Poetry need not be confined to the realms of the dust-covered tomes of your high school English department. And you need not be afraid or intimidated by poetry; anybody can write fun (and yet educational) poems. As the following activity will show, this form of writing can bring an invigorating style to your ordinary classroom activities, regardless of your subject area or your students' grade level.

Poetry, for those not totally familiar with the conventions of the language-arts classes, is a generic term for forms of writing using highly specific words and phrases to instill images in the reader's mind. Some poetry follows particular forms and patterns, and other types of poetry can be free flowing. Poetry can be simply individual (though connected) words or phrases, or found in complete sentences. As you can see, there is no limit to the types of poetry that can be created.

Short, simple poems require a great deal of student thought, because the kids must carefully choose the best words to fit the poem. These can be fun for students to write as reviews for tests or the end of chapters. You could also use them to in place of your normal writing assignments to add variety.

Feel free to change the poem form to suit your activity or class. For example, you may want to change the number of details or examples, or the number of lines. If you have creative (or advanced) students, you may even want to require the lines to rhyme.

Here's a short, simple poem form:
Name the topic
List three details, facts, or examples
Creatively describe each
Restate the topic in a new way

A Poem for Science:
The Water Cycle:
Water molecules, H-2-0,
Down goes Rain, Hail, Snow,
Raised up to the sky by the sun,
In clouds they gather for fun,
Ready to drop once more,
Changes in matter are a chore!

A Poem for P.E.:
Gym Class:
Run, jump, play!
We exercise every day.
Indoors or out,
We love to yell and shout!
Phys-ed is our favorite class.

Here's another simple form for those of you with language-arts savvy:
1 Noun (your TOPIC)
2 adjectives that describe your Noun
3 verbs (your Noun in action)
1 adverb for each verb (describe each action)
A real-life example of your Noun, a simile or metaphor, or a synonym for your first Noun

Turtle:
Green, Old
Walking, eating, swimming
Slowly, peacefully, gracefully
Nature's little armored car

Daisy:
Slim, Bright
Growing, sprouting, flowering
Upward, outward, gently
A little sun on the Earth

Have your students add hand-drawn pictures to accompany the poems, and you've got authentic, artful work that is ready to put up in your room or hallway for parent-teacher conferences.

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Frank Holes, Jr. is the editor of the StarTeaching website and the bi-monthly newsletter, Features for Teachers. Check out our latest issue at:
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