POETRY BOOKS

Poetry Notebook Mini Lessons

Punctuation Marks. . .

Challenge students to find the punctuation marks.  Circle periods, question marks, and exclamation points in red.  Red means "STOP" and these marks STOP a sentence.  Discuss what each punctuation mark means.  Learn their names.  We also highlight commas, as well as learn their name and function.  We practice "taking a breath" when we read our poem/rhyme/chant/song - - whenever a comma is present.  For quotation marks, we highlight them with blue or some other color that is different than red and yellow.  We practice naming quotation marks and learning their function.  We try to stay away from calling quotation marks "talking marks" - - although the children learn both names.  

Sight Words. . .

Challenge students to find the sight words within the text.  We highlight or circle them with green or blue.  Caution students to not get sloppy when working with the text.  Over zealous students tend to color the words too hard and have been known to color right through their paper or make the word so dark that it we can't read it after it was colored!

Read, Read, and Read. . .

Students benefit from repeated readings.  Mix up the way that a poem is read by asking students to:

• choral read the text

• dramatize the text

Guess the Covered Word . .

Play "Guess the Covered Word" during the initial read through of the poem/chant/rhyme/song.

Tools of the Trade. . .

Spice up your shared reading lessons by using various tools of the trade!

• Wikki Stix

• Pointers

• Highlighter Tape

• Post It Notes

• Reading Glasses - - funky reading glasses/sunglasses for a "guest read through" (selected student reader

Poetry Notebook Materials

Notebook, Binder, or Folder		Adhesive		Writing Tools
	I have used spiral notebooks.  Students turned to a double-page spread and glued the poem to one side, and illustrated on the adjacent side.  Our poems are printed onto copy paper and I just trim the sides before distributing them to students.  I highly recommend using notebooks that don't have perforated pages!!!		I wish I had counted how many actual glue sticks we used last year!  I know I sent home notes requesting additional glue sticks several times during the year!!  I love glue sticks!		I love TWISTABLE crayons.  Crayola makes the best in my opinion.  Students use the crayons to circle star words, rhymes, and punctuation.
	I have used composition notebooks.  The binding in the notebooks seemed to keep intact.  I reinforced each end of the notebook's spine to ensure that it wouldn't come apart.  Students used the composition notebooks similarly to the spiral notebooks when adding illustrations and poetry.		I don't ask for white school glue on my supply list.  It's too runny!		We sometimes use markers, but not often.  They tend to bleed through the pages, and students aren't as neat when working with markers for some reason!
	Some teachers use 3-pronged folders.  The the challenging part about using these would be having to open and close the prongs, in order to insert the new poems.  We add MANY poems/songs/rhymes to the notebooks throughout the year, so these probably wouldn't work for me.		If the "job" needs more than a glue stick can handle, GEL glue is our next choice.  GEL glue is not as runny as white school glue.		I collect all colored pencils at once, and keep them sorted by colors.  When we do poetry as a whole group, I'll take out the colors we need and we work with the text that way.
	I used 3-ringed binders for poetry notebooks last year (2007-2008).  I had students bring in page protectors.  They'd receive a copy of the poem and would illustrate it right on the page and then insert it into a page protector and add it to the binder.  For longer poems, they'd illustrate on a separate paper and insert it into the adjacent page's page protector.  New for next year....I plan on adding a TABLE of CONTENTS, where students will write the title of the poem and its corresponding page number.  We will number our pages as we add the poems.	l	l		My students love highlighters!We sometimes use highlighters instead when we work with the text, just to change things up a bit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry Notebook Poems/Songs/Rhymes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry Notebook Management and Organization

Where do I store all the poetry notebooks?

• We keep our poetry notebooks in a bin when we are not using them.  

• When we need them, I model what to do using my poetry notebook, and then distribute the notebooks one by one.  

• Students bring their notebook back to their work space (table spot) and complete the activity.  

• Students know they are finished with their notebooks as soon as they complete all the requested steps/procedures and then check their final product with me.  

• I generally don't have any issues with students rushing through poetry notebooks, but by checking them, I am able to quickly assess each student's ability to follow through when directions are given.  

• After getting the OK from me, students put their own poetry journals away, in the bin.  

• They then may read with a partner or independently in our classroom library, until all are finished, or until "time to be done" is called.

• Shared reading charts are hung on "Chart Caddies."  

• The "Chart Caddies" are hung on a "Chart Caddy Stand."

• "Chart Caddies" don't get hooked onto one another!