First grade children began a unit of study on poetry. The unit began by listening to song lyrics and a variety of poems, both rhyming and non-rhyming. The children explored a collection of everyday objects and were invited to use all their senses, their minds, and their imaginations to think about those objects in fresh ways. For example, does the pencil sharpener sound like the buzz, buzz, buzzing of a million bumble bees? In small center groups, they have discovered poems that are fun to read aloud and share with peers. The language of poetry opens up the imagination of our children. We also looked at and discussed the layout of poems and listened to the difference between a poem read with line breaks and without line breaks. As we move through the unit, our little poets will listen to many poems read aloud and learn about and apply strategies that poets use, such as feelings, details, line breaks, and the five senses.
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