As most of you know, I just recently changed, cities and schools this year. I love my new school! I am a thrid grade Reading and ELA teacher. The school system that I work for had a ready made Reading/ELA curriculum. I have never not had to write lesson plans and spend hours searching and creating lesson/activities. That part is so wonderful and has been a God send since we just moved to South GA and bought a house that is still being unpacked.
However, I miss being creative! I miss working hard on my plans/activities and that hard work paying off because it really helped the kids. I don't like sometimes feeling like I could produce something that could better reach my students. I get jealous hearing my teammates talking about looking for things to teach Science and Social Studies with.
So, you shouldn't be surprised that I jumped at the chance to create some poetry for my students! We took a practice Milestones test and the very first story in the test was actually a poem. The hands shot up! What's a stanza? What does mood mean? Why didn't they use periods? UH!!!! The curriculum we use doesn't really teach poems.
As soon as could, I began writing a poem. We had just read a book about Susan B. Anthony, who is a Historical Figure that they study in SS. It had been so long since I had been able to do this, the words just flowed. Then came the questions and the next day I started teaching the lesson. The students were so excited to see a poem and learn about rhyme, beat, and rhythm.
I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to create something. I am already looking for more areas that they need more practice with so I can create some more items.
*Just a funny note. I didn't want the students to know it was me who wrote the poem, so I wrote VLB as the poet's name. I'll be darned if they didn't figure it out as soon as they saw the initials. SMH!
Check out my new Poetry Packet on Susan B. Anthony here on TPT! It is free for 24 hours!
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