Poetic License - Guidelines for the Activities

The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Poetic License
Guidelines for the Activities

IF YOU REALLY WANT to get children’s creative writing juices flowing, introduce them to the art of poetry. Poems capture a child’s innermost thoughts in a surprisingly eloquent way. Maybe that’s because poetry is a little more playful. It tends to dance around the page. It’s less linear, more rhythmic, and has fun little patterns to follow. It invites children’s brains to think outside the box a bit, and I think they appreciate that.

Writing a poem should be carefree and lighthearted, like skipping instead of walking, eating dessert before dinner, or bursting into song. Tapping into a child’s sense of play is not just fun, it’s functional as well. When children can relax and enjoy themselves, they are better able to engage both sides of their brain. The creative right side of the brain is activated at the same time the logical left side is, making poetry a whole-brain writing workout. And without even breaking a sweat! Who knew?

MATERIALS

paper or notebook

pencil

colored pencils

HOW-TO

1. First off, read some poetry with your child. (We enjoyed starting with Shel Silverstein and e. e. cummings around here.) Don’t do too much explaining at first; try to let the verses speak for themselves.

2. Sit down with your child and write a first poem together, taking turns writing lines. Just see where it goes.

3. Introduce your child to different forms of poetry (some of which are described next), and encourage them to write poems of their own.

4. Have a poetry reading, where your children get to recite their poems out loud in front of the family.

Variations

For Scribblers: Introduce pre-writers to the pattern of poetry by showing them how to make any sort of repeating pattern with their scribbles. Try alternating two colors, lines with curves, or zigzags with loop de loops. This prepares them for some of the rules of poetry they will learn later on.

For Spellers: Spellers are well-suited to trying out what is called an acrostic poem. They choose a significant word, and then write it vertically down the left side of the page, one letter on each line. Then after each letter, they write a word (or words) that begins with that letter, which is also related to their significant word.

M akes me cookies

O odles of kisses

M agnificent

Storytellers: Who doesn’t love a haiku? I’m sure Storytellers will. Haikus are three-lined poems featuring seventeen syllables, five in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third. Something like this:

First of November

Darkness comes much too early

When you’re playing ball.

Scholars: Limericks have a distinct rhythm and rhyme (best illustrated by reading out loud) and a propensity for silliness. They’re my kind of poem! (Oh, and kids love them too.) I still remember one I wrote in the fourth grade that I was particularly proud of:

There once was a man from Yonkers

Who really was quite bonkers

He loved to dance

To run and to prance

And when he fell down he went clonkers.

Need I say more?