I think poetry is an important part of language and it is something Ebi-kun won't get taught in English at school, that means it is down to me to do it. What I like to do, it to find a poem and make it into some kind of fun activity, have a prepared page for writing his own poem, a few objects to inspire him and a picture of some kind. I keep them all in a basket.
He started off with the poem strips, I read the poem first so he had an idea of what it was about and I split the poem into the 2 verses to make it a bit easier. He put the verse together then I re-read the verse and he checked that he had got it right, he had to make a couple of corrections. This is the poem we used this time.
We talked about the poem and what it meant and I got him to give me some other examples, after he had done he said he didn't feel like writing his own poem but then on a whim he sat down a couple of days later and wrote this...
Do you study poetry with your kids? Have you got a favourite poem, book or other resource, please share in the comments.
My 7-year old's favourite is A Kick in the Head - has inspired her to write many poems of different styles in a her special poetry notebook :)
ReplyDeleteShel Silverstein and Spike Milligan are other favourites. And many others.