Poetry Lesson Plans

Lesson plans and resources for teaching poetry!
This page was scanned for broken links and updated on 12-13-2023.

Index: Poetry Resources, Poetry Lesson Plans, Haiku Lesson Plans, Cinquain Lesson Plans, Acrostic Lesson Plans, Limerick Lesson Plans

Poetry Resources
Children's Poetry Archive
Searchable source for children's poetry and poets. Click on Teach for teacher resources.

Poetry Machine
Create an original poem using online poetry-writing templates!

Poems from Marinela Reka.com
Poems of all sorts, like: Short, Scary, Funny, Family, Friendship, Seasons, Animals, Haiku, Cute, Cinquain, Limericks, Mask,Teen,Love, Heart Broken, War, Acrostic Poems, Imagination and a lot more.

Poets.org
Many resources.

MAPS: Modern American Poetry Site
An alphabetical index to 161 companion sites of poems and poets.

Magnificent Rainbow
Exhibits that "highlight the wonder of kids playing around with poetic forms."

RhymeZone Rhyming Thesaurus and Dictionary
Use this link to find the perfect rhyming word.

Glossary of Poetic Terms
Definitions, examples, quotations, and writer's guidelines.

Poetry Lesson Plans
April is National Poetry Month
A "calendar activity" from Read-Write-Think. See also April Is Poetry Month! from Education World as well as Scholastic's Celebrate National Poetry Month.

Poetry Teacher Resources
Many lesson plans for all grade levels from The University of Arizona Poetry Center.

Favorite Poem Project
High school and college lesson plans/

The Poetry Page
Many lesson plans from "Outta Ray's Head."

Favorite Poem Project: Lesson Plans
Many lesson plans organized by grade level. Scroll down the page to find the lessons.

Poetry Out Loud -  Lesson Plans and Class Schedule
Several lesson plans as well as other teaching resources.

Teachnology - Poetry
Sixty poetry lesson plans!

General Poetry Resources
Many resources and lesson plans from Varsity Tutors.

Lesson of the Day: Amanda Gorman and The Hill We Climb
From the NY Times. See also The Hill We Climb for another lesson plan.

Curriculum and Lesson Plans
Six units or lesson plans from The Academy of American Poets.

Poetry Writing Lessons for Kids
From Poetry4Kids, these seem more like extensive resources than what I think of as lesson plans.

Writing Poetry with Rebus and Rhyme
A Read/Think/Write lesson plan for grades K-2.

Core Poetry and More
A 2nd-grade unit from Core Knowledge. See also Poetry in Motion.

A Bear of a Poem: Composing and Performing Found Poetry
Another K-2 lesson plan from Read/Write/Think.

Writing Poetry: Looking at the World Through the Eyes of a Poet
A 2nd-grade lesson plan.

Poetry for the Elementary Classroom
A unit for grades 2-4 featuring the works of Shel Silvertsein and others. See also Sharing Poetry with Children.

Poetry: Developing a Taste
A 3rd-grade unit on poetry appreciation from Core Knowledge.  

Pageant of Poetry: A Center Approach
Another 3rd-grade lesson plan from Core Knowledge. See also Patchwork Poetry.

Dancing Minds and Shooting Smiles: Teaching Personification Through Poetry
A Read/Write/Think lesson plan for grades 3-5.

Poetry from Prose
Another lesson plan for grades 3-5 from Read/Write/Think. See also What Makes Poetry? Exploring Line Breaks.

Poetry Anthology
A lesson plan for grade 3.

Picture Perfect Poetry
A 4th-grade lesson plan from Core Knowledge.

Steps Toward Writing Poetry
A unit for grades 4-6 that includes Grace Nichols' Coconut Kind of Day and other Caribbean poetry.

Teaching Poetry in New Formats
A unit for the intermediate grades.

The Music in Poetry
Lesson plans from Smithsonian Education

Narrative Poetry
A 6th-grade unit. See also "Casey at the Bat" and narrative poems.

Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students
A middle-grade unit featuring "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes.  

Poems That Work!
A middle-grade unit using the works of May Swenson and others.

What am I? Teaching Poetry through Riddles
An excellent lesson plan for grades 6-8 from Read/Write/Think.

Alliteration in Headline Poems
Another 6-8 lesson plan from Read/Write/Think.

Writing Free Verse in the "Voice" of Cesar Chavez
One more middle grade lesson plan from Read/Write/Think.

Understanding and Appreciating Poetry: Afro-Americans and Their Poetry
A unit featuring the poetry of Arna Wendell Bontemps and others.

Finding New Voices: Native American Poets
An 8th-grade unit.

Real Old Rap
An 8th-grade lesson plan from Core Knowledge. See also Poetry-The Essence of Life for another 8th-grade lesson plan.

Onomatopoeia — A Poetry Lesson Plan
A lesson using excepts from famous poems.

Arabic Poetry: Guzzle a Ghazal
A high school lesson plan from Edsitement.

1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 from the Library of Congress.

Varying Views of America
A Read/Write/Think lesson plan for grades 9-12.   

Poetry: Sound and Sense
Another lesson plan for grades 9-12 from Read/Write/Think.

Poetry of the Great War" "From Darkness to Light?"
A high school lesson plan from EDSITEment.

Resources for Teaching Longfellow
Middle and high school lesson plans and resources. See also Lesson plans for "Paul Revere's Ride" and Other Poems.

The Essential Emily Dickinson
A Teacher's Guide with ten lesson plans from The Bog Read. See also The Poetry of Robinson Jeffers.

Carl Sandburg's Chicago: Bringing a Great City Alive
A high school lesson plan from EDSITEment. See also Poetry Pairing "Chicago" and Personification with "Grass" by Carl Sandburg.

Robert Frost's Mending Wall: A Marriage of Poetic Form and Content
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 from EDSITEment. See also Teacher's Resources from The Robert Frost Farm and Robert Frost Prompts the Poet in You.

Assignment Discovery Lesson Plan - Tales of Edgar Allan Poe
For grades 9-12.

Modeling Reading and Analysis Processes with the Works of Edgar Allan Poe
A middle-grade lesson plan.

Haiku Lesson Plans
Teaching Haiku Poetry
Lesson plans and resources organized by grade level.

Japanese Haiku and Haiga
A one-week unit plan.

Haiku Starter
A lesson plan for grades 2-6 from Read-Write-Think.

Can You Haiku?
A high-quality lesson plan for grades 3-5.

Seasonal Haiku: Writing Poems to Celebrate Any Season
A lessson plan for grades 3-5 from Read/Write/Think.

Creating and Presenting Haiku with Kid Pix Subjects
This lesson plan from Education World is for grades 3-5.

The World of Haiku
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from EDSITEment.

Spring Haiku
A lesson plan for grades 6-12 from Education World. See also Haiku: Teaching Japanese Poetry Writing.

Haiku
Another lesson plan for grades 6-12.

Haiku Links
An annotated list.

Cinquain Lesson Plans
Composing Cinquain Poems: A Quick-Writing Activity
A lesson plan for grades 1-2.

Cinquain Syllables
A lesson plan from Crayola.

Animal Cinquain
A brief lesson complete with a worksheet.

Composing Cinquain Poems with Basic Parts of Speech
A Read/Write/Think lesson plan for grades 3-5.

Cinquain
Another elementary lesson plan.

Bring Your Lessons to Life with the Cinquain Poetry Form
One more lesson plan for grades 3-5.

Train Cinquain
A lesson plan adaptable to grades K-12.

Acrostic and Cinquain Poetry
A middle-grade lesson plan.

Acrostic Lesson Plans
Acrostic Poems: All About My favorite Things
A lesson plan for grades 1-2.  See also Acrostic Poems.

Acrostic Poem Lesson Plan for Younger students
From Bright Hub.

Writing an Acrostic
From Scholastic.

Acrostic Poem Pals
From Crayola.

Thanksgiving Acrostic Poem Lesson Plan
Complete with examples.

Acrostic and Cinquain Poetry
A middle-grade lesson plan.

Limerick Lesson Plans
Lear, Limericks, and Literature
Lessons for grades 5 and up using the works of Edward Lear.  

Edward Lear, Limericks and Nonsense
A similar lesson plan for grades 3-5 from Edsitement.

The Book of Nonsense Volume 2
A lesson plan for grades 2-4.

Finding Synonyms for Limericks
A lesson plan for grades 2-4.

How to Write a Limerick.
A good resource.

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