Poetry Notebooks

If you haven't ever incorporated poetry notebooks into your school year, now's the time!

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Poetry Notebook  Mini Lessons	Poetry Notebook Materials	Poetry Notebook Poems/Songs/Rhymes	Poetry Notebook Management and Organization

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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)

       

 

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Poetry Notebook Materials

 

 

Notebook, Binder, or Folder		Adhesive		Writing Tools
	I used a spiral notebook last year.  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 never used composition notebooks for poetry books before, but might this year.  They seem more durable.  The only thing to be cautious about is that the covers sometimes come off of the notebook and need to be attached again.		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 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'd probably use colored pencils more often, but the sharpening drives me nuts!  Usually, I collect all colored pencils at once, and keep them sorted by colors.  Then, if we do poetry as a whole group, I'll take out the colors we need and we work with the text that way.  I'll make sure they are sharpened beforehand.  I'm on the HUNT for a multiple-slotted container that can hold my colored pencils upright.  I'd need at least 12-14 slots for the different colors.
	I have never used 3-ringed binders for poetry notebooks before.  They seem to be an intriguing option.  If I did use them, I'd be able to use the poems we print out on copy paper without having to trim them.  We'd just use a 3-hole paper puncher on them.  Students would use the BACK of the previous poem to illustrate the new poem, if there wasn't enough room to illustrate on the actual poem sheet.	l	l		My students love highlighters!  We sometimes use highlighters instead when we work with the text, just to change things up a bit!

 

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Poetry Notebook Poems/Songs/Rhymes

 

 

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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.  

How do students know they are done with the task?  When students are done, what do they do next?

• 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.

 

Where do I store all my shared reading charts?

• Shared reading charts are hung on "Chart Caddies" or skirt hangers.  

• The hangers and "Chart Caddies" are hung on a rolling garment rack.

• I like using the "Chart Caddies" the best.  They don't get hooked on one another!

Where do I store all my shared reading poetry sheets for students?

• Shared reading poems/songs/chants/rhymes are stored on my computer.

• I also have a hard copy for each one we use during the year stored in a hanging file folder.

• I send the hard copy to get copied at the beginning of the unit/season/month.

• Once I get the copies back, I put all the copies into the correct file folder.

• I can then pull the copies the day I need them.

• I make sure to leave one hard copy in the file folder for next year.

• Oh - - I also obviously store them on my web site, so, in the even that I don't have a copy on my school computer or in the file folder, I can just print one from my web site.