated? Surely I wasn't the only one who thought it would be glorious to be Anne floating. down the river as she imagined herself the doomed heroine of the beautiful poem the Lady of Shalott (Alfred Tennyson) - even if the boat did sink! It didn't hurt that she was rescued by Gilbert! I teach 1st grade and we don't read Tennyson! However, there are so Many ways to engage elementary students in poetry reading and writing so they acquire a love for words. Poetry will help younger students with many language skills including rhyming, vocabulary and descriptive words.