Over the last couple of weeks I spent a little time traveling from class to class reading and talking about poetry to 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. Poetry is a perfect vehicle for language skills, phonemic awareness skills (to hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken words) and word skills such as letter sounds, rhyming and decoding.
Poetry is by nature to be read aloud. Its perfect to read over and over. Any topic can be found in a poem! Together the teacher and students can read various poems and chants to practice reading fluency and to encourage fun and excitement when reading aloud. Independently a student can read poems over and over to increase reading fluency. (repeated reading strategy)
As reading teachers we want all students to be able to read with expression and appropriate speed. If a student's fluency is slow and choppy it creates comprehension problems for the student. The ultimate goal for any reader is to read with smoothness, ease and most of all to understand what they are reading.
If your child struggles with fluency- check out some poetry books for your child. For your beginning readers be sure to read many poems to build their beginning reading skills. Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes are a great place to start. Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky have many poem books that older students find fun and engaging. For the older student this is a great option to encourage reading!
As a teacher don't forget the poetry genre. It brings a lot of fun and excitement while still teaching many skills.
Happy Reading-Mrs. SpeakeGreat Poetry Links:
Just found your blog and loved your post about poetry!
ReplyDeleteRobynn
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