JRmommy Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Thanks to Bravewriter and the implementation of poetry teas, my 8 yr old has a love for poetry (both reading and writing). However, I feel inept when it comes to poetry. We read poetry together, and he reads anthologies on his own and picks out his favorites to memorize. We've been working our way through "R is for Rhyme" which discusses various types of poems. I just feel like I need a guide to really discuss the meaning of some of the poems. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear how you approach poetry, especially with the upper elementary group. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shernandez Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Definitely following:) My hubby was shocked to find out I don't really enjoy poetry (and I was a lit major). It is mostly because I don't know how to approach it:) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I've been told multiple times that even if you don't want to use Michael Clay Thompson use his poetry. It's well loved by many and I intend to use it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classical Katharine Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 This thread should hold some leads: http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/555767-dedicated-poetry-writing-curriculum/ It has a too-long post by me in it about what I wish the OP would include if she writes us a curriculum, but for you, it also has lots of curriculum recommendations--programs that exist already! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I'm using the Poetry Rocks series for my high schoolers. (We borrow them from the library.) There are several volumes -- world, American, British. Each book features about a dozen writers, with a chapter on each. Biographical info is given. Several poems by that author are included, along with brief commentary/analysis. Since your 8 year old likes poetry, he might be able to handle these. My dc don't like poetry, but in high school I require it. These have served us well so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRmommy Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 Just bumping this up to hear about more suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 I've been told multiple times that even if you don't want to use Michael Clay Thompson use his poetry. It's well loved by many and I intend to use it. This. I got an incredibly good deal on MCT Island so we gave it a whirl. No. I mean, I can see what others love about it, but it was not right for us for all kinds of reasons. I did not like the vocab, I did not like the grammar, I loathed the writing. But the poetry! It was really good. Good enough that I bought the next volume up used by itself. I did not make my kids do the poetry analysis in it, but we really enjoyed reading it, learning some of the terms, and bringing them into poetry teas. I'll add that while I like to read my kids "adult" or classic poetry, I think children's poetry is by far the most appealing thing at this age and that's okay. For thinking about complex uses of rhymes, Marilyn Singer is a great children's poet. She's probably most famous for her reverso books, Follow, Follow and Mirror, Mirror, but she has several others and many of them have such a great variety of different meters and rhyme schemes. Also, we've had a lot of luck reading poetry books where the poems are about a piece of art or paired with a piece of art. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRmommy Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 This. I got an incredibly good deal on MCT Island so we gave it a whirl. No. I mean, I can see what others love about it, but it was not right for us for all kinds of reasons. I did not like the vocab, I did not like the grammar, I loathed the writing. But the poetry! It was really good. Good enough that I bought the next volume up used by itself. I did not make my kids do the poetry analysis in it, but we really enjoyed reading it, learning some of the terms, and bringing them into poetry teas. I'll add that while I like to read my kids "adult" or classic poetry, I think children's poetry is by far the most appealing thing at this age and that's okay. For thinking about complex uses of rhymes, Marilyn Singer is a great children's poet. She's probably most famous for her reverso books, Follow, Follow and Mirror, Mirror, but she has several others and many of them have such a great variety of different meters and rhyme schemes. Also, we've had a lot of luck reading poetry books where the poems are about a piece of art or paired with a piece of art. Are you talking about MCT's Music of the Hemispheres or Building Poems? My son loves Marilyn Singer! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Are you talking about MCT's Music of the Hemispheres or Building Poems? My son loves Marilyn Singer! Both. We did Music of the Hemispheres when I got that deal on the Island level. Then I bought Building Poems. We really got a lot out of Music of the Hemispheres. We read some bits of Building Poems and we'll tackle it more full on this coming year for 6th grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momto4inSoCal Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I looking for poetry also. What I really would like to find is ancient Roman or Greek poetry that is readable with kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Some of you might be interested in reading this enjoyable book by Stephen Fry ~ The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within Publishers Weekly In this delightfully erudite, charming and soundly pedagogical guide to poetic form, British actor (narrator of the Harry Potter movies, among other roles), novelist and secret poet Fry leads the reader through a series of lessons on meter, rhythm, rhyme and stanza length and reveals the structural logic of every imaginable poetic form, including the haiku, the ballad, the ode and the sonnet. Writing poetry, like any hobby, should be fun, Fry claims, and while talent is inborn, technique can be learned. Inviting readers to study the wealth of choices of form available in the world's major poetic traditions, Fry himself pens intentionally vapid yet entertaining poems that demonstrate each form's rules and patterning, and ends each lesson with wittily devised exercises for readers. Fry rails against the dumbing down of verse in a section subtitled "Stephen gets all cross": "It is as if we have been encouraged to believe that form is a kind of fascism and that to acquire knowledge is to drive a jackboot into the face of those poor souls who are too incurious, dull-witted or idle to find out what poetry can be." Fry has created an invaluable and highly enjoyable reference book on poetic form, which deserves to achieve widespread academic adoption, despite or even because of its saucy and Anglocentric tone. (Aug. 17) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrafirma Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 I came across www.shmoop.com while trying to find more information on a poem, ("I, Too") that my daughter and I were working on. http://www.shmoop.com/i-too-sing-america/ I thought it had helpful information for discussion and have since used the website for more poems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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