Poetry Month is HERE! So rather than squishing poetry into the last two weeks of June, NOW is the time to spread a little poetry joy in your classroom! In fact, there is no better time than to start sharing the joy poetry with your students than Poetry Month! Remember – it’s difficult for students to write poetry until they EXPERIENCE poetry – so use this month to fill them up with the rhyme, rhythm and repetition from some great children’s poets!
Here are 10 of my new favorite poetry books to help celebrate poetry month with your students:
Welcome to the Wonder House – Rebecca Kai Dotlich & Georgia Heard
From one of my all-time favourite poets for both learners and educators, Georgia Heard, this book is visually stunning and overflowing with wonder! The book is a collection of children’s poems written in the format of an allegorical house. Each room is filled with poems covering a wide variety of STEAM topics, including geology, paleontology, physics, astronomy, creative writing, and drawing. There is magic, wonder and curiosity in every poem – and a perfect book to promote “Powerful Thinking”! Such a lot you could do with this book in a classroom!
Love, the Earth – Frances Stickley
This moving poem is told from the perspective of the Earth. The book celebrates Earth and all the things it can do for us, but also focuses on how we can take care of it. This would be a great book for Earth day and for young students who are exploring ways to appreciate what the world gives us. Beautiful, vibrant illustrations.
Poetry Comics – Grant Snider
This is the first poetry graphic novel I have ever read! Such a wonderfully creative combination of poetry and comics in a fun and imaginative book. I also appreciated how the poems deal with universal human emotions and feelings such as anxiety, ambition, creativity, fears, and joy. Drawings are delighful and whimsical! A great book for grades 4 and up.
This is a Tiny Fragile Snake – Nicholas Ruddock
A delightful collection of poetry for young animal lovers! Fifteen information poems about various animals and insects, highlighting their unique characteristics but also explores close encounters with animals … and choosing to respond tenderly.
NOTE: If you are a GearPicks Pack book subscriber, this book is included in the INTERMEDIATE Spring GearPicks Box and will be arriving at your school soon!
Climbing the Volcano: A Journey in Haiku – Curtis Manley
Through haiku poems, a young boy narrates his family’s invigorating hike to the peak of Oregon’s
South Sister volcano. Not all the poems in this book follow the 5-7-5 syllable rule but an interesting note in the back about the haiku form debunks the idea that English-language haiku must follow a 5-7-5 syllable pattern! Also included in the back notes is the history and geology of the region, hiking tips, and a visual index.
NOTE: If you are a GearPicks Pack book subscriber, this book and accompanying lesson plan, is included in the INTERMEDIATE Spring GearPicks Box and will be arriving at your school soon!
A Planet is a Poem – Amanda West Lewis
A poetic exploration of the wonders of our solar system – this book is a perfect example of how poetry can be combined with scientific information! 14 original poems filled with fascinating facts about planets, each written in a different poetic structure – sonnet, acrositic, free verse, a ballad of Earth, an ode to the sun, and a villanelle for Venus. Each double page spread features a stunning space scene, a poem and a fold-out flap that includes accessible science facts and an explanation of the poetic form used and why it was matched with that object. AMAZING book!
Animals in Pants: A Poetry Picture Book – Suzy Levinson
Your students will enjoy digging into their imagination pockets and imagining just what if animals wore pants! Such a fun book to read aloud during Poetry month! From wiener dogs in yoga pants to kangaroos wearing Elvis-inspired jumpsuits (because they’re King-aroos, lol!) every poem is sure to bring out some smiles and giggles.
Octopus Acrobatics – Sue Fliess
While not exactly considered a poetry book, this information book includes playful rhyming verse and gorgeous artwork celebrating our curiosity about octopuses. Short lines of verse are accompanied by longer sentences of prose containing more information on each page. The verse works well to summarize the illustrations for younger readers, while more detail is there for the older ones. The artwork is perfect in illustrating the octopus’s camouflage abilities and ocean habitat. Back notes includes a glossary and an anatomical diagram.
I’m From – Gary R. Gray Jr
A beautiful poetic picture book that helps answer the question — where are you from? But instead of giving a geographical answer, the boy tells all the things that make him special that set him apart, that show he is loved and cherished, and has a place in the world. This one will tug on your heartstrings! A perfect book to share when exploring identity and unique character traits and great addition to your Powerful Understanding collection for SELF!
My Head Has a Bellyache: And More Nonsense for Mischievous Kids and Immature Grown-Ups – Chris Harris
If you love Shel Silverstein – you will LOVE Chris Harris the same, if not more! Hilarious, entertaining, and heartwarming and invite LOTS of connections! You will be laughing one minute and tearing up the next! SOOOO good!
At the Poles – David Elliot
Straightforward and accessible, this poetry picture book captures the wonders of nature and animals found in the Arctic and Antarctic in 15 poems. Gorgeous paper collage illustrations. A great book to use as poetry or linked to your science unit. If you like this book, David Elliott has written other poetry books including On the Farm, In the Wild, and In the Sea.
Counting in Dog Years and Other Sassy Math Poems – Betsy Franco
This book of poems is full of trickery about math and covers lots of math topics including palindromes, geometry, fractions (when talking about summer vacation), and even multiplying mice! All in clever rhyme and includes hilarious illustrations filled with creatures and kids in full action on every page!
Champion Chompers, Super Stinkers and Other Poems by Extraordinary Animals – Linda Ashman
An information poetry book introducing extreme animals through playful poems and fascinating facts. Each poem is written as a riddle to be solved from both the facts that it shares and a visual clue that is on the page. Definitely a book you could use to practice inferring (from the clues and pictures) and also one that might inspire kids to write their own riddle poems!
If you are are looking for new ways to bring poetry into your classroom, my book Powerful Poetry, is filled with practical ideas, lessons, structures, and strategies to help you get started!
Adrienne Gear - Reading Power Ltd. 