December Poetry oeI love using poetry with the kiddos. At the beginning of each month, along with our class calendar, include the poems for the month. Then each week we post a poem in the classroom, put a copy with an activity in the “language backpack” that goes home each week and on Friday’s the children get to sign the poster if they can say the poem. The signed poem is then “raffled” off to a lucky winner! This year I made bookmarks to put in the “language backpack” as well. Finally I cut out the words, put them in a center, and have the children practice putting the word in order at a table or using a chart. This is great for another genre for reading and encourages expression. Allow students to make up hand motions for the poems.